How to read and say Swahili

Vowels

Swahili has five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. If you are familiar with Spanish, Italian or Japanese, the vowels are pronounced the same. If not, they are pronounced:

A - ah (Like the "a" in "father")
E - eh (Like the "e" in "ten")
I - ee (Like the "ee" in "see")
O - oh (Like the "o" in "off")
U - oo (Like the "oo" in "doom")

Vowels in Swahili always make the same sounds, even when combined with other vowels. There are no silent letters or diphthongs in Swahili, so vowels will always make the same sound, and it is important that you pronounce each vowel, even when one vowel follows another. For example, in the word "daawa" (lawsuit), you must say "dah-ah-wah", pronouncing both of the a's. Simply saying "dah-wah" (dawa) changes the meaning to "drug/medicine".

There are no diphthongs in Swahili; however, foreign names and loan words may contain them.

Consonants

The following consonants are pronounced the same as in English:

b

like the "b" in "bay"

d

like the "d" in "dog"

f

like the "f" in "fun"

g

like the "g" in "gut"

h

like the "h" in "hen"

j

between the "j" in "jam" and the "d" in "duty" (UK)

k

like the "k" in "kit"

l

like the "l" in "lump"

p

like the "p" in "pot"

s

like the "s" in "sun"

t

like the "t" in "tip"

v

like the "v" in "van"

w

like the "w" in "win"

y

like the "y" in "yellow"

z

like the "z" in "zebra"

Other consonants

m

like the "m" in "mop".

n

like the "n" in "numb"

Although "m" and "n" are pronounced the same in Swahili as they are in English, unlike English, these letters can often be found at the beginning of words followed by other consonants, such as "t", "d", etc. Since Swahili has no silent letters, it is important to pronounce these sounds. So for words like "Mchana" (afternoon) and "Ndugu" (sibling/relative), you need to pronounce the "m" and "n" sounds along with the following consonant sounds.

r

The "r" sound is rolled as it is in Spanish.

Consonant pairings

ch

like the "ch" in "chat"

ng

like the "ng" in "sing"

ny

like the "ni" in "onion"

gh

officially pronounced similar to the "ch" in "loch", you can alternatively just pronounce it with a hard "g", like the "g" in "gut" (as mentioned above)

sh

like the "sh" in "dash"

th

like the "th" in "thank". It is never pronounced like the "th" in "those". That "th" is spelled "dh" in Swahili.

dh

like the "th" in "the". It is important not to confuse "dh" with the Swahili "th" above. Sometimes pronounced as a "z" sound depending on the dialect.