essay in swahili means

Translation of "essay" into Swahili

insha, makala, utungo are the top translations of "essay" into Swahili. Sample translated sentence: Also announced at the Summit were the winners of the essay competition supported by Google. ↔ Pia, katika kongamano hilo, walitangazwa washindi wa shindano la kuandika insha lililofadhiliwa na Google.

A written composition of moderate length exploring a particular issue or subject. [..]

English-Swahili dictionary

written composition

Also announced at the Summit were the winners of the essay competition supported by Google.

Pia, katika kongamano hilo, walitangazwa washindi wa shindano la kuandika insha lililofadhiliwa na Google.

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Automatic translations of " essay " into Swahili

Translations with alternative spelling

"Essay" in English - Swahili dictionary

Currently we have no translations for Essay in the dictionary, maybe you can add one? Make sure to check automatic translation, translation memory or indirect translations.

Translations of "essay" into Swahili in sentences, translation memory

• , September 15, 2023

Swahili Writing 101: For Excellent Swahili Learning

Several Swahili-speaking nations in East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and portions of Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, employ the Swahili script as an official language or a common language. Similar to English and many other languages written in the Latin alphabet, Swahili writing is from left to right.

Therefore, it is not surprising that you have come to this page in order to learn more about this beautiful and elaborate language that is spoken and written in so many places. So come, let’s start our voyage towards learning Swahili writing.

Basics Of Swahili Alphabet

The 26-letter Latin congo Swahili alphabet is used to represent the sounds in Swahili. Diacritics (accent marks) are added to some letters to represent particular sounds. Diacritical marks, such as the one over the letter “i” in Kĩswahili (meaning Swahili ), are unique characters found in each Swahili dialect. The Latin-based Swahili alphabet comprises of 21 consonants and five vowels (a, e, i, o, u). Diacritics (accent marks) are used in Swahili to denote particular sounds. For instance, chini (meaning down ) is written as “çhini,” with the diacritical mark underneath the “c.”

Swahili Language Or Kiswahili Language

The Swahili language, also locally known as the Kiswahili language, is intricately entwined with the rich cultural legacy of the Swahili people, who are primarily found along the East African coast. The Bantu language known as Swahili has developed over centuries of contact between native Bantu groups and numerous outside influences, including Arabic, Persian, and Indian. The distinctiveness of Swahili poetry is a result of this language fusion. Poetry and prose in Swahili represent the region’s rich cultural diversity and historical significance.

Swahili literature demonstrates the Swahili culture and people’s adaptability and resiliency via the blending of native stories and foreign narratives. One of the most extensively spoken languages in Africa today, Swahili is spoken by millions of people either as a first language or as a second language. Its speakers are spread out across East Africa, bringing people together through a shared language and being essential for interregional communication and cultural exchange.

Swahili Alphabet

The Latin-based Swahili alphabet has 26 letters as follows:

X, Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V

Although the Swahili alphabet employs the same letters as the English alphabet, it should be noted that due to Swahili’s phonetic structure, some letters’ Swahili pronunciations may differ. Additionally, special diacritics (accent marks) are used in Swahili to change how some letters are spoken.

Swahili Writing & Diacritics

As was previously noted, diacritics in Swahili are distinctive marks added to letters to denote particular phonetic sounds or changes in pronunciation. The use of accent marks is crucial for accurately expressing a language’s sounds. The vocabulary of Swahili frequently uses the following diacritical marks:

1. Kiswahili

The “i” in “Kĩswahili” contains a diacritical mark (dot) above it that denotes a distinct vowel sound, making it sound like the letter “ee” when spoken.

The diacritic (comma-like character) below the “c” in “çhini” denotes the “ch” sound.

A diacritical mark (dot) is placed above the “sh” in “ṡhule” to denote a distinct “sh” sound.

Similar to chini, a diacritic (comma-like mark) is placed beneath the “ch” in “çhakula” to indicate the “ch” sound.

The diacritic (tilde) above the “w” in “mw̃anzo” denotes a nasalized “w” sound.

A diacritic (dot) above the “j” in “maj̇’i” denotes a distinct “j” sound.

The diacritical mark (tilde) above the “u” in “nyũmba” denotes a nasalized “y” sound.

For appropriate pronunciation and representation of the Swahili phonology sounds, these diacritics are essential. They distinguish between letters that have a similar appearance and support the specific phonetic features of the Swahili language translations.

But as writing supports reading, it’s a good idea to know where and when to stretch sounds. In Swahili writing, these diacritics are not indicated often but are helpful to master pronunciation and ensure correct word usage.

Wrapping Up Swahili Writing

Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda all have Swahili as their official national language. However, because of historical and linguistic contacts, the Arabic script and Swahili writing are similar. Many vocabulary in Swahili have been taken from Arabic, and this influence can even be seen in some ways in the writing system. Even Arabic poetry and stories have inspired Swahili speakers due to the Arabic script.

Arabic loanwords have been extensively absorbed into Swahili, particularly in terms of religion, trade, and culture. Many of these words are written in Arabic script as Swahili phrases. The Arabic script is used to write Swahili in some Swahili-speaking areas, particularly along the East African coast. The “ Ajami ” script, which is used in Swahili mostly for religious writings and poetry, is known.

The above-discussed usage of diacritics can be utilized to highlight vowel sounds and other phonetic characteristics in Arabic and Swahili words. Even though the particular diacritics used can differ, the idea of employing markings to change letters is universal.

Since some Swahili vocabulary, word sounds, and pronunciation are comparable to those in Arabic, this may affect how Swahili words are transliterated into Arabic.

Become Fluent Swahili Speakers With Ling

Regardless of whether you intend to travel to the Swahili coast or are just interested in studying an African language, gaining a thorough knowledge of Swahili writing and Swahili dialects is an excellent idea to write and speak Swahili effectively. Keep in mind that the unique quality of Swahili speakers is their ability to communicate in a language that is an official one in several nations!

Why not utilize a tool that might assist you in learning Swahili writing properly? Learning Swahili is advantageous. You can maximize your use of the Ling app, a fantastic language-learning tool developed by native Swahili speakers to pronounce themselves. This app will ensure that you receive a taste of holistic learning by reading, writing Swahili, speaking, and listening appropriately. It is both informative and amusing, even to learn grammar like the noun class and verbal infinitives.

Also, there are distinct African languages and dialects available on Ling. It has a solid reputation for supporting a number of rare languages for which you would often need to look for suitable resources. Install the app right away on your iOS or Android device to get started learning a new language!

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• Purchase Requests This link opens in a new window
• Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window Full text (PDF) of most US dissertations from 1997 on, many earlier works and some from outside the US plus some master's theses. Also lists all dissertations and theses from 1861 on from US universities and some works from Europe and Asia from 1637 on. Abstracts included after July, 1980. See also Finding Dissertations

See some sample dissertations and theses written about the Swahili language and culture below. Visit  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global to search for more related material. Consider using a variety of search terms like Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dar es Salaam, DRC, DROC, East Africa, Kenya, Mombasa, Nairobi, Swahili, and/or Uganda. Also, use truncation when appropriate, for example "linguist *" for results containing linguist, linguists, linguistic, linguistics, and linguistically.

• Effects of Swahili vowel system on Kenyan English speakers' pronunciation
• English-Swahili Code Switching: An Intersection Between Identity and Stance
• The Impact of Interactive Discussions on Essay Writing in Swahili as a Foreign Language
• The linguistic analysis of Arabic loan-words in Swahili. (Volumes I and II)
• The modernization of Swahili technical terminologies: an investigation of the linguistics and literature terminologies
• The Presentation of Literary Texts in Foreign Language Swahili Teaching and Learning Materials
• Swahili dictionary design
• Swahili -English bilingual conversation: A vehicle for the study of language ideology
• Swahili word order choices: Insights from information structure
• University students' beliefs about foreign language learning, with a focus on Arabic and Swahili at United States HEA Title VI African studies centers
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Swahili is the most popular language of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is spoken by approximately 50 million people in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Congo (DRC), the Comoros, and, marginally, in northern Mozambique, southern Somalia, northern Malawi and northern Zambia. Swahili is a national language in Tanzania, Kenya and Congo (DRC). It also has official status in Tanzania, Kenya and in Uganda (along with English).

Swahili is characterized by the typical complex Bantu structure. However, it is particularly easy to pronounce and fast learned.

Each year at the University of Chicago, we offer a three-quarter sequence of Swahili at the elementary level.  In alternating years, we offer three-quarter sequences at either the intermediate or advanced level.  Depending on student demand, an additional class focused on the grammar and other linguistic aspects of the language may also be available. The elementary course series focuses on communication in everyday life situations, on writing and presenting short descriptive notes about oneself or various situations in relation with East Africa. Elementary level students are also offered a weekly teaching assistant session aimed to improve their speaking practice and their grammar usage.  The intermediate and advanced course series develop further the student fluency and include more discussion about East African cultures and societies as well as current events, basing on extensive textual and audiovisual materials.

Courses Offered: 

Elementary level Swahili is offered every year, while other, more advanced, courses are offered in alternating years or as requested.

Elementary Swahili I, II, III 

SWAH 25200-25300-25400/35200-35300-35400. Swahili is the most popular language of Sub-Saharan Africa, spoken in most countries of Eastern and Central Africa by more than 50 million people. Swahili is characterized by the typical complex Bantu structure. However, it is particularly easy to pronounce and fast learned. The Elementary Swahili series is designed to help students acquire communicative competence in Swahili and a basic understanding of its structures. The course presents basic phonological, grammatical, and syntactic patterns of Kiswahili. Through a variety of exercises, students develop communicative functionality in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Emphasis is put on dialogues and role-plays, individual and group presentations, and the use of audiovisual and web- based resources. Swahili culture and African culture in general are an important component of the course. At the end of the elementary course series, the students are able to communicate efficiently in everyday life situations, write and present short descriptive notes about elementary pieces of verbal creation (documentaries and video series in Swahili). Taught By: Fidele Mpiranya . Autumn, Winter, Spring.

