East Africa · Central Africa
Kinyarwanda
IkinyarwandaThe national language of Rwanda, spoken by virtually the whole population — one of Africa's rare one-country-one-language cases. Formal speech is full of blessings and proverbs.
- Family
- Niger–Congo (Bantu)
- Script
- Latin
- Speakers
- ~15 million speakers (Kirundi is nearly identical)
- Spoken in
- Rwanda, Uganda, DR Congo, Burundi
The course
Five units, one word at a time
0/5 mastered
Unit 1
Greetings
Rwandan greetings, from formal to friendly.
- Muraho — Hello
- Mwaramutse — Good morning
- Amakuru? — What's the news? (how are you)
- Ni meza — It's good / I'm fine
- Murakoze — Thank you
- Murabeho — Goodbye
Unit 2
People and family
Who is who in the family compound.
- Umuntu — Person
- Abantu — People
- Mama — Mother
- Papa / Data — Father
- Inshuti — Friend
- Umwana — Child
Unit 3
Numbers one to ten
Counting hills, francs and days.
- Rimwe — One
- Kabiri — Two
- Gatatu — Three
- Kane — Four
- Gatanu — Five
- Icumi — Ten
Unit 4
Food and the market
Buying at the market in Kigali.
- Amazi — Water
- Ibiryo — Food
- Amata — Milk
- Ni angahe? — How much is it?
- Isoko — Market
- Ndashaka — I want
Unit 5
Getting around
Land of a thousand hills — you'll ask for directions.
- He? — Where?
- Sinumva — I don't understand
- Nyabuneka — Please
- Yego — Yes
- Oya — No
- Tugende — Let's go
How to sound right
- 'R' and 'l' are the same sound; 'w' after a consonant is a quick glide.
- Verbs stack prefixes for who, when and what — one word can be a whole sentence.
- Muraho greets anyone; mwaramutse is for the morning.
The audio button in lessons uses your device's speech engine, which rarely has a native African voice. Treat it as a rough guide and trust the written pronunciation hints and the coach instead.
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