English→Swahili (Kenya)

Translate English to Swahili (Kenya) like a local.

Swahili as spoken in Kenya, with the greetings and street vocabulary phrasebooks miss.

Going the other way? Swahili (Kenya) to English

474 local dialects

AIRTranslate on iPhone choosing between Swahili varieties

What locals actually say

Hi!

Sasa!

“Sasa”, answered with “poa”, is Nairobi casual. “Jambo” is mostly for tourists.

No problem.

Hakuna shida.

Locals say “hakuna shida” or “hamna shida”. “Hakuna matata” lives mostly in the movies.

How much is it?

Ni bei gani?

“Ni bei gani” is the everyday market question, and haggling starts from there.

Where can I catch a matatu to town?

Matatu ya town napata wapi?

Matatu is Kenya’s everyday shared minibus, while town is a common urban English loanword in casual Kenyan Swahili.

Please pack this to go.

Tafadhali nifungie hii niende nayo.

Nifungie is a benefactive construction meaning pack it for me, a natural way to request takeaway food in Kenya.

My sister is at university.

Dada yangu ako campus.

Ako is the common spoken locative form for a person, and campus is a widely used Kenyan English loanword.

It’s freezing this morning.

Leo asubuhi baridi imeingia kabisa.

Baridi imeingia literally means the cold has come in, a conversational Kenyan construction for weather that has set in.

I’m feeling a bit off today.

Leo sijisikii fiti sana.

Fiti is a common Kenyan borrowing from English meaning well or okay, used here in a casual statement about feeling unwell.

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

How Swahili (Kenya) differs

Kenyan Swahili. Standard Swahili for formal text; casual register may carry Nairobi flavour and common English loanwords locals mix in (sawa, poa, fiti); avoid deep Sheng slang unless the source is clearly street-casual.

Sound like a local everywhere, not just here.

Every one of 474 dialects, with voice, camera, a keyboard for any app, and offline packs.

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Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way