A Linguistic Introduction to Swahili 

LING 28355/38355. Spoken in ten countries of Eastern and Central Africa, Swahili has more speakers than any other language in the Bantu family, a group of more than 400 languages most prevalent in sub-equatorial Africa. Based on  Swahili Grammar and Workbook,  this course helps the students to master key areas of the Swahili language in a fast yet enjoyable pace. Topics include sound and intonation patterns, noun class agreements, verb moods, and sentence structures. Additionally, this course provides important listening and expressive reading skills. For advanced students, historical interpretations are offered for exceptional patterns observed in Swahili, in relation with other Bantu languages. This is a general introduction course with no specific prerequisites. It allows fulfilling the non-Indo-European language requirement. Taught By Fidele Mpiranya . Winter. 

Past Courses

Intermediate Swahili I, II, III 26800-26900-27000/36800-36900-37000.  PQ: Elementary Swahili sequence or consent of instructor.  Students focus on broadening their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in this course. They learn to use sophisticated sentence structures and expression of complex ideas in Swahili. Advanced readings and essay writing are based on student interests. Taught By: Fidele Mpiranya. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Advanced Swahili I, II, III 27200-27300-27400/37200-37300-37400. PQ: Intermediate Swahili sequence or consent of instructor. This course is focused on advanced listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, with long textual or audiovisual materials.  Exercises in class include discussion about various topics in relation with East African cultures and societies, text rewriting, dialogue production and performance, and essay presentation.  Students are assigned advanced readings and essay writing based on their own interests. Taught By: Fidele Mpiranya. Autumn,Winter, Spring.

Advanced Reading in Swahili I, II, III 28375-28376-28377/38375-38376-38377. PQ: Advanced Swahili sequence or consent of instructor.  This course emphasizes analysis and discussion about various literary and audiovisual works in Swahili.  The presentations in class will cover novels and short stories as well as popular movies.  The students also will be assigned short literary works and other authentic texts or audiovisual materials for written homework and in class discussion.  In the end, the students will be able to express an informed appreciation in Swahili on original works and formal discourse in Swahili. Taught By: Fidele Mpiranya. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Linguistic Introduction to Swahili II LING 28356/38356.  PQ: LING 28355/38355.  Based on Swahili Grammar and Workbook, this course is a continuation of Linguistic Introduction to Swahili I. It addresses complex issues related to grammatical agreement, verb moods, noun and verb derivation, non-typical adjectives and adverbs, double object constructions, subordinate/coordinated clause constructions, and dialectal variation. Additionally, this course provides important listening and expressive reading skills. For advanced students, historical interpretations are offered for exceptional patterns observed in Swahili, in relation with other Bantu languages. Taught By: Fidele Mpiranya.

Essay meaning in Swahili

Essay meaning in Swahili. Here you learn English to Swahili translation / English to Swahili dictionary  of the word ' Essay ' and also play  quiz in Swahili words starting with  E  also play  A-Z dictionary quiz . To learn Swahili language , common vocabulary and grammar are the important sections. Common Vocabulary contains common words that we can used in daily life. This way to learn Swahili language quickly and learn  daily use sentences  helps to improve your Swahili language. If you think too hard to learn Swahili language, 1000 words will helps to learn Swahili language easily, they contain 2-letter words to 13-letter words. Below you see how to say Essay in Swahili.

How to say 'Essay' in Swahili

Learn also: Essay in different languages

Play & Learn Swahili word starts with E Quiz

Top 1000 swahili words.

Here you learn top 1000 Swahili words, that is separated into sections to learn easily (Simple words, Easy words, Medium words, Hard Words, Advanced Words). These words are very important in daily life conversations, basic level words are very helpful for beginners. All words have Swahili meanings with transliteration.

Daily use Swahili Sentences

Here you learn top Swahili sentences, these sentences are very important in daily life conversations, and basic-level sentences are very helpful for beginners. All sentences have Swahili meanings with transliteration.

Swahili Vocabulary

Swahili Grammar

Swahili dictionary.

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Translate a Swahili word to English by entering it into the search box above. You can also search for words in English to find the Swahili translation in the Swahili-English dictionary. Use the drop-down menu to search other dictionaries besides the Swahili to English dictionary. Result filters help you find the exact and correct Swahili translation in the Swahili-English dictionary. Use the filters to refine your results for category, style or even grammar.

Search the Swahili dictionary by letter

Search for any Swahili to English translation directly in the Swahili online dictionary. Click on the appropriate letter below to get a list of Swahili words beginning with the chosen letter. Then click on the word to see the translation in the Swahili-English dictionary.

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Verify Swahili translation

Join our community to build the world's largest online dictionary. Below are the latest Swahili words and phrases and their proposed translations for the Swahili-English dictionary. Help us by verifying a Swahili word or phrase with your vote. If you discover an error use your vote to delete the proposed translation or to suggest a change to either the English or Swahili words.

Why participate?

Join bab.la and help us build up the best and largest online dictionary for Swahili-English in the world. New Swahili words and Swahili phrases are created all the time. In addition, a Swahili to English translation can change depending on what context is is used in, such as medical or technical translations. For these reasons dictionaries offer multiple translations. Your help to add new Swahili to English translations to our Swahili dictionary is greatly appreciated. Contributions by our users are the best way to include colloquial and regional Swahili expressions in the online dictionary. However, new translations to the Swahili-English dictionary will not be added immediately. A new Swahili translation is always marked as unverified until 10 other users have given their vote to confirm the correctness. This way we ensure a high quality of the translations. Register as a bab.la user to become part of our language community and accumulate points in the world ranking. Each new translation entry to the Swahili-English dictionary will give you points. If you have any questions about a Swahili word and its proper translation to English post your question in the Swahili-English forum. Other users will help you by answering your question about the Swahili language.

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• MobiTuki : Swahili-English dictionary (Tanzania)

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• Swahili.it : Swahili-Italian dictionary & Swahili-English

• LingoHut : Swahili-English vocabulary by topics (+ audio)

• 17 minute languages : Swahili-English common phrases (+ audio)

• Sl&c : useful Swahili words (+ audio)

• Defense language institute : basic vocabulary (+ audio) - civil affairs - medical

• Swahili-English dictionary by Charles Rechenbach (1967)

• Swahili-English dictionary by Arthur Cornwallis Madan (1903)

• English-Swahili (1902)

• Dictionary of the Suahili language by Johann Ludwig Krapf (1882)

• Dictionnaire swahili-français : Swahili-French dictionary, by Charles Sacleux (1939)

• Dictionnaire français-swahili (1891)

• Vocabulaire français-kisouahili : French-Swahili vocabulary published by the État indépendant du Congo (1894)

• Suaheli-Dragoman : Swahili-German dictionary by topics, by Friedrich von Nettelbladt (1891)

• Wörterbuch der Suahelisprache : Swahili-German & German-Swahili dictionary, by Carl Gotthilf Büttner (1890)

• Swahili etymological dictionary by András Rajki (2005)

• An anthology of proverbs in Kiswahili & translation into English & German, by Claudia Dal Bianco & Johanna Emig (2009)

• African aphorisms or Saws from Swahili Land , by William Ernest Taylor (1891)

• The terms for 'emotion' in Swahili : a lexical analysis based on interviews with native speakers , by Rosanna Tramutoli, in Kervan (2019)

• Terminologia del corpo ed estensioni metaforiche  : swahili e zulu a confronto , in Kervan (2020)

• Translating Swahili linguistic terminology into Italian , Nordic Journal of African Studies (2020)

• Texts on textiles : proverbiality as characteristic of equivocal communication at the East African coast , by Rose Marie Beck, in Journal of African Cultural Studies (2005)

• Expanding the Swahili vocabulary : newly adopted words in Swahili in the field of information and communication technology, by Malin Petzell (2005)

• The adaptation of Swahili loanwords from Arabic , by Leonard Chacha Mwita, in Journal of Pan African studies (2009)

• A brief lexico-semantic study of French and Kiswahili by Lester Mtwana Jao, in Mambo (2015)

• Epenthetic vowels in Swahili loanwords by Andrew Harvey, in Journal of linguistics and language in education (2014)

• Phonological and semantic change in language borrowing : the case of Arabic words borrowed into Kiswahili , by Mohamed Abdulmajid Akidah, in International journal of education and research (2013)

• Historical inferences from Swahili etymologies par Thilo Schadeberg, in Unwritten testimonies of the African past (1989)

• Lugha ya mitaani in Tanzania : the poetics and sociology of a young urban style of speaking , with a dictionary comprising 1100 words and phrases, by Uta Reuster-Jahn & Roland Kießling, in Swahili Forum (2006)

• Swahili toponymy of past towns on the East African coast : "What's in a name?" , by Monika Baumanova & Rosanna Tramutoli, in Kervan (2022)

• University of Kansas : Swahili course

• Kiko : pronunciation & grammar (University of Georgia)

• Swahili course (+ video)

• Verbix : verb conjugation & Swahili-English translation

• Andika : Latin <> Arabic scripts of the Swahili language, online conversion

• The Swahili language and its early history , by Martin Walsh, in The Swahili world (2018)

• Swahili colloquial , course for beginners (2003)

• Swahili learners' reference grammar by Katrina Daly Thompson & Antonia Folárin Schleicher (2001)

• Swahili basic course , Foreign Service Institute (1968) (+ audio)

• Swahili language handbook by Edgar Polomé (1967)

• Swahili vowel harmony by Lutz Marten, in Working papers in linguistics and phonetics (1996)

• Noun classification in Swahili by Ellen Contini-Morava, University of Virginia

• The formation and syntax of contractions in Kiswahili with special emphasis on noun-possessive combination , by Titus Mpemba, in Journal of linguistics and language in education (2015)

• Swahili Forum : Journal for Swahili studies (since 1994)

• Swahili grammar and vocabulary by F. Burt (1910)

• A Handbook of the Swahili language , as spoken at Zanzibar , by Edward Steere, revised by Arthur Cornwallis Madan (1894)

• Swahili exercises by Edward Steer (1918)

• Grammar of dialectic changes in the Kiswahili language by Chauncy Hugh Stigand (1915)

• Inkishafi : poem & translation into English, by William Ernest Taylor

• Aids to the study of Ki-Swahili by Mervyn Beech (1918)

