Learn Somali from scratch with 100 practical beginner lessons covering greetings, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, everyday phrases, conversations, reading and writing.
Welcome to Haraf.net’s complete Learn Somali course for beginners.
Whether you are learning Somali for travel, family, work, study, communication or personal interest, this free course gives you a structured way to start learning the language.
The lessons progress from basic words and phrases to simple conversations, grammar and everyday communication.
How to use these lessons
Start with Lesson 1 and work through the course in order. Do not worry about memorising everything immediately. Review previous lessons regularly and practise creating your own sentences.
Part 1: Somali basics
Lesson 1: What is Somali?
Learn about Somali, where it is spoken and why it is useful to learn.
Lesson 2: Somali greetings
Learn common greetings such as:
- Salaan — Hello/greeting
- Subax wanaagsan — Good morning
- Galab wanaagsan — Good afternoon
- Habeen wanaagsan — Good night
Lesson 3: How to say hello
Practise different ways of greeting people in everyday situations.
Lesson 4: How to say goodbye
Learn useful expressions for leaving and ending conversations.
Lesson 5: Introducing yourself
Learn how to say your name and introduce yourself.
Magacaygu waa… — My name is…
Lesson 6: Asking someone’s name
Learn:
Magacaa? — What is your name?
Lesson 7: Saying where you are from
Learn how to say where you come from.
Lesson 8: Saying where you live
Practise talking about where you live.
Lesson 9: Asking how someone is
Sidee tahay? — How are you?
Lesson 10: Basic responses
Learn useful responses to greetings and everyday questions.
Part 2: Essential Somali vocabulary
Lesson 11: Numbers 1–10
Learn the first ten Somali numbers.
Lesson 12: Numbers 11–20
Continue building your number vocabulary.
Lesson 13: Numbers 21–100
Practise larger numbers and counting.
Lesson 14: Days of the week
Learn the Somali names and expressions for the days of the week.
Lesson 15: Months and dates
Learn how to discuss dates and months.
Lesson 16: Time
Learn expressions for telling and asking about time.
Lesson 17: Family members
Learn words such as:
- hooyo — mother
- aabbe — father
- walaal — sibling
- wiil — boy/son
- gabar — girl/daughter
Lesson 18: People
Learn common words for people and relationships.
Lesson 19: Parts of the body
Learn basic body vocabulary.
Lesson 20: Colours
Learn common Somali colour words.
Part 3: Everyday objects
Lesson 21: The home
Learn vocabulary for rooms and household objects.
Lesson 22: The kitchen
Learn common kitchen vocabulary.
Lesson 23: Clothes
Learn words for everyday clothing.
Lesson 24: School
Learn classroom and education vocabulary.
Lesson 25: Work
Learn common workplace vocabulary.
Lesson 26: Food
Learn basic food vocabulary.
Lesson 27: Drinks
Learn common words for drinks and beverages.
Lesson 28: Shopping
Learn words needed when buying and selling.
Lesson 29: Money
Learn Somali vocabulary relating to money and prices.
Lesson 30: Transport
Learn vocabulary for cars, buses, roads and travelling.
Part 4: Essential verbs
Lesson 31: Common Somali verbs
Learn frequently used verbs such as:
- tagid — to go
- imaatin — to come
- cunid — to eat
- cabid — to drink
- akhrin — to read
- qorid — to write
- shaqayn — to work
- barasho — to learn
Lesson 32: To be
Learn common Somali constructions used to identify and describe people and things.
Lesson 33: To have
Learn ways of expressing possession.
Lesson 34: To want
Learn rabid and related constructions.
Lesson 35: To like
Learn how to express likes and preferences.
Lesson 36: To know
Learn the difference between knowing and understanding.
Lesson 37: To understand
Practise faham in everyday sentences.
Lesson 38: To go
Practise different forms of tagid.
Lesson 39: To come
Practise imaansho/imaan in useful sentences.
Lesson 40: To do
Learn common constructions involving samayn.
Part 5: Somali pronouns
Lesson 41: I and me
Learn aniga and common first-person constructions.
