Swahili Greetings 101 (Maamkio / Salamu) – Resources For Self ...

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Swahili

“Coming up with a lesson for Swahili was a great exercise to help me review what I already knew about greetings in Swahili. It also helped me look into the cultural significance of some of these greetings I have been using for a long time without really having a background on the cultural significance. Additionally, thinking of how I can teach what I know reinforced my knowledge because I had to deconstruct what I knew and the best way to communicate this to non-Swahili speakers.” – Irène Tombo Now let’s learn and practice some Swahili Greetings! There are multiple ways of greeting in Kiswahili but today we will focus on the following: 

• A). Shikamoo.
• B). Habari gani?
• C). Hujambo?
• D). U hali gani?
• E). Mambo? / Vipi?

Example 1 – A younger person greeting an elder person

Youth: Shikamoo. [I touch your feet/ I am under you feet.]

Elder Person: Marahaba. [You have my blessings.]

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other (formal)

Person A: Habari gani? [What’s the news/how are things?]

Person B: Nzuri! [Good]

Alternative responses:

Person B – Nzuri / njema / salama / safi / sawa / poa.

 [Good / nice / peaceful / clean / fine / cool.]

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: Hujambo? [How are you doing?]

Person B: Sijambo. [I am okay / fine!]

Example 2 – Teacher greeting students

Teacher: Hamjambo? [How are you doing?]

Students: Hatujambo! [We are okay / fine!]

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: U hali gani? [What’s your condition? / How are you?]

Person B: Njema. [Nice]

Example 2 – One person greeting many people

Person A: M hali gani? [What’s your condition? / How are you?]

Persons B, C, & D: Salama. [Peaceful]

Alternative responses:

Person B – Nzuri / njema / salama / safi / sawa / poa.

 [Good / nice / peaceful / clean / fine / cool.]

Example 1 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: Vipi? [What’s up?] Person B: Poa. [Cool]

Example 2 – Two people greeting each other

Person A: Mambo? [What’s up?] Person B: Safi. [Clean]

Alternative responses:

Person B – Nzuri / njema / salama / safi / sawa / poa.

 [Good / nice / peaceful / clean / fine / cool.]

Practice:

Provide the Swahili translation.

1. What’s up? _______________ ? OR    ______________ ?
2. What’s the news/how are things? ____________________?
3. I touch your feet/ I am under you feet. _________________.
4. Good! __________ !
5. Nice! __________ !
6. How are you doing? _________________ ?
7. Peaceful! _____________ !
8. Clean! ___________ !
9. You have my blessings. ______________.
10. Fine! __________ !
11. Cool !  ________ !
12. I am okay / fine! _________________ !
13. How are you doing? _________________ ?
14. We are okay / fine! _________________.
15. What’s your condition? / How are you? (Greeting one person) __________________________________ ?
16. What’s your condition? / How are you? (Greeting many people) _________________________________ ?

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Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages Copyright © by University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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