• Grammaire kiswahili : Swahili grammar, by Henri Delaunay (1927)

• Grammaire des dialectes swahilis : grammar of the Swahili dialects, by Charles Sacleux (1909)

• Die syntaktischen Verhältnisse des Suaheli (syntax of Swahili) by Wilhelm Planert (1907)

• Suahili Konversations-Grammatik : Swahili grammar, by August Seidel (1900)

• Suaheli Handbuch (Swahili handbook) by Walter von Saint Paul Illaire (1890)

• The metrolingual use of Swahili in urban Ugandan landscapes and everyday conversation by Nico Nassenstein, in Multilingualism in the global South (2016)

• Mombasa's Swahili-based "Coasti slang" in a super-diverse space : languages in contact on the beach , by Nico Nassenstein, in African study monographs (2016)

• books & papers about the Swahili language: Google books | Internet archive | Academia | Wikipedia

• Youtube : 101 Swahili : vocabulary, common phrases, Swahili songs with lyrics and translation

• Mwananchi : newspaper (Tanzania)

• BBC - VOA - RFI - DW : news in Swahili

• Language and popular culture in Africa : texts in Swahili (popular culture) with translation into English or French

• LyrikLine : poems in Swahili, with translation (+ audio)

• Swahili-literatur : narratives in Swahili with translation into German

• A Shaba Swahili life history : text, translation and comments , by Jan Blommaert (2014)

• Mythical and archetypal images of the hero in Swahili literature : more than just warriors , by Graziella Acquaviva, in Kervan (2019)

• Identity and memory in Swahili war verses : the long road to an East African self (2019)

• Immagini e metafore vegetali nella poesia swahili  : dal seme alla pianta (Vegetal images and metaphors in Swahili poetry) (2016)

• Ritual practices, hypnotic suggestions and trance-like states in Swahili written literature , by Cristina Nicolini, in Kervan (2021)

• studies about the Swahili literature, by Xavier Garnier

• Le kiswahili entre Afrique, orient et occident  : quelle littérature pour une langue désancrée ? (2011)

• Traduire le swahili en français  : à propos de Nagona et Mzingile d'Euphrase Kezilahabi , in Études littéraires africaines (2012)

• La poésie orale swahili manganja by Pascal Bacuez, in Cahiers d'études africaines (2000) Swahili texts & translation into French

• Figures du politique en Afrique  : comment prendre en compte la littérature d'expression swahilie , by Mathieu Roy & Charles Mnyampala (2010)

• Mathias Mnyampala (1917-1969) : poésie d'expression swahilie et construction nationale tanzanienne , by Mathieu Roy, thesis (2013)

• Introduction au Diwani ya Mnyampala (Mathias Mnyampala's anthology) (2007)

• Poésie et philosophie d'expression swahilie en Tanzanie  : vision et transformation du monde dans le Diwani de Mathias Mnyampala , in Les Cahiers d'Afrique de l'Est (2012)

• Elisi katika nchi ya ajabu : translation into Swahili of the Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's adventures in wonderland (1940)

• Swahili tales as told by natives of Zanzibar , with translation into English, by Edward Steer (1870)

• Prosa und Poesie der Suaheli : Swahili prose and poetry, with translation into German, by Carl Velten (1907)

• Märchen und Erzählungen der Suaheli : Swahili tales & stories & translation into German (1898)

• Anthologie aus der Suaheli-litteratur : anthology of the Swahili literature & translation into German, by Carl Gotthilf Büttner (1894)

• BibleGateway : Biblia Takatifu , translation of the New Testament into Tanzanian Swahili (+ audio)

• Biblica : Biblia Takatifu , translation of the New Testament into Tanzanian Swahili (+ audio)

• WordProject : translation of the Bible into Tanzanian Swahili (+ audio)

• YouVersion : Biblia Habari Njema (1996)

Watu wote wamezaliwa huru, hadhi na haki zao ni sawa. Wote wamejaliwa akili na dhamiri, hivyo yapasa watendeane kindugu.

• Umoja wa mataifa ofisi ya idara ya habari taarifa ya ulimwengu juu ya haki za binadamu : translation into Swahili (+ audio)

→ First article in different languages

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Kiswahili is a language that speaks to both past and present

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This first celebration of the World Kiswahili language day is being held under the theme  ‘Kiswahili for peace and prosperity’ . The mission of the annual celebration is to promote the use of Kiswahili language as a beacon for unity, peace, and enhanced multiculturalism. 

• Hello: jambo/ hujambo/ salama
• How are you?: habari gani
• Fine (response): nzuri
• Goodbye: kwa heri/ kwa herini (more than one person)
• See you later: tutaonana
• Nice to meet you: nafurahi kukuona
• Goodnight: lala salama
• Thank you: asante
• Thank you very much: asante sana
• Please: tafadhali
• Excuse me: samahani
• You're welcome: starehe
• Can you help me?: tafadhali, naomba msaada
• What is your name?: jina lako nani?
• My name is: jina langu ni
• Where are you from?: unatoka wapi?
• I'm from: natokea
• Do you speak Swahili?: unasema Kiswahili?

We consider this as Tanzania’s gift to the world,” said Professor Kennedy Gastorn, Tanzanian’s Permanent Representative to the UN headquarters in New York, in an interview with UN News – Kiswahili.

Why 7 July?

According to Professor Gastorn, the day was chosen because on 7 July 1954, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU)—the ruling party of then Tanganyika—led by Julius Nyerere, declared Swahili as an important tool in the fight for independence.

In the 1950s the United Nations established the Kiswahili language unit of United Nations Radio, and today Kiswahili is the only African language within the Directorate of the Global Communications at the United Nations. The United Nations General Assembly, through its resolution 71/328 of 11 September 2017, on multilingualism, welcomed implementation of a day dedicated to each of its official languages in order to inform and raise awareness of their history, culture and use, and encouraged the Secretary-General and institutions such as UNESCO to consider extending this important initiative to other non-official languages spoken throughout the world.

In that regard, the 41st session of the General Conference of  UNESCO adopted  resolution 41 C/61  that recognized the role the Kiswahili language  plays in promoting cultural diversity, creating awareness and fostering dialogue among civilizations and noted the need to promote multilingualism as a core value of the United Nations and an essential factor in harmonious communication between peoples, which promotes unity in diversity and international understanding, tolerance and dialogue. The resolution proclaimed 7 July of each year as World Kiswahili Language Day. Kiswahili is the first African language to be recognized in such a manner by the UN.

Kiswahili is a language that speaks to both past and present. With over 200 million speakers, it is one of the most widely used African languages, encompassing more than a dozen main dialects. Over the centuries, this Bantu language has emerged as a common form of communication in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to the Middle East.

With UNESCO (sources)

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How to Introduce Yourself in Swahili in 10 Lines

Want to speak Swahili? Yes? Good – keep reading. This is for those that truly want to learn the language. Here’s how to introduce yourself in Swahili in 10 easy lines… and this might take you 2 to 3 minutes or less. With this lesson…

• You get the Swahili and the translations.
• Read out loud to practice your speaking.
• Feel free to print this sheet out for extra review.

Here’s how you introduce yourself in Swahili. Let’s go.

And if you REALLY want to learn to Swahili with effective audio & video lessons by real teachers – Sign up at SwahiliPod101(click here) and start learning!

1) Hello, It’s nice to meet you.

Hello and Nice to meet you in Swahili are a must-know phrases. And any introduction will probably will start with these words. Shikamoo is a very formal way of saying hello and best used for older people. Habari can be used in both formal and informal situations but Shikamoo is the best way to be polite.

• Shikamoo, ninafuraha kukutana na wewe.
• Hello, it’s nice to meet you.

A more informal way to say this would be.

• Habari, ninafuraha kukutana na wewe.
• Hi, nice to meet you.

2) My name is _____.

This is simple. To say “my name is” in Swahili, you just need the phrase “ Jina langu ni .” Then say your name. You should say your last name if you want to be polite.

• Jina langu ni ____.
• My name is ____.

Another way on how to introduce yourself, which is informal, would be…

• Mimi ni _____.
• I’m _____.

3) I am from ______.

So, where are you from? America? Europe? Africa? Asia? Just stick the name of your country inside this phrase. We’ll use Kenya as an example.

• Mimi natoka Kenya.
• I’m from Kenya.

4) I live in ______.

What about now – where do you live? Just fill in the blank with the country or city (if famous) into this phrase. I’ll use Nairobi as an example.

• Ninaishi Nairobi.
• I live in Nairobi.

5) I’ve been learning Swahili for _____.

How long have you been learning Swahili for? A month? A year?

• Nimekuwa nikijifunza Kiswahili kwa mwaka mmoja.
• I’ve been learning Swahili for a year.

6) I’m learning Swahili at _____.

Where are you learning Swahili? At school? At home? This would be a great line to know and use when you’re introducing yourself. Here’s my example:

• Ninajifunza Kiswahili katika SwahiliPod101.com.
• I’m learning Swahili at SwahiliPod101.com .

7) I am ____ years old.

Here’s how to say how old you are in Swahili. For example, let’s use 27 years old. You’ll need to know Swahili numbers for this.

• Nina umri wa miaka ishirini na saba.
• I’m 27 years old.

8) I am ______.

What about your position? Are you a student? Yoga teacher? Lawyer for the potato industry? Door-to-door door salesman? Super important question that people like to ask (and judge you about – Hey, I’m just a blogger! ).

• Mimi ni mwalimu.
• I’m a teacher.

9) One of my hobbies is _____.

Now, let’s move onto personal interests – hobbies! My hobbies are languages, linguajunkieing and such. How about you? You’ll definitely need this line when you introduce yourself in Swahili.

Here’s an example to use:

• Moja ya kozi yangu ni kusoma.
• One of my hobbies is reading.

10) I enjoy listening to music.

Now, this is just another example line about your hobbies . You can use something else where.

• Napenda kusikiliza muziki.
• I enjoy listening to music.

So now you know how to introduce yourself in Swahili in 10 lines. I’m sure there’s a ton more you can say – but this is an easy, simple start that any beginner can put to use. It’s all about starting easy.