Lesson 42: You
Learn singular and plural forms of “you”.
Lesson 43: He and she
Practise isaga and iyada.
Lesson 44: We
Learn annaga and related forms.
Lesson 45: They
Learn iyaga and related constructions.
Lesson 46: Possessive forms
Learn expressions meaning:
- my
- your
- his
- her
- our
- their
Lesson 47: Demonstratives
Learn expressions for this, that, these and those.
Lesson 48: Reflexive expressions
Learn how Somali expresses meanings such as himself, herself and themselves.
Lesson 49: Pronouns in sentences
Practise pronouns with common verbs.
Lesson 50: Pronoun review
Complete exercises using the pronouns learned so far.
Part 6: Somali sentence building
Lesson 51: Basic Somali sentence structure
Learn how Somali sentences are organised.
Lesson 52: Subject and verb
Practise identifying subjects and verbs.
Lesson 53: Making simple statements
Build short sentences.
Lesson 54: Making negative statements
Learn common negative constructions.
Lesson 55: Yes and no
Practise haa and maya.
Lesson 56: Asking questions
Learn how to turn statements into questions.
Lesson 57: Who?
Learn yaa?
Lesson 58: What?
Learn maxaa? and related forms.
Lesson 59: Where?
Learn xaggee?
Lesson 60: When?
Learn goorma?
Part 7: More useful question words
Lesson 61: Why?
Learn ways to ask why.
Lesson 62: How?
Learn sidee?
Lesson 63: Which?
Learn kee?
Lesson 64: How much?
Learn imisa? and related expressions.
Lesson 65: Asking about people
Practise questions about names, families and occupations.
Lesson 66: Asking about places
Practise asking where people and things are.
Lesson 67: Asking about time
Practise questions about dates and times.
Lesson 68: Asking about prices
Practise shopping questions.
Lesson 69: Asking for directions
Learn practical direction questions.
Lesson 70: Review questions
Complete a mixed question-word exercise.
Part 8: Describing things
Lesson 71: Somali adjectives
Learn common describing words.
Lesson 72: Big and small
weyn — big
yar — small
Lesson 73: Good and bad
fiican/wanaagsan — good
xun — bad
Lesson 74: New and old
Learn vocabulary for describing age and condition.
Lesson 75: Hot and cold
Learn common temperature expressions.
Lesson 76: Tall and short
Practise describing people and objects.
Lesson 77: Colours
Use colour words in complete sentences.
Lesson 78: Describing people
Practise appearance and character vocabulary.
Lesson 79: Describing objects
Practise describing everyday things.
Lesson 80: Describing places
Learn how to describe homes, towns and other places.
Part 9: Everyday communication
Lesson 81: At home
Learn useful household expressions.
Lesson 82: At school
Practise classroom language.
Lesson 83: At work
Learn workplace expressions.
Lesson 84: At the market
Practise buying and selling.
Lesson 85: At a restaurant
Learn useful food and restaurant phrases.
Lesson 86: Travelling
Practise transport and travel expressions.
Lesson 87: Asking for help
Learn useful expressions when you need assistance.
Lesson 88: Making requests
Learn polite ways to ask for things.
Lesson 89: Saying thank you
Learn ways to express gratitude.
Lesson 90: Apologising
Learn ways to apologise and respond to apologies.
Part 10: Building confidence
Lesson 91: Talking about yourself
Practise introducing yourself in a longer conversation.
Lesson 92: Talking about your family
Describe your family and relationships.
Lesson 93: Talking about your daily routine
Describe what you do during an ordinary day.
Lesson 94: Talking about your work
Practise discussing your job or studies.
Lesson 95: Talking about your interests
Learn how to talk about hobbies and interests.
Lesson 96: Talking about the past
Practise simple past-tense sentences.
Lesson 97: Talking about the future
Practise future constructions.
Lesson 98: Reading a short Somali passage
Read a beginner-level passage and answer comprehension questions.
Lesson 99: Having a basic Somali conversation
Combine greetings, introductions, questions and answers.
Lesson 100: Your first Somali conversation
Use everything you have learned to create a short conversation in Somali.