Swahili, Sheng and Kenyan English: what to actually say in Nairobi
Two people greeting each other with a handshake outside a Nairobi shopfront
You can get through Nairobi entirely in English, but roughly a dozen Swahili phrases and one rule about greeting first will change how every transaction goes.
The language landscape, briefly and accurately
English and Kiswahili are both official languages, English dominates business, signage, menus and government paperwork, and Kiswahili is the everyday lingua franca of the street. On top of that, most Nairobi residents speak a mother tongue at home — Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kamba, Kalenjin, Somali, Gujarati and dozens more — and the city's young people speak Sheng, a fast-moving urban code built from Swahili grammar with English and vernacular vocabulary poured in. You will hear all four layers in a single matatu ride, often in a single sentence.
The practical consequence for a visitor is that you never need Swahili to be understood, and you always benefit from using it. Kenyan English is fluent, confident and often more grammatically formal than British or American English; nobody will struggle with you. But a greeting in Kiswahili changes the temperature of an interaction immediately, particularly with older people, market traders, drivers and guards. It signals that you have made an effort in a country where the effort is noticed. That is the entire return on 20 minutes of learning.
Greet first, always, and mean it
The single most useful cultural rule in Nairobi is that you greet before you transact. Walking up to a shop counter and opening with what you want reads as brusque, even rude. The sequence is: greeting, response, brief enquiry about how the person is, then business. Habari? means how are you, and the standard answer is nzuri, good. Habari ya asubuhi covers the morning, habari ya jioni the evening. With an older man, mzee is respectful; with an older woman, mama. With peers, mambo or niaje, answered with poa or fit. Learn those six words and you are equipped.
Handshakes are longer and softer than the Western business grip, and are often held while the conversation begins. Younger people may offer a fist bump or the elbow-supported handshake used as a sign of respect to elders. Do not rush the exchange to get to your question; the two seconds you save will cost you the goodwill you needed for the next five minutes. In offices, hotels and any formal setting, greeting everyone present rather than only the person you came to see is normal and appreciated. This applies just as much to a security guard as to a manager.
The twelve phrases worth memorising
Asante for thank you, asante sana for thank you very much. Karibu means welcome and you will hear it constantly — the correct response is asante. Tafadhali is please, samahani is excuse me or sorry for an interruption, and pole is a sympathy word used when someone stumbles, is tired or has bad news, and is one of the loveliest habits in Kenyan speech. Ndiyo is yes, hapana is no. Sawa means fine or agreed and does enormous work in daily life; sawa sawa doubles it into a warm confirmation.
For getting around: bei gani means how much, ngapi also works, and punguza kidogo asks for a small reduction. Wapi means where, so choo kiko wapi finds you a toilet. Twende means let us go, which is what you say to a driver when you are ready. Pole pole means slowly, useful with a boda rider or on a hike. Hakuna matata is real Swahili but is used almost entirely on tourists; hakuna shida, no problem, sounds far less like a film soundtrack and will get you a smile of recognition instead.
Money words and the language of bargaining
Numbers are where the slang lives, and knowing them stops you looking lost. Mbao is twenty shillings, finje is fifty, soo is one hundred, and a thao or a ngiri is one thousand. Chapaa, doh and ganji all mean money. If a trader at a craft market quotes elfu tatu, that is three thousand; the number system in Swahili is worth ten minutes of study for exactly this reason. In practice, most quotes are given to you in English anyway, but recognising the slang tells the seller you are not on your first afternoon.
The bargaining register matters more than the vocabulary. Opening prices at the Maasai markets and craft stalls commonly run three to four times the realistic sale price, and haggling is expected, unhurried and good-humoured — not a confrontation. Ask bei gani, hear the number, smile, name something under half, and settle in the middle over two or three rounds. The phrase that closes a deal is sawa, twende. Walking away slowly is a legitimate move and often produces the real price. In supermarkets, malls, restaurants and fixed-price craft shops, prices are prices and haggling is out of place.
Sheng: recognise it, do not perform it
Sheng is Nairobi's own creole and it changes fast enough that a phrase from five years ago sounds dated. Useful ones to recognise: mat for matatu, nduthi for a motorbike taxi, kanjo for the county askaris who enforce parking and hawking rules, buda or brathe for a male friend, mrembo for a beautiful woman, msee for a guy. Fom ni gani, roughly what is the plan, is a standard opener among young Nairobians. You will hear all of these on the street, in the matatu and in bar conversation, and understanding them is genuinely helpful.