See if you can introduce yourself in Swahili below. Leave me a comment.

I read all comments!

Hope you enjoyed this!

– The Main Junkie

P.S. I highly recommend this for Swahili learners. If you REALLY want to learn to Swahili with effective lessons by real teachers – Sign up for free at SwahiliPod101 (click here) and start learning!

Wow! Very interesting to me cause I Admire to speak kiswahil as other languages. Thank u for teaching me how to introduce my self

thanks it was really helpful and i’m a student studying swahili in school

Unconventional language hacking tips from Benny the Irish polyglot; travelling the world to learn languages to fluency and beyond!

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Home » Articles » Hello in Swahili – “Habari?” and 14 More Swahili Greetings (and Their Response!)

Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. ?

written by Kelsey Lechner

Reading time: 12 minutes

Published: May 23, 2022

Updated: May 27, 2022

Hello in Swahili – “Habari?” and 14 More Swahili Greetings (and Their Response!)

What if I told you there is no exact translation for “hello” in Swahili, and yet there are dozens of ways to greet people?

When you’re learning a new language, one of the first things you’ll want to know is how to say “hello.” Salutations are an essential part of the  Swahili language and culture , and Swahili is so rich in different types of hellos that conversations of greetings can continue for minutes.

Whether you are planning a trip to Tanzania or Kenya or just want to impress a friend, here are some of the most common “hello” phrases to help you sound like a native Swahili speaker!

Table of contents

• 6. Inakuwaje?
• 7. Unaendeleaje?
• 8. Umeamkaje?
• 9.Umeshindaje?

Beyond the Standard Responses

• 10. Hujambo?
• 11. Shikamoo
• 12. Salaam Alaikum
• 14. Habari za Siku Nyingi?
• 15. Pole na Kazi

Example Dialogue 1: Between Friends

Example dialogue 2: between a younger and older neighbor, “hello” in swahili, say “hello” in swahili to your friends: colloquial swahili greetings.

Swahili values friendliness. It’s important to learn the most common colloquial phrases to avoid sounding stiff.

Nearly all of the colloquial greetings are actually questions that require a certain response from the listener.

I will give you the most standard response for each set of questions, but also provide a section on words that can be flexibly applied as responses to any of the questions.

1.  Habari?

Habari  literally means “news”.

Habari  can be used in many different sentences, such as  Habari za asubuhi/mchana/jioni?  (literally “[What is] the news of the morning/afternoon/evening?”). This expresses how English speakers would say “good morning/afternoon/evening.”

You can add virtually any noun after  za , such as  kazi  (“work”) to ask “How’s work?” or  familia  (“family”) or  kwako  (“your place”) to ask “How’s your family?”

You will also hear  ya  instead of  za  (ex.  Habari ya asubuhi? ) with no change in meaning. Similarly  Habari yako/zako?  (“[What is] your news?”) as well. If you are asking two or more people, you would say  Habari yenu/zenu?  instead.

Habari  will sometimes be used alone (as just  Habari? ) or may be removed when a phrase trails after it, creating questions like  Za kwako?  and  Za jioni?

Standard response:  Nzuri

2.  Mambo?

Literally meaning “things” or “affairs,”  mambo  is the plural form of  jambo . It’s one of the most commonly used greetings in casual Swahili speech.

A quick note:  many foreigners will be told to greet people with  jambo , which was popularized by the hit song “Jambo Bwana.” However, you will almost never hear a native Swahili-speaking adult greeting other native speakers with  jambo . It’s mostly used just for tourists!

To sound like a local, use  mambo  instead.

Standard response:  Mazuri  or  poa  (“cool”)

3.  Vipi?

Vipi  literally means “how?” and can be used alone or in combination with another word or phrase. For example, you can pair it with  mambo  to become  Mambo vipi?  It’s as casual as “How’s it going?”

There is no particular standard reply, so you can respond with whatever you like from the section “Beyond the Standard Responses” below.

4.  Upo?

“You are [here]?” This is a contextual phrase that’s hard to translate literally and threw me off the first time I came across it. “Of course I’m here. You see me right here,” I thought.

However, I quickly realized this is another common greeting to ask how you are. It’s now one of my favorites for its simplicity and shortness!

It may also be used if the speaker hasn’t seen the listener for a bit.

If you are greeting two or more people, you will say  Mpo?  instead. You may also hear  -ko  replacing  -po  (resulting in  Uko? , etc.), although this is less common.

Standard response:  Nipo  (“I am” – for one person) or  tupo  (“we are” – for two or more people)

5.  Niambie

Niambie!  (“Tell me!”) This enthusiastic greeting is usually short for sentences like  niambie habari yako  (“tell me your news”). It’s not a question, but it’s still inquiring about how you are, usually between people who are already on friendly terms with each other.

You may also hear  sema  (“say”) used in the same way as  niambie  in this case.

There is no exact standard response, so you can say whatever you feel, such as  mzuri  (“good”),  niko poa  (“I’m cool”), or  sina jipya  (“I don’t have anything new”).

6.  Inakuwaje?

“How is it?” This is just about the same phrase as used in certain dialects of English.

7.  Unaendeleaje?

Unaendeleaje?  translates to “How have you been progressing?” It’s similar to the English “How have things been going?”

Although it is still fairly casual, it shows that you’re interested in the listener and their affairs on a deeper level than the greetings above. For this reason, you shouldn’t throw this phrase around quite as lightly to people you don’t know or are meeting for the first time.

You may also hear this as  Unaendelea vipi?  with  vipi  replacing the  je . This can also be applied to all of the phrases below ending in  je  with no change in meaning. If you are speaking to multiple people, say  Mnaendeleaje?

Standard response:  Ninaendelea vizuri  or simply  vizuri

8.  Umeamkaje?

This is a common way to greet someone you care about in the morning. Whereas English speakers ask, “How did you sleep?” Swahili speakers most commonly ask the question  Umeamkaje?  (“How did you wake up?”)

However, it is also possible to ask  Umelalaje  (“How did you sleep?”), although it is not used as frequently.

When greeting two or more people, use  Mmeamkaje?  instead.

Standard response:  Nimeamka vizuri,   vizuri,  or  salama  (“peaceful”)

9. Umeshindaje?

This phrase is pretty cool: “How have you won?” It’s similar to asking, “How was your day?”

Like the other phrases above, it is used to dig a little deeper. It is often used between friends, family, and community members. When asking this to multiple people, say  Mmeshindaje?

Standard response:  Nimeshinda vizuri  or simply  vizuri

You may have noticed that there is a vast array of different standard responses.

Swahili has over a dozen different noun classes  (somewhat comparable to genders in many European languages), and most nouns, verbs, and adjectives must match according to their class.

This is often thought to be the most difficult aspect of Swahili to get the hang of. This may seem daunting, but don’t worry: Here is a shortcut to have you mastering greetings in no time. There are a handful of responses that can be used for all of these greetings above that can be used regardless of noun class. They include (in descending order of slanginess):

• Salama  (“peaceful”)
• Safi  (“clean”)
• Poa  (“cool”)
• Freshi  (“fresh”)
• Shwari  (“calm”)

Therefore, when someone asks you,  Habari za asubuhi?  you can respond,  poa . When someone asks you,  Mambo?  you can respond,  poa . When someone asks you,  Upo?  you can respond,  nipo poa . And so on and so forth, with your choice of word from the list above, depending on how hip you want to seem.

The best part? Let me tell you.

Perhaps due to their near universal applicability, these are some of the most common responses you’ll hear in colloquial Swahili. They’re even more common than some of the standard responses.

Note that the older the other person is, the more likely they will stick to a phrase toward the top of the list, such as  salama  or the standard response.

Also, this list is not exhaustive. The responses include a vast array of  street slang that is ever evolving . While I was living in Tanzania, it seemed every month I learned a new slang response, like  mzuka  or  bie .These vary depending on what part of the Swahili-speaking world you are in or where the person you are talking to is from.

You can also strengthen any of the responses with  sana  (“very”),  kabisa  (“totally”), or  tu  (“just”). You can respond to greetings with phrases such as  nzuri sana,   nipo kabisa,  or  salama tu .

Keep in mind that even if you’re not doing well or feeling fine, you should generally still respond in a positive manner to Swahili greetings. Usually, people don’t say, “Bad” when asked, “How are you?”

If you are close with the other person and prefer to be honest on a rough day, you can express this with  siyo poa sana  (“I’m not very good”) or  hivyo hivyo tu  (“Just okay”).

Polite Greetings

Learning polite and formal Swahili is equally important as learning the colloquialisms.

There will be times when you want to be perceived as proper and showing respect, and here are the best ways to do so. Luckily in these cases, the standard responses are the only responses possible.

10.  Hujambo?

This greeting has roots in the word  jambo  introduced above and is a mildly formal way to greet someone. It’s more similar to “hello” than the colloquial “hi” in English.

The equivalent when speaking to multiple people is  Hamjambo?  This is often used when talking to strangers you don’t want to sound too casual with, when giving a speech, or when an older person greets a younger person.

Standard response:  Sijambo  (for one person) or  hatujambo  (for two or more people)

11.  Shikamoo

Swahili culture holds age and status in high regard. When you greet someone significantly older or with more authority than you, you are expected to show respect by using  shikamoo .

A child may use this toward an adult, a student toward a teacher, a young adult to an elderly neighbor, a citizen to an elected official, an employee to a boss, etc.

If you are greeting a group of people you want to show respect to, you can make this word plural by saying  shikamooni .

Standard response:  Marahaba

12.  Salaam Alaikum

The Swahili-speaking world is religiously diverse, and especially if you are in a predominantly Muslim area such as Zanzibar you will not want to miss using  Salaam Alaikum .

Literally meaning “Peace be upon you,” this is a  common greeting across the Islamic world , and you may find it spelled a few different ways in Swahili (such as  salam aleikum  or  a-salamu alaykum ).

Even if you are in a predominantly Christian area, if you know the listener is Muslim, feel free to use this phrase.

Standard response:  Walaikum assalam

Other Greetings

We’ve covered the most universally applicable phrases, but there are still a handful of greetings for specific situations we haven’t gotten to yet.

Check them out below!

