Swahili Alphabet Illustrated
An alphabet is a set of letters or symbols used to represent the sounds of a language. Consonants and vowels are the two types of letters that make up the alphabet.
A Swahili alphabet song would come in handy to get you started learning the Kiswahili sounds, but if you don't know any, no problem! At OneLanguageOnePeople we will help you learn simply.
The Kiswahili way of writing is not hard for an English speaker because it follows the same alphabet with only a few differences. The Swahili alphabet is also simple because it is phonetic; you read what you see; what you write is what you read. Some sounds are not identical to English ones, so we are going to look at how to pronounce each of these Swahili sounds and letters.
Swahili Vowels sounds
Swahili
alphabet
Pronunciation in English
Swahili pronunciation examples
A
Father, car
Kama, baba
E
Bet, bed
Yeye, pete
I
See,
Kiti, viti
O
Go
Moto, joto
U
mood
Huru, nusu
Listen to the Swahili language teacher pronunciation.
Swahili Consonants
Consonants are letters that represent speech sounds made by obstructing the flow of air as it passes through the mouth. They are pronounced by partially or completely blocking the airflow through the mouth with the lips, tongue, or teeth. Examples of consonants include b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, and z.
Letters Q and X do not exist in the Swahili alphabet, and the letter C comes as a combination of CH.
Swahili
alphabet
Pronunciation in English
Swahili pronunciation examples
B
Bake
Baba
D
Day
Dada
F
Far
Fanya
G
Go
Goti
H
Hat
Hata
J
Jar
Jana
K
Keep
Keti
L
Lion
Lala
M
Moon
Mama
N
Not
Nono
P
Pull
Papa
R
Rake
Rangi
S
Sack
Sasa
T
Top
Tatu
V
Very
Vazi
W
Wake
Wewe
Y
Yes
Yeye
Z
Zoo
Zuri
Swahili alphabet consonant letters combinations
Swahili
alphabet
Pronunciation in English
Swahili pronunciation examples
Ch
Choice
Chote
Dh
Either
Fedha
Gh
German ch in Bach
Khadija
Kh
Go
Moto, joto
Sh
Ship
Shika
Th (soft sound)
mood
Huru, nusu
Ny
Canyon
Nyanya
Ng
Finger
Nguo
Ng'
Sing
Ng’ombe
GENERALLY
An illustration of the alphabet would show all the letters in order from A to Z. Each letter would be accompanied by an image or word that starts with that letter. For example, A might be accompanied by an image of an apple, B by an image of a bee, and so on. This is a common way to teach children the alphabet.
Consonants and vowels are often taught separately. An illustration of consonants might show the letters arranged by their sound groups, such as stops (b, p, d, t, k, g), fricatives (f, v, s, z, sh, zh), affricates (ch, j), nasals (m, n, ng), and liquids (l, r). An illustration of vowels might show the letters arranged by their position in the mouth, such as front vowels (i, e, y), central vowels (É™, a), and back vowels (u, o).