Congolese Swahili→English

Translate Congolese Swahili to English the way locals mean it.

Congolese Swahili often uses French nouns, simpler agreement, and softeners that make a phrase mean more than its textbook word-for-word reading suggests.

Going the other way? English to Congolese Swahili

474 local dialects

AIRTranslate on iPhone choosing between Swahili varieties

What locals actually say

Niko na faim, twende tukule.

I’m hungry, let’s go eat.

Niko na plus the French loan faim describes a bodily state, not being physically with hunger.

Basi, tuko pamoja, nitakutumia hiyo argent kesho.

Okay, we’re agreed, I’ll send you that money tomorrow.

Tuko pamoja is an idiom for agreement or solidarity, while argent is a natural French loan for money, not a reference to being together with silver.

Usifanye souci, mambo itakaa sawa.

Don’t worry, things will work out.

Souci is the French loan for worry, and itakaa sawa is a reassuring expression meaning a situation will settle, even when the agreement pattern is simpler than textbook Swahili.

Uende tout droit mpaka kwa rond-point, halafu chukua avenue ya gauche.

Go straight to the roundabout, then take the street on the left.

The French expressions tout droit, rond-point, and gauche are common in Congolese Swahili directions and signal local urban speech.

Ba sœurs wangu walikuya na ba enfants zao.

My sisters came with their children.

Ba is a common Congolese plural marker used before kinship terms and other nouns, while sœurs and enfants show natural French code-switching.

Leo niko kwa bureau, tuko na réunion ya saa nne.

I am at the office today; we have a meeting at ten.

Bureau and réunion are everyday French loans in Congolese Swahili, and kwa bureau is a common local locative construction.

Leo pluie iko mingi, usitoke bila parapluie.

It is raining heavily today, so do not go out without an umbrella.

Pluie and parapluie are French weather loans, while iko mingi reflects the simpler agreement patterns heard in Congolese Swahili.

Tupange programme ya weekend, dimanche tunaenda visite kwa ba cousins.

Let us make a plan for the weekend; on Sunday we are visiting our cousins.

Programme and visite are common French loans for social plans, and ba cousins uses the local ba plural marker for people.

Notes like these come with every AIRTranslate translation, so you learn why locals phrase it that way as you go.

How Congolese Swahili differs

Congolese Swahili (Kingwana leanings). Simpler agreement patterns and French loanwords are natural; eastern DRC usage.

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Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way