13.  Hodi

Use  hodi  when you are entering someone’s home or room. It’s the English equivalent of saying, “knock knock,” or “Hello, anyone home?” You can also repeat the word twice with no change in meaning, so you can also say  hodi hodi .

If you are the listener, respond with “welcome”:  karibu  (to one person) or  karibuni  (to two or more people).

14.  Habari za Siku Nyingi?

Habari za Siku Nyingi?  is a Swahili version of “long time, no see,” and literally means, “What’s the news of many days?” The response would be the same as the other  habari  expressions in the first part of this article.

You may also be greeted with  siku nyingi sijakuona,  (“Many days I have not seen you.”). If you’re very close with the other person, you can almost jokingly accuse them with  Mbona huonekani?  (“Why don’t you appear?”).

There’s no standard response, and you can just greet the person back however you like.

15.  Pole na Kazi

Pole  is a quintessential Swahili word. It can mean anything from “sorry” to “slow,” and as we saw above,  kazi  means “work.”

This expression can be used when greeting someone who has been exerting effort at work or who has returned from their workplace, for example. It shows you appreciate that someone has worked hard– almost identical to  otsukaresama  in Japanese .

If you want to show your appreciation to the listener that they have also been working hard, you can respond with  pole na wewe  (“You too”) or otherwise simply  asante  (“Thank you”).

Sample Conversation

As I mentioned at the beginning, greetings in Swahili are so important that they can go on for several lines of dialogue. It’s actually quite rude to jump straight to the point without asking someone how they (and possibly their entire family) are doing first!

Here are two examples of dialogues showing how people may actually greet each other in Swahili (and in fact, may go on for much longer!)

Note that the second person uses a different greeting from the first.

A:  Upo? B:  Nipo. Mambo poa? A:  Mambo poa kabisa. Habari za familia? B:  Nzuri sana. Za kwako? A:  Salama tu.

A:  Shikamoo. B:  Marahaba. Hujambo? A:  Sijambo, asante. Habari za mchana? B:  Safi sana. Habari za kazi? A:  Habari za kazi nzuri.

There you have it! 15 greetings to use in Swahili.

Don’t worry if you can’t remember all of these phrases right now. If you are just starting out on your Swahili language journey, I recommend you choose just a couple of phrases. Use them until you get the hang of them.

If you are more experienced, try testing out a new greeting every now and then.

Tanzanians, Kenyans, and others from the Swahili-speaking world are incredibly welcoming people and will happily greet you in their language, so you’ll become a greeting master in no time!

Kelsey Lechner

Translator, teacher, interpreter

Kelsey is a writer, translator, and educator. She is an avid lover of dance, dogs, and tea. LinkedIn | Contently

Speaks: English, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Swahili, Bengali

Have a 15-minute conversation in your new language after 90 days

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Swahili (also known as Kiswahili) is an African language spoken today by between 50 and 100 million people; thus becoming the second most extensive language on the continent after Arabic.

Currently, this language is spoken mostly in Tanzania and Kenya, and also in the border areas of Uganda, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Zambia, Malawi and northern Madagascar.

Mainly we find two theories about its origin: the first says that it was created from the mixture between native Africans and Arabs and Persians who came to the East African coast to commercialize different products. From that mix, a new culture and a new language emerged called Swahili.

The second theory, instead, says that Swahili already existed long before the first Arabs and Persians arrived on the coasts of present-day Kenya and Tanzania. It was spoken by the Bantus of the area who, based on the great influence of the Arab and Persian world of the previous centuries, was adapting new vocabulary to their language. In fact, recent archaeological discoveries show that a Swahili culture already existed long before the arrival of the Arabs or Persians, thus this second theory is more accepted.

Thus, we can say that more than 1,000 years ago, people of various cultures and civilizations came to trade and settle on the east coast of Africa. These merchants mixed with the local Bantu inhabitants of the still unknown African lands who already had their own culture, and who were adapting them as the new merchants arrived. If you want to know more about the history of the East African coast, you can click here .

The Swahili language is of Bantu origin but with a strong influence from other languages ​​such as Arabic, Persian, English or Portuguese; among others. In fact, there are studies that claim to be around 35% Arab influence. He thinks that until the 18th century Kiswahili was written with the Arabic alphabet, although today it is written with the Latin alphabet.

In all spheres of Swahili culture, the Arab, Persian and Indian influence is remarkable. For example, in its commercial routes and in its gastronomy; but also in your language. For example, the word Swahili comes from the Arabic “Sahil” which means coast; although we also find many other words of Arabic origin such as tisa (number nine), rafiki (friend), kahawa (coffee) or baridi (cold).

Some words derived from Persian are chai (tea), serikali (government) or sheha (village chief). Later, with the arrival of the Portuguese and English colonizers, new words such as meza (table), bendera (flag), vineyard (wine) or leso (handkerchief) were adapted to the vocabulary with respect to Portuguese; and baisikle (bicycle), kadi (card), polisis (policeman), picha (photograph) or penselio (pencil) from English. Thus, Swahili is a living language that has been adapted to the nine tenses.

Despite being one of the most important languages ​​on the continent, many use it as a second language, since in Africa we find a long list of local languages ​​that are transmitted orally to new generations. Many of them will learn Swahili in school (for example, in Kenya or Tanzania) where they will not teach their local mother tongue, but Swahili. Thus, we can say that those who have Swahili as their mother tongue are those who live along the eastern coast of Africa, and on the islands opposite. For this reason, we recommend that you visit the Lamu archipelago (you can see our experience here ), or Zanzibar (you can also see our experience here ).

Disney, with the film of The lion king, has popularized the language of Swahili. The expression hakuna matata is used to say that there is no problem (the literal meaning is “no concern”); simba is lion and rafiki means friend. In addition, the BBC has a channel in which only Swahili is spoken; and the song “Liberian girl” by Michael Jackson has part of the lyrics in Swahili (although this language was not reached in Liberia).

Swahili is one of the easiest African languages ​​to learn. Also, it is easy to read because Swahili words are pronounced the same way they are written. In addition, to build sentences the verb conjugation is very simple: they have the different pronouns with 3 different forms (depending on how you want to express the past, the present or the future) but the root of the verb never changes. So, for example, if you want to say “I am going” it will be “ninakwenda”, but if you want to say we are going it will be “tunakwenda” while if you want to say I will go it will be “nitakwenda” and we will go it will be “tutakwenda”. Here are some Swahili words and verbs and their meanings so you can practice:

Habari yako? = How are you? Asante sana = Thank you Vizuri sana = Very good Jambo = Hello Karibu = Welcome Kwenda = Go Safari = Travel Pika = Cook Kunyua = Drink Kula = Eat Wapi = ¿Where…? Shilingi  ngapi = ¿How much does it cost…? Gari = Car Hoteli = Hotel Soma = Read Simba = Lion Twiga = Giraffe Tembo = Elephant Duma = Chettah Chui = Leopard Moja = 1 Mbili = 2 Tatu = 3 Nne = 4 Tanu = 5 Sita = 6 Saba = 7 Nane = 8 Tisa = 9 Kumi = 10 Mia moja = 100 Elf moja = 1.000 Nina = I Una = You Ana = He/She Tuna = We Kwa = You Wana = They

Do you want to start learning it? In Duolinguo you can take some online course. We recommend that before traveling to East Africa you learn some basic words to communicate with people. They will appreciate it very much and you will surely get closer to the local culture.

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Familia: Family in Swahili

• Post author: Language Garage
• Post published: May 28, 2022
• Post category: Swahili / Vocabulary

Photo by Larry Crayton on Unsplash

In this post, we’ll learn vocabulary and expressions that will let you talk about familia family . 

Una familia kubwa? Do you have a big family?

Let’s start with some basic expressions: mama mother ; baba father ; kaka brother ; dada sister ; binti daughter ; bin son , wazazi parents ; watoto children .

• Nina familia kubwa/ndogo. I have a big/small family.
• Mama yangu ni daktari. Baba yangu ni mwalimu. My mother is a doctor. My father is a teacher.

• Una kaka au dada? Do you have brothers or sisters?
• Nina dada mkubwa na kaka mdogo mmoja. I have one older sister and one younger brother.
• Nina kaka watatu. I have three brothers.
• Nina dada wawili. I have two sisters.
• Mimi ni mtoto wa pekee. I am an only child.
• Una watoto wowote? Do you have any children?
• Tuna bin na binti. We have a son and a daughter.
• Nani mkubwa/mdogo kwa familia yako? Who is the oldest/youngest in your family?

Huyu ni shangazi yangu. This is my aunt.

Now let’s look at some vocabulary for extended family: jamaa relatives ; mababu na mabibi grandparents ; nyanya/bibi grandmother ; babu grandfather ; mjukuu wa kiume grandson ; mjukuu wa kike granddaughter ; shangazi aunt ; mjomba uncle ; binamu cousin ; mpwa niece ; mpwa nephew .

• Je, unawaona jamaa zako mara ngapi? How often do you see your relatives?
• Mababu na mabibi wako wanaishi wapi? Where do your grandparents live?
• Nyanya yangu bado anafanya kazi, lakini babu amestaafu. My grandmother is still working, but my grandfather is retired. 
• Tuko na wajukuu watatu: mjukuu wa kiume mmoja na wa kike wawili. We have three grandchildren: one grandson and two granddaughters. 
• Shangazi yangu na mjomba  wanaishi karibu na nyumba yetu. My aunt and uncle live near our house.
• Nina binamu wengi. I have a lot of cousins.
• Mpwa wangu ameanza chuo kikuu. My niece just started university.
• Nina wapwa wanne. I have four nephews.

Tuna mtoto. We have a baby.

Now let’s look at some vocabulary related to family: bibi wife ; mume husband ; rafiki wa kiume boyfriend ; rafiki wa kike girlfriend ; mtoto baby ; mja mzito pregnant ; kuasili to adopt ; kuolewa to get married ; kupata talaka to get divorced ; bila mchumba single/unmarried ; kuzaliwa to be born; kufa to die ; hai alive ; baba wa kambo stepfather ; mama wa kambo stepmother ; bin wa kambo stepson ; binti wa kambo stepdaughter . 

