nio far
Practice Wolof, thank me later.
This post will continue as I add new phrases and conversational words I’ve been using regularly for reference.
GREETINGS & ESSENTIALS
Salaam aleekum (Sa-laam-a-ley-kum): hello;
Respond with malekum salaam (mal-ay-kum-sal-aam): hello to you
Literally meaning ‘peace be upon you’ (with the response meaning ‘peace also be unto you’)
Na nga def (nan-ga-def): how are you?
Respond with maa ngi fi (man-gi-fi): I’m fine, thanks
Jërejëf (je-re-jef): thank you
Waaw / déedéyt (wao / dey-dey): yes / no
Dégg naa / dégguma (deg-na / deg-goo-ma): I understand / I don’t understand
Baal ma (baal-ma): sorry or pardon me
Mangi dem (man-gee-dem): goodbye, I’m going
leegi leegi (see you shortly); ba beneen (see you next time);
yendu ak jamm (have a nice day).
Ba suba (see you tomorrow)
DIRECTIONS
Ana wanaag wi (ana-wan-aag-wee): where is the toilet?
Jaddal sa cammon / jaddal sa ndeyjoor (jad-dal-sa-cam-mon / jad-dal-sa-jay-jor): turn left / turn right
Tahawal fee (ta-ha-wal-fee): stop here
EATING
Dama xiif / dama mar (da-ma-keef / da-ma-marr): I’m hungry / thirsty
Ndox (ndorrh): water
Neex na (nay-na): it’s delicious
safna sap (saf-narr-sap) means ‘this tastes wonderful’.
SHOPPING
Ñaata la? / ñaata lay jar (ni-ata-la / ni-ata-lay-jar): how much? / how much is it?
Dafa Seer / seer na lool (da-fa-sher / sher-na-lool): it’s expensive / that’s very expensive
Waañi ko (oua-ni-ko ): lower the price
Numbers
Dara/nayn (da-ra/nayn) – 0
Benn (ben): 1
Naar (nyaar): 2
Nett (nyet): 3
Nent (nyent): 4
Juroom (joo-room): 5
Juroom benn (joo-room ben): 6
Juroom naar (joo-room nyaar): 7
Juroom nett (joo-room nyet): 8
Juroom nent (joo-room nyent): 9
Fukk (fook): 10
Téeméer (tee-meer): 100
Junni (joo-nee): 1,000
WITH FRIENDS
Nanga tudd (nan-ga-tud): What is your name?
Respond with maa ngi tudd (man-gee-tud): my name is…
Rafet na (raf-et-na): it’s beautiful
Toubab (too-bab): foreigner (westerner)
Dama tang / sedd / sonn (da-ma tang / sed / son): I am hot / cold / tired
Dama is ‘I’, dafa is ‘he/she’ and dañu is ‘we’.
Credits —
These translations are from The Culture Trip, but through my journey I can say these are all essential and relatively accurate — spellings can appear many ways.
Other links I reference regularly and highly recommend:
Wolof 101
Useful Phrases in Wolof
Essential Wolof
Peace Corps Senegal
Handy Phrase Guide
Wolof Flash Cards
@wolofacademy
@wolofdictionary
@wordswolof
@proverbe_woloff
FRENCH + wolof TUTORS:
books I’ve purchased and use:
My First Tri-Lingual Book of Numbers. English- French- Wolof
Wolof Language: The Wolof Phrasebook and Dictionary
Talking Wolof with Da' African Village: A Speaker's Guide to Senegal/West Africa
But of course,
the very BEST way to learn is through actually speaking, making friends and not being afraid to sound completely crazy, because sometimes they are feeling the exact same way about using your language.
What I love most about wolof is the variety of dialects, DEEP WOLOF, the myriad of spellings and how much it reminds me about MDW NTR and learning to speak the ancient language.
enjoy!