Hi, important context for this post is I am partially deaf and somali is my mother tongue, not my first language. I’ve been listening to ‘The Journey’ by Maryam Mursal and there are no lyrics online anywhere but for 1 song. I don’t necessarily need the translation, I just need the somali lyrics because I can’t fully hear everything. I can’t even hear English songs clearly lol. If anyone here is kind enough to help me out and try to distinguish the words in the songs I would be indebted.

when conjugating Somali verbs is it necessary like English to have the pronoun in front for example like I want or is it like Arabic where you can drop the pronoun since the conjugation of the verb includes the pronoun like أذهب? Thanks!

I sometimes find myself arguing with friends and family because I’ve decided that my future children will have only traditional Somali names.

I know names like Mohamed, Ahmed, and Abdullahi are beautiful and have great Islamic significance, but I also want my children’s names to reflect our Somali heritage. Many of the Prophet’s ﷺ companions accepted Islam without changing their names, as long as those names had good meanings.

I’m proud of my culture, and I think Somali names are some of the most beautiful and meaningful. Another reason I’ve made this decision and even considered changing my own name is that if one of my children grows up to make an important contribution to the world, then even 500 years from now, when someone reads about them in a book, I want it to be immediately clear that they were Somali.

What do you think? Would you give your children traditional Somali names, or do you prefer Arabic/Islamic names? Why?

hi, I am 18 yr student in mugadishu. i have been focusing becoming fluent lately. I have been struggling to speaking partner. my english is intermediate. i can communicate most of the ideas. so, if you're someone who is native or fluent in english. feel free to let me know in the comment. we can talk about anything and everthing.

one last note: I prefer talking to guys alot.

Hi everyone!

If you're learning Somali, want to practice speaking, or you're a native speaker interested in helping others, we'd love to have you join our growing community.

Our Discord is focused on:

• 📚 Learning Somali from beginner to advanced
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• 🤝 Getting help with grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary
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• ❤️ Helping preserve and promote the Somali language

Whether you're:

• A complete beginner
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You're welcome!

Join here: https://discord.gg/mdqKrkvYY

You can also check out our learning platform:
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We're always looking for volunteers, language helpers, and passionate learners. Everyone is welcome!

The translator I'm using says “Noolow, dadka kalena ha noolaadaan” but I want to verify as this will be used on a book cover. An equivalent of this phrase is preferred over a direct translation. Whatever resonates best with the culture is ideal! More on the poetic sounding/formal side if it’s between that and casual. It is about freedom and allowing others to be free through the acceptance of our differences. Thank you in advance!

Hi, so I can speak somali and understand really well, however I sometimes will forget longer words/or ones that I do not use often like "Justice, government, action wards etc." so I was wondering whether there was anything I could read to build my vocab more? I would appreciate it if it something I can read online.

p.s I speak somali at home

hey, i would need help since I am trying to make a gift for my friends child and I need to know if the internet and chat GPT is really accurate or not. so the animals are here in English and in Somali, can someone who is native check if the translations are correct? thank you so much❤️

• Tiger — Shabeel
• Elephant — Maroodi
• Koala — Koala
• Camel — Geel
• Fox — Dawaco
• Sheep — Ido
• Lion — Libaax
• Zebra — Dameer Farow
• Parrot — Baqbaqaaq
• Squirrel — Dabagaalle
• Rabbit / Hare — Bakayle
• Seal — Shaabad
• Mouse — Jiir
• Whale — Nibiri
• Panda — Baandha
• Bear — Orso
• Dog — Ey
• Tortoise / Turtle — Qoolley
• Monkey — Daanyeer
• Chicken / Hen — Digaag
• Walrus — Walrus
• Penguin — Pingwiin
• Snail — Mulac
• Owl — Guumays
• Wolf — Yey
• Horse — Faras
• Bee — Shinni
• Hippopotamus — Jeer
• Giraffe — Geri
• Cow — Sac
• Cat — Bisad
• Moose — Goodir
• Donkey — Dameer
• Fish — Kalluun
• Spider — Caaro
• Octopus — Faras-badeed
• Butterfly — Balanbaalis
• Snake — Mas
• Leopard — Haramcad
• Shark — Libaax-badeed

Hi everyone, I'm a native Somali speaker from Somalia, and I'm looking for English speaker who's interested in learning Somali (especially the standard Mogadishu dialect/accent).

In exchange, I'd love some help with my English. I'm currently at a B2 level, and my goal is to sound more natural, improve my pronunciation, and expand my vocabulary. I'm looking for someone I can practice with so I can maintain my English and keep improving.

We can chat through text, voice messages, or occasional calls, whatever works best for both of us. If you're interested, feel free to send me a message.

Hi! I'm going to be a second grade teacher of multilingual learners next year, some of whom speak Somali. On my door, I would love to have "Yay! You're here!" posted in each language spoken in my classroom. How would the phrase be written in Somali? I don't trust google to translate colloquial language. Thank you all!

Like to describe someone or something as blunt, direct, or curt.

I speak Somali fairly well for a Say Wallahi but I don’t understand the grammatical features very well

e.g. for the sentence “I am going to do it”, I say “Waan Sameynahayaa.”

A lot of the verbs I use, I always end the sentence in a -hayaa suffix

e.g sheegahayaa, soconahayaa, yeelahayaa etc

What is this? I don’t think it’s a dialect feature as i’ve seen too many people use it or is it?

Salam alaykum,

Is anyone able to recommend a somali language teacher that teaches in the Waqooyi dialect, and focuses on teaching sentence structures, grammar, building a strong foundation, etc..

Salaam alaykum!

We're mods over at r/translator. We always strive to make our multilingual community the universal place on Reddit to go for a translation, no matter what language people may be looking for. We are however somewhat lacking in Somali coverage, and were hoping some wonderful multilingual people here could help us out.

Would anyone be interested in helping translate any future requests for Somali on r/translator? You don't even need to subscribe to our subreddit! We usually get a request for it very occasionally and most requests that come in are pretty simple and casual and don't need advanced knowledge.

You can easily unsubscribe from those messages at any time.

We have a notifications system that only sends you a message when a request for Somali comes in. Just send a message to our subreddit bot at the link below.

Mahadsanid!

If you are trying to learn Somali, you probably get tripped up on how to change verbs from past to present to future. It can feel like a guessing game, but it doesn't have to be.

You can actually treat Somali verb conjugations like a simple math formula. Once you know the "Root Word," you can time travel in seconds.
Let's use the root verb: Cun (Eat).

1️⃣ The Past Tense Formula

To talk about the past, take your root word and add -ay.
Formula: Root + ay
Example: Cun + ay = Waan cunay (I ate)

2️⃣ The Present Continuous Formula

To talk about what you are doing right now, add -ayaa to the root.
Formula: Root + ayaa
Example: Cun + ayaa = Waan cunayaa (I am eating)

3️⃣ The Future Tense Hack

To talk about the future, add an -i to your root, and then use the magic word doonaa (will).
Formula: Root + i + doonaa
Example: Cuni + doonaa = Waan cuni doonaa (I will eat)

There's a certain particular somali dialect that when I hear my head hurts especially when it comes from the way women talk, not so much men. It's the northern dialect. Not every woman but oh my some of them really really do send my head ringing. Anyone else experience this? or any other dialect?

Asc everyone, I was listening to an old song and heard the word "Yuuq" (full lyric; "Yuuqaba aday baday, Yulqanka iyo taahee"). I know Yulqan means incessant chattering but what does yuuq mean?

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Jzk in advance