• Je, umeolewa au hujaolewa? Are you married or single?
• Mke/mumeo anafanya kazi gani? What does your wife/husband do for a living?
• Uliolewa lini? When did you get married?
• Tumeoana kwa miaka ishirini. Maadhimisho ya harusi yetu ni wikendi hii. We’ve been married for twenty years. Our wedding anniversary is this weekend.
• Bibi yangu ni mjamzito. Tunapata mtoto katika miezi miwili. My wife is pregnant. We’re having a baby in two months. 
• Jina la mpenzi wako wa kiume/mpenzi wako wa kike ni nani? What is your boyfriend’s/girlfriend’s name?
• Wazazi wangu wametalakiana. My parents are divorced.
• Tutaasilia mtoto We’re going to adopt a child. 
• Niliasiliwa. I was adopted. 
• Bin/binti yako alizaliwa lini? When was your son/daughter born?
• Nyanya  yangu yuko hai, lakini babu yangu amekufa. My grandmother is alive, but my grandfather is dead. 
• Nina uhusiano mzuri na baba yangu wa kambo/mama wa kambo. I have a good relationship with my stepfather/stepmother. 
• Binti yangu wa kambo/bin wa kambo anaishi nasi. My stepdaughter/stepson lives with us.  
• Familia yangu ina mbwa na paka. My family has a dog and a cat.

Do you want to learn Swahili?

Check out our other posts on Swahili language, culture, and more . And if you’re looking for convenient and affordable live Swahili lessons with a real teacher, check out The Language Garage Swahili . Our lessons are given online in a virtual classroom, so it doesn’t matter where you live or work. We can come to you. And we have flexible options, with a free trial so that you can decide if there’s a fit. Check us out!

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• The Case for Marrying an Older Man

A woman’s life is all work and little rest. An age gap relationship can help.

In the summer, in the south of France, my husband and I like to play, rather badly, the lottery. We take long, scorching walks to the village — gratuitous beauty, gratuitous heat — kicking up dust and languid debates over how we’d spend such an influx. I purchase scratch-offs, jackpot tickets, scraping the former with euro coins in restaurants too fine for that. I never cash them in, nor do I check the winning numbers. For I already won something like the lotto, with its gifts and its curses, when he married me.

He is ten years older than I am. I chose him on purpose, not by chance. As far as life decisions go, on balance, I recommend it.

When I was 20 and a junior at Harvard College, a series of great ironies began to mock me. I could study all I wanted, prove myself as exceptional as I liked, and still my fiercest advantage remained so universal it deflated my other plans. My youth. The newness of my face and body. Compellingly effortless; cruelly fleeting. I shared it with the average, idle young woman shrugging down the street. The thought, when it descended on me, jolted my perspective, the way a falling leaf can make you look up: I could diligently craft an ideal existence, over years and years of sleepless nights and industry. Or I could just marry it early.

So naturally I began to lug a heavy suitcase of books each Saturday to the Harvard Business School to work on my Nabokov paper. In one cavernous, well-appointed room sat approximately 50 of the planet’s most suitable bachelors. I had high breasts, most of my eggs, plausible deniability when it came to purity, a flush ponytail, a pep in my step that had yet to run out. Apologies to Progress, but older men still desired those things.

I could not understand why my female classmates did not join me, given their intelligence. Each time I reconsidered the project, it struck me as more reasonable. Why ignore our youth when it amounted to a superpower? Why assume the burdens of womanhood, its too-quick-to-vanish upper hand, but not its brief benefits at least? Perhaps it came easier to avoid the topic wholesale than to accept that women really do have a tragically short window of power, and reason enough to take advantage of that fact while they can. As for me, I liked history, Victorian novels, knew of imminent female pitfalls from all the books I’d read: vampiric boyfriends; labor, at the office and in the hospital, expected simultaneously; a decline in status as we aged, like a looming eclipse. I’d have disliked being called calculating, but I had, like all women, a calculator in my head. I thought it silly to ignore its answers when they pointed to an unfairness for which we really ought to have been preparing.

I was competitive by nature, an English-literature student with all the corresponding major ambitions and minor prospects (Great American novel; email job). A little Bovarist , frantic for new places and ideas; to travel here, to travel there, to be in the room where things happened. I resented the callow boys in my class, who lusted after a particular, socially sanctioned type on campus: thin and sexless, emotionally detached and socially connected, the opposite of me. Restless one Saturday night, I slipped on a red dress and snuck into a graduate-school event, coiling an HDMI cord around my wrist as proof of some technical duty. I danced. I drank for free, until one of the organizers asked me to leave. I called and climbed into an Uber. Then I promptly climbed out of it. For there he was, emerging from the revolving doors. Brown eyes, curved lips, immaculate jacket. I went to him, asked him for a cigarette. A date, days later. A second one, where I discovered he was a person, potentially my favorite kind: funny, clear-eyed, brilliant, on intimate terms with the universe.

I used to love men like men love women — that is, not very well, and with a hunger driven only by my own inadequacies. Not him. In those early days, I spoke fondly of my family, stocked the fridge with his favorite pasta, folded his clothes more neatly than I ever have since. I wrote his mother a thank-you note for hosting me in his native France, something befitting a daughter-in-law. It worked; I meant it. After graduation and my fellowship at Oxford, I stayed in Europe for his career and married him at 23.

Of course I just fell in love. Romances have a setting; I had only intervened to place myself well. Mainly, I spotted the precise trouble of being a woman ahead of time, tried to surf it instead of letting it drown me on principle. I had grown bored of discussions of fair and unfair, equal or unequal , and preferred instead to consider a thing called ease.

The reception of a particular age-gap relationship depends on its obviousness. The greater and more visible the difference in years and status between a man and a woman, the more it strikes others as transactional. Transactional thinking in relationships is both as American as it gets and the least kosher subject in the American romantic lexicon. When a 50-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman walk down the street, the questions form themselves inside of you; they make you feel cynical and obscene: How good of a deal is that? Which party is getting the better one? Would I take it? He is older. Income rises with age, so we assume he has money, at least relative to her; at minimum, more connections and experience. She has supple skin. Energy. Sex. Maybe she gets a Birkin. Maybe he gets a baby long after his prime. The sight of their entwined hands throws a lucid light on the calculations each of us makes, in love, to varying degrees of denial. You could get married in the most romantic place in the world, like I did, and you would still have to sign a contract.

Twenty and 30 is not like 30 and 40; some freshness to my features back then, some clumsiness in my bearing, warped our decade, in the eyes of others, to an uncrossable gulf. Perhaps this explains the anger we felt directed at us at the start of our relationship. People seemed to take us very, very personally. I recall a hellish car ride with a friend of his who began to castigate me in the backseat, in tones so low that only I could hear him. He told me, You wanted a rich boyfriend. You chased and snuck into parties . He spared me the insult of gold digger, but he drew, with other words, the outline for it. Most offended were the single older women, my husband’s classmates. They discussed me in the bathroom at parties when I was in the stall. What does he see in her? What do they talk about? They were concerned about me. They wielded their concern like a bludgeon. They paraphrased without meaning to my favorite line from Nabokov’s Lolita : “You took advantage of my disadvantage,” suspecting me of some weakness he in turn mined. It did not disturb them, so much, to consider that all relationships were trades. The trouble was the trade I’d made struck them as a bad one.

The truth is you can fall in love with someone for all sorts of reasons, tiny transactions, pluses and minuses, whose sum is your affection for each other, your loyalty, your commitment. The way someone picks up your favorite croissant. Their habit of listening hard. What they do for you on your anniversary and your reciprocal gesture, wrapped thoughtfully. The serenity they inspire; your happiness, enlivening it. When someone says they feel unappreciated, what they really mean is you’re in debt to them.

When I think of same-age, same-stage relationships, what I tend to picture is a woman who is doing too much for too little.

I’m 27 now, and most women my age have “partners.” These days, girls become partners quite young. A partner is supposed to be a modern answer to the oppression of marriage, the terrible feeling of someone looming over you, head of a household to which you can only ever be the neck. Necks are vulnerable. The problem with a partner, however, is if you’re equal in all things, you compromise in all things. And men are too skilled at taking .

There is a boy out there who knows how to floss because my friend taught him. Now he kisses college girls with fresh breath. A boy married to my friend who doesn’t know how to pack his own suitcase. She “likes to do it for him.” A million boys who know how to touch a woman, who go to therapy because they were pushed, who learned fidelity, boundaries, decency, manners, to use a top sheet and act humanely beneath it, to call their mothers, match colors, bring flowers to a funeral and inhale, exhale in the face of rage, because some girl, some girl we know, some girl they probably don’t speak to and will never, ever credit, took the time to teach him. All while she was working, raising herself, clawing up the cliff-face of adulthood. Hauling him at her own expense.

I find a post on Reddit where five thousand men try to define “ a woman’s touch .” They describe raised flower beds, blankets, photographs of their loved ones, not hers, sprouting on the mantel overnight. Candles, coasters, side tables. Someone remembering to take lint out of the dryer. To give compliments. I wonder what these women are getting back. I imagine them like Cinderella’s mice, scurrying around, their sole proof of life their contributions to a more central character. On occasion I meet a nice couple, who grew up together. They know each other with a fraternalism tender and alien to me.  But I think of all my friends who failed at this, were failed at this, and I think, No, absolutely not, too risky . Riskier, sometimes, than an age gap.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, handsome, successful, but in many ways: an endearing disaster. By his age, I had long since wisened up. He leaves his clothes in the dryer, takes out a single shirt, steams it for three minutes. His towel on the floor, for someone else to retrieve. His lovely, same-age girlfriend is aching to fix these tendencies, among others. She is capable beyond words. Statistically, they will not end up together. He moved into his first place recently, and she, the girlfriend, supplied him with a long, detailed list of things he needed for his apartment: sheets, towels, hangers, a colander, which made me laugh. She picked out his couch. I will bet you anything she will fix his laundry habits, and if so, they will impress the next girl. If they break up, she will never see that couch again, and he will forget its story. I tell her when I visit because I like her, though I get in trouble for it: You shouldn’t do so much for him, not for someone who is not stuck with you, not for any boy, not even for my wonderful brother.

