Indian Ocean · Southern Africa
Malagasy
MalagasyAfrica's only Austronesian language, carried to Madagascar by seafarers from Borneo around 1,500 years ago and then layered with Bantu, Arabic, Swahili and French words.
- Family
- Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian)
- Script
- Latin
- Speakers
- ~25 million speakers
- Spoken in
- Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte
The course
Five units, one word at a time
0/5 mastered
Unit 1
Greetings
Island greetings, formal and casual.
- Manao ahoana — Hello / how are you?
- Salama — Hi (casual)
- Tsara fa misaotra — Fine, thank you
- Misaotra — Thank you
- Tongasoa — Welcome
- Veloma — Goodbye
Unit 2
People and family
Family and ancestors, the centre of Malagasy life.
- Olona — Person
- Vehivavy — Woman
- Lehilahy — Man
- Neny — Mother
- Dada — Father
- Namana — Friend
Unit 3
Numbers one to ten
Austronesian roots you can still hear.
- Iray — One
- Roa — Two
- Telo — Three
- Efatra — Four
- Dimy — Five
- Folo — Ten
Unit 4
Food and the market
Rice is eaten three times a day here.
- Vary — Rice
- Rano — Water
- Sakafo — Food
- Ohatrinona? — How much?
- Tsena — Market
- Mila aho — I need / want
Unit 5
Getting around
Taxi-brousse travel basics.
- Aiza? — Where?
- Tsy azoko — I don't understand
- Azafady — Please / excuse me
- Eny — Yes
- Tsia — No
- Andao — Let's go
How to sound right
- Final syllables are often barely voiced — 'manao ahoana' sounds like ma-now OWN.
- The letter 'o' is pronounced 'oo', and 'j' sounds like 'dz'.
- Speech is famously indirect; proverbs (ohabolana) do a lot of the work.
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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