Using them is a different question. A visitor deploying Sheng usually lands somewhere between charming and awkward, and never lands as fluent — the accent and the timing give it away instantly. The safer play is to use standard Swahili greetings and courtesy words yourself, and simply understand Sheng when it comes at you. The exception is the handful of words that have crossed over into ordinary Nairobi English, like matatu, boda and nyama choma; those you should absolutely use, because there is no other correct word for them.
Kenyan English, decoded
Kenyan English has its own idioms, and misreading them causes small confusions daily. Kindly do this is standard polite register, not passive aggression. Just add is bargaining shorthand for increase your offer slightly. Sorry is used as sympathy — if you trip, a stranger says sorry, and it does not mean they caused it. You are lost means we have not seen you in a while, a warm thing to say. Somebody saying I am coming may mean they are about to leave and will return. We shall do it and it will be done are ordinary future constructions, not evasions.
Time language is the other trap. Now now means immediately, whereas now can mean shortly. Any time from four means whenever is convenient after four. Ten minutes is often a courteous placeholder rather than a measurement, especially in traffic. None of this is dishonesty; it is a different relationship with schedules that runs alongside a business culture which is otherwise punctual and formal. If a fixed time genuinely matters — a flight, a park gate, a tee-off — say so explicitly and confirm by WhatsApp the night before, and Kenyans will meet it precisely.
Phones, WhatsApp and how people actually communicate
Nairobi runs on WhatsApp. Your driver, guide, hotel, landlord and tour operator will all prefer it to email, and voice notes are the standard medium for anything longer than a sentence — expect to receive them and do not feel you must reply in kind. A local number makes this frictionless; an overseas number sometimes causes hesitation because it hints at expensive calls. Share your live location when someone is picking you up rather than describing a street, since navigation here works by landmark and estate name, not by house number.
Calls beat texts for urgent matters. If a driver is late, ring rather than message. Kenyan phone manners are direct and warm: expect a greeting before the substance of the call, the same as in person. Missed calls are sometimes used as a deliberate signal meaning call me back or I have arrived — do not read them as failed attempts. And save every useful number as you go, with a descriptive label, because you will want the reliable Karen driver again three days later and searching your call log for an unnamed number at 6am is a poor use of a morning.
Etiquette that has nothing to do with words
Volume and temper matter. Raising your voice in a dispute in Kenya loses you the argument and the room; calm, firm repetition wins. Public displays of anger at staff are read as a serious loss of dignity. Photographing people without asking is genuinely resented, especially in markets and informal settlements — ask, accept a no, and never photograph police, military installations, State House or the airport. Dress in Nairobi is smarter than most visitors expect: offices are formal, churchgoers dress beautifully on Sundays, and beachwear-style clothing in the city centre reads as scruffy rather than relaxed.
Religion is present and openly discussed; Sunday morning is quiet because a large share of the city is in church, and Friday afternoons matter in the Muslim communities of Eastleigh, South C and Parklands. Politics and ethnicity are discussed frankly among friends and are not a visitor's territory. Accept hospitality when offered — tea, a chair, a plate — because refusing outright is awkward and a small acceptance costs nothing. And say thank you to guards, cleaners and attendants by name where you can. Nairobi notices courtesy, and it repays it in the practical currency of help when you need it.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Nairobi.
No. English is an official language and is spoken fluently across hotels, restaurants, taxis, museums and shops. A dozen Swahili words are purely upside — greetings, thanks, prices — and noticeably improve service and warmth, particularly with older people, market traders and drivers who deal with brusque visitors all day.
It is genuine Swahili but has become a tourist phrase, and saying it marks you out instantly. Hakuna shida or hakuna noma both mean no problem and sound far more natural. Sawa, meaning fine or agreed, is what you will hear locals use fifty times a day.
Mzee for an older man and mama for an older woman are respectful and widely used. In formal or professional settings, use the title plus surname until invited otherwise. Greeting an elder before anyone else in a group, and offering your right hand supported at the elbow, is a small gesture that reads very well.
Not at craft markets, curio stalls or with informal traders, where opening prices are typically three to four times the sale price and haggling is expected and friendly. It is out of place in supermarkets, malls, restaurants, fixed-price craft shops and with metered or app-priced transport, where the number quoted is the number.