Too much work had left my husband, by 30, jaded and uninspired. He’d burned out — but I could reenchant things. I danced at restaurants when they played a song I liked. I turned grocery shopping into an adventure, pleased by what I provided. Ambitious, hungry, he needed someone smart enough to sustain his interest, but flexible enough in her habits to build them around his hours. I could. I do: read myself occupied, make myself free, materialize beside him when he calls for me. In exchange, I left a lucrative but deadening spreadsheet job to write full-time, without having to live like a writer. I learned to cook, a little, and decorate, somewhat poorly. Mostly I get to read, to walk central London and Miami and think in delicious circles, to work hard, when necessary, for free, and write stories for far less than minimum wage when I tally all the hours I take to write them.

At 20, I had felt daunted by the project of becoming my ideal self, couldn’t imagine doing it in tandem with someone, two raw lumps of clay trying to mold one another and only sullying things worse. I’d go on dates with boys my age and leave with the impression they were telling me not about themselves but some person who didn’t exist yet and on whom I was meant to bet regardless. My husband struck me instead as so finished, formed. Analyzable for compatibility. He bore the traces of other women who’d improved him, small but crucial basics like use a coaster ; listen, don’t give advice. Young egos mellow into patience and generosity.

My husband isn’t my partner. He’s my mentor, my lover, and, only in certain contexts, my friend. I’ll never forget it, how he showed me around our first place like he was introducing me to myself: This is the wine you’ll drink, where you’ll keep your clothes, we vacation here, this is the other language we’ll speak, you’ll learn it, and I did. Adulthood seemed a series of exhausting obligations. But his logistics ran so smoothly that he simply tacked mine on. I moved into his flat, onto his level, drag and drop, cleaner thrice a week, bills automatic. By opting out of partnership in my 20s, I granted myself a kind of compartmentalized, liberating selfishness none of my friends have managed. I am the work in progress, the party we worry about, a surprising dominance. When I searched for my first job, at 21, we combined our efforts, for my sake. He had wisdom to impart, contacts with whom he arranged coffees; we spent an afternoon, laughing, drawing up earnest lists of my pros and cons (highly sociable; sloppy math). Meanwhile, I took calls from a dear friend who had a boyfriend her age. Both savagely ambitious, hyperclose and entwined in each other’s projects. If each was a start-up , the other was the first hire, an intense dedication I found riveting. Yet every time she called me, I hung up with the distinct feeling that too much was happening at the same time: both learning to please a boss; to forge more adult relationships with their families; to pay bills and taxes and hang prints on the wall. Neither had any advice to give and certainly no stability. I pictured a three-legged race, two people tied together and hobbling toward every milestone.

I don’t fool myself. My marriage has its cons. There are only so many times one can say “thank you” — for splendid scenes, fine dinners — before the phrase starts to grate. I live in an apartment whose rent he pays and that shapes the freedom with which I can ever be angry with him. He doesn’t have to hold it over my head. It just floats there, complicating usual shorthands to explain dissatisfaction like, You aren’t being supportive lately . It’s a Frenchism to say, “Take a decision,” and from time to time I joke: from whom? Occasionally I find myself in some fabulous country at some fabulous party and I think what a long way I have traveled, like a lucky cloud, and it is frightening to think of oneself as vapor.

Mostly I worry that if he ever betrayed me and I had to move on, I would survive, but would find in my humor, preferences, the way I make coffee or the bed nothing that he did not teach, change, mold, recompose, stamp with his initials, the way Renaissance painters hid in their paintings their faces among a crowd. I wonder if when they looked at their paintings, they saw their own faces first. But this is the wrong question, if our aim is happiness. Like the other question on which I’m expected to dwell: Who is in charge, the man who drives or the woman who put him there so she could enjoy herself? I sit in the car, in the painting it would have taken me a corporate job and 20 years to paint alone, and my concern over who has the upper hand becomes as distant as the horizon, the one he and I made so wide for me.

To be a woman is to race against the clock, in several ways, until there is nothing left to be but run ragged.

We try to put it off, but it will hit us at some point: that we live in a world in which our power has a different shape from that of men, a different distribution of advantage, ours a funnel and theirs an expanding cone. A woman at 20 rarely has to earn her welcome; a boy at 20 will be turned away at the door. A woman at 30 may find a younger woman has taken her seat; a man at 30 will have invited her. I think back to the women in the bathroom, my husband’s classmates. What was my relationship if not an inconvertible sign of this unfairness? What was I doing, in marrying older, if not endorsing it? I had taken advantage of their disadvantage. I had preempted my own. After all, principled women are meant to defy unfairness, to show some integrity or denial, not plan around it, like I had. These were driven women, successful, beautiful, capable. I merely possessed the one thing they had already lost. In getting ahead of the problem, had I pushed them down? If I hadn’t, would it really have made any difference?

When we decided we wanted to be equal to men, we got on men’s time. We worked when they worked, retired when they retired, had to squeeze pregnancy, children, menopause somewhere impossibly in the margins. I have a friend, in her late 20s, who wears a mood ring; these days it is often red, flickering in the air like a siren when she explains her predicament to me. She has raised her fair share of same-age boyfriends. She has put her head down, worked laboriously alongside them, too. At last she is beginning to reap the dividends, earning the income to finally enjoy herself. But it is now, exactly at this precipice of freedom and pleasure, that a time problem comes closing in. If she would like to have children before 35, she must begin her next profession, motherhood, rather soon, compromising inevitably her original one. The same-age partner, equally unsettled in his career, will take only the minimum time off, she guesses, or else pay some cost which will come back to bite her. Everything unfailingly does. If she freezes her eggs to buy time, the decision and its logistics will burden her singly — and perhaps it will not work. Overlay the years a woman is supposed to establish herself in her career and her fertility window and it’s a perfect, miserable circle. By midlife women report feeling invisible, undervalued; it is a telling cliché, that after all this, some husbands leave for a younger girl. So when is her time, exactly? For leisure, ease, liberty? There is no brand of feminism which achieved female rest. If women’s problem in the ’50s was a paralyzing malaise, now it is that they are too active, too capable, never permitted a vacation they didn’t plan. It’s not that our efforts to have it all were fated for failure. They simply weren’t imaginative enough.

For me, my relationship, with its age gap, has alleviated this rush , permitted me to massage the clock, shift its hands to my benefit. Very soon, we will decide to have children, and I don’t panic over last gasps of fun, because I took so many big breaths of it early: on the holidays of someone who had worked a decade longer than I had, in beautiful places when I was young and beautiful, a symmetry I recommend. If such a thing as maternal energy exists, mine was never depleted. I spent the last nearly seven years supported more than I support and I am still not as old as my husband was when he met me. When I have a child, I will expect more help from him than I would if he were younger, for what does professional tenure earn you if not the right to set more limits on work demands — or, if not, to secure some child care, at the very least? When I return to work after maternal upheaval, he will aid me, as he’s always had, with his ability to put himself aside, as younger men are rarely able.

Above all, the great gift of my marriage is flexibility. A chance to live my life before I become responsible for someone else’s — a lover’s, or a child’s. A chance to write. A chance at a destiny that doesn’t adhere rigidly to the routines and timelines of men, but lends itself instead to roomy accommodation, to the very fluidity Betty Friedan dreamed of in 1963 in The Feminine Mystique , but we’ve largely forgotten: some career or style of life that “permits year-to-year variation — a full-time paid job in one community, part-time in another, exercise of the professional skill in serious volunteer work or a period of study during pregnancy or early motherhood when a full-time job is not feasible.” Some things are just not feasible in our current structures. Somewhere along the way we stopped admitting that, and all we did was make women feel like personal failures. I dream of new structures, a world in which women have entry-level jobs in their 30s; alternate avenues for promotion; corporate ladders with balconies on which they can stand still, have a smoke, take a break, make a baby, enjoy themselves, before they keep climbing. Perhaps men long for this in their own way. Actually I am sure of that.

Once, when we first fell in love, I put my head in his lap on a long car ride; I remember his hands on my face, the sun, the twisting turns of a mountain road, surprising and not surprising us like our romance, and his voice, telling me that it was his biggest regret that I was so young, he feared he would lose me. Last week, we looked back at old photos and agreed we’d given each other our respective best years. Sometimes real equality is not so obvious, sometimes it takes turns, sometimes it takes almost a decade to reveal itself.

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Guest Essay

‘If You See a Fox and I’ve Died, It Will Be Me’

By Sarah Wildman

Ms. Wildman is a staff writer and editor in Opinion.

A block from my house at the edge of Washington, there is a winding park with a road running through it. One Sunday recently, walking my regular loop along the trail, I heard leaves rustling on the wooded hill above me. I often see deer here; this time it was a bright young fox.

She paused. We stood there for a moment, she and I, aware. I wanted desperately for her to come closer, to stay in her orbit a moment longer. I lingered long after she left.

Sometime in my daughter Orli’s last months of life, she told me, lightly, “If you see a fox and I’ve died, it will be me.” I had never seen a fox in my neighborhood. Over the past several months, I have seen maybe a half dozen, here and elsewhere. Each time, I try to quell my desire to shout out, to ask the animal to stay, to call it by her name. It feels crazy; it feels sane.

I had never believed in signs. Now I notice when an interview runs exactly 1 hour and 13 minutes or when the hour is exactly 1:13. Orli was born on Jan. 13. It means nothing; it means something. A double rainbow stretched over a farm in Maine represents more than beauty.

March 17 will be one year since Orli died in our house, in her room, in my arms; March 20 a year since her burial. (In a quirk of this year’s Jewish calendar, the date of her yahrzeit, or memorial date, is some weeks farther on.)

A year is a strange and terrible marker of time, simultaneously endless and instant. A year of loss is a new form of permanence: This is the life we lead. It will not change. A year furthers us on the long march toward our altered future. In the life of a child, a year is transformative. Her peers have molted in the year from 14 to 15. They no longer attend the same school; they have begun new sports, met new friends, moved forward, moved on.

There is an immutability to a year of grief, a sense of solidity to the loss, a movement from the surreality of her absence into a hardened space. It’s not as though I believe she might return, but in the year between her death and now, I remain connected to her presence. My partner, Ian, has spent part of this year adding tattoos to his arms, each an ode to Orli, permanent signifiers of permanent loss. My younger daughter, Hana, has written through her grief; she notes, often, the lack of insight her peers have into the depth of losing a sister. Meanwhile, I wonder if I should keep every item of clothing I can picture Orli in, I wonder what she would say about each movie I see, each book I read. I yearn for her commentary.

On Orli’s birthday, one of her long-distance friends wrote to me, “Whether you consent or not, I bring Orli along in every escapade,” in good decisions, in hidden poor ones. She understood the essence of being human is to be mischievous, of both choosing well and of making bad decisions. I never craved a perfect child, just a living one.

The day before our first birthday without Orli, Hana, Ian and I — walking from separate directions — came upon a fox idling on a street corner, as though waiting for us.

Most of this year I have worked to center memories of Orli’s better moments, the joy she infused in each minute she got to live. One month after her first brain tumor surgery, when she’d rebounded better than any of us could have hoped, we met old friends from Spain for dinner. As we ate, a sudden, drenching storm came up. Orli got up and ran into the warm rain with our friends’ children, dancing, thrilled. It was, she told me, a “bucket list moment.”

She seemed to realize, far earlier than I, she had to lean into each experience, to expand it, to let it fuel her for whatever came next. In her journal she worried she might not see ninth grade. She did not share that with her friends.

Each of us in our rump family has felt an almost visceral physicality of these past few weeks — the slide from her birthday toward this anniversary, the terrible knowledge that we each hold of the last moments of her life, the good minutes we had, the harder hours, the terror of those final days.

In her last week, one doctor cornered me at the hospital to tell me Orli shouldn’t be here anymore. It was not clear if he meant “here, still receiving palliative treatment,” or “here, on earth.” She was fading, I knew. But it felt an awful thing to say — unforgivable, really. I thought of Abraham arguing with God to save the wicked towns . I wanted to ask: But what if I get 15 good minutes with her each hour? Or five? Orli was adamant she did not want to die.

In Judaism a child who is an avel, or mourner, is to stop saying Mourner’s Kaddish for her parent at 11 months as she re-emerges into the community. But because parents who have lost a child have no obligation beyond the first 30 days, this marker holds no meaning. And because those who have lost children are, in many ways, forever seen as mourners, forever noted for their loss, we remain on the margin — in the community but not entirely of it. Once, early in Orli’s illness, on the same path where I saw the fox, I overheard a woman, just slightly still within my earshot, who passed me. “That’s Sarah Wildman, the woman whose daughter …”

I tend to walk alone on this path. Grief of this kind is simultaneously universal and unshareable; loneliness is its inherent point of reference. I cannot conceive that March 18 will be drastically different from March 17.

When 2023 turned to 2024, I thought: It is a terrible thing to buy a calendar for a year Orli will not see. Still, I put up a calendar in her old room, the same feminist calendar she chose each year. As February turned to March, I found the page hard to flip over. Until this point, I have been able to look at the photos in my phone and say: This time last year, we were at this concert, we were at this movie, we had this meal. Now those memories slide farther back. These days Ian often sits in her room, working. He likes to be near her, and so, most nights, in homage to her, I straighten up after him — he is a mess, she craved order. I do it for her, I do it for me.

In early September, not quite six months after Orli died, I interviewed the actor Rob Delaney, who wrote a bracing, visceral book about his young son Henry’s life and death from brain cancer. “You probably at this point regularly — what, every day? — are shocked by the fact that she’s gone. Right?” Mr. Delaney asked me halfway through our call. “For better or for worse — I guess for the survival of the species, it’s for the better — but the acute physical pain will not go away. But it’ll weave itself into your life in a way where threads of Orli will be in the tapestry of your life forever,” he said.

“And in a few years, you’re going to wrap yourself in the tapestry of your life and marvel at the beauty of the threads of Hana and Orli and Ian, and it’ll all be — you will metabolize her life and her death, in a way where you feel a thousand things.” One of those things will always be “disbelief and pain,” he said. “That won’t go away.”

In the first days of March, Hana and I went to speak at Orli’s old school at a Women’s History Month assembly held in her honor. Orli had an “intuitive sense of justice, about doing what’s right in the world, about showing up for her friends and herself,” I told sixth, seventh and eighth graders, aware some of them would have known Orli only as that girl who died.

It was Hana who spoke best. “Orli was like an emotion,” she told the assembled children, all older than she. “I think I will never get over her. It might get less hard, but I will never not be sad.”

It wasn’t until that night, in bed, that I wept. The teachers still knew her as she was, I realized. I craved their memories.

“How are you?” each of them asked, as people often do. “Aquí estoy,” I said, as I have come to say. I’m here.

Sarah Wildman is a staff editor and writer in Opinion. She is the author of “Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind.”

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Who will Trump pick as his running mate? In 2024, the ‘Veepstakes’ are higher than usual

Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University

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Being second in line for leadership of the most powerful country in the world is not an easy job. But for Mike Pence, vice president under Donald Trump, things were even harder than usual.

As insurrectionists descended on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, they had a specific target in mind – the outgoing vice president. They built a wooden gallows, and called out for him by name: “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!”

As the extensive congressional hearings into the insurrection later documented, the threats were not hollow. One informant told FBI investigators that “if given the chance”, certain far-right insurrectionists would have tried to kill him. Pence escaped with his life, but only just .

The insurrectionists, as a federal investigation alleges, were drawn to the Capitol by Trump, who had just lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. They were after Trump’s VP because, as one later claimed, he had “ betrayed ” Trump by not refusing to certify the election results.

The job of vice president of the United States is not a normal one at the best of times. The person chosen to run alongside Trump in this year’s election will no doubt be keeping Pence’s experience in mind. It will likely be someone who can convincingly pledge undying loyalty to Trump. The former president – and his supporters – will expect nothing less.

Speculation over who that person might be is heating up, and Trump, as usual, is relishing drawing out the process in order to gain as much attention as possible. So, who – and how – will he choose?

Making race a priority

A vice presidential candidate is usually chosen based on a political calculation. For instance, the running mate can be seen to offset a presidential nominee’s weaknesses (be they real or perceived).

The relatively young northerner John F. Kennedy, for example, chose the much more politically experienced southerner, Lyndon B. Johnson. Barack Obama, running to be the first Black president, similarly chose the older and more experienced – and reassuringly white – Biden.

In his first run, Trump settled on Pence to offset his perceived weakness with evangelical voters – a critical mobilising base to any Republican candidate.

Read more: Why 'wokeness' has become the latest battlefront for white conservatives in America

Viewed through this lens, the commonly accepted wisdom is that Trump has both a race and a woman problem, and that he should choose a VP candidate who can address at least one of those concerns.

In the first category, the leading candidates appear to be two men who ran against Trump for this year’s nomination – Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Scott – a South Carolinian that Bloomberg has dubbed “Trump’s New Black Best Friend” – is the only Black Republican in the Senate. He has certainly indicated he is keen for the job, professing his love for Trump and recently announcing his engagement (being single is generally regarded as a political liability ).

During the Republican campaign for the presidential nomination, Ramaswamy had presented himself as the newer, shinier Trump. In one memorable moment in the debates, he was first to raise his hand when the candidates were asked who would still support Trump if he is convicted of a crime. Ramaswamy also quickly endorsed Trump when he dropped out.

Trump would no doubt be pleased with such public professions of loyalty. But there is no indication Trump considers race to be a problem for his candidacy – in fact, quite the opposite.

Trump has been leaning in to increasingly extreme racist rhetoric. If he thought race mattered to his chances, he would likely be behaving differently. Trump’s political rise began with his racist “birther” conspiracies about Obama. It is not a stretch to suggest many of his supporters would baulk at a ticket that wasn’t entirely white.

Why a conservative woman might make sense

In the second category, the accepted wisdom is that Trump’s “ woman problem ” is a direct result of the signature achievement of his administration: the appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, which subsequently led to the overturning of Roe v Wade.

As Biden put it recently , candidates underestimate the political and electoral power of women at their peril.

Among the leading women Republican VP candidates are Elise Stefanik, a congresswoman from New York, and Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota.

The fact both are considered leading candidates reveals the political calculations behind Trump’s possible selection. While Trump has flip-flopped on abortion restrictions himself, both Stefanik and Noem have extremely conservative positions on reproductive rights.

And given what we know about Trump’s views on women, it seems likely his judgement would be almost entirely aesthetic. There is a very specific political reason why Noem has grown out her hair and gotten new teeth.

Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Green is often added to this list, but may have slimmer chances. While she literally wears her Trump loyalty on her head , she attracts a lot of attention. And Trump does not much like to share the spotlight.

It’s also entirely possible Trump will go with a wildcard candidate. He is increasingly resentful of what we could loosely characterise as “establishment” political advice designed to curb his worst instincts. His campaign is now almost entirely based on a desire for revenge and retribution against the people he believes held him back.

There has never been a reason to believe Trump will follow conventional political wisdom.

The stakes are higher than usual

Given the cult of personality that has developed around Trump, some argue his choice of running mate is unlikely to shift many votes. As a result, it doesn’t actually matter all that much.

Other keen watchers of American politics, though, argue the opposite. Given the advanced ages of both Trump and Biden, the VP pick is more important than usual, not least because of the higher-than-normal chance this person could be elevated to the Oval Office at some point.

Read more: Biden and Trump, though old, are both likely to survive to the end of the next president's term, demographers explain

In Trump’s case, some argue that if he wins, he will be a “lame duck” president from day one since it would be his second term in office. So, all eyes will be on his VP as the presumptive nominee for 2028.

This glosses over the very real questions about the continuity of constitutional law under a second Trump presidency, and ignores the noises Trump supporters are already making about trying to remove presidential term limits. It also assumes that, like Pence, Trump’s next VP would choose to put their own political future or American democracy above being an enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s authoritarianism. This is unlikely.

Like everything this time around, the stakes are higher than usual.

• Donald Trump
• Vice President
• 2024 US presidential election
• Vivek Ramaswamy

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