Pronounciation Guide

The wolof pronunciation system is relatively simple. Every symbol stands for only one sound, that is every symbol is pronounced the same way in every word.

The distinction between short and long vowels is very important, because it is sometimes the only way to distinguish pairs of words which have different meanings. Long vowels are always doubled, while short vowels are not.

There is a lot of prenalization in wolof. There usually occur with nasals such as m, n, etc.

Vowels | Consonants | Prenasalised Consonants

Vowels

As indicated, wolof vowels are either long or short. A long vowel is indicated a doubling of the symbol, and it must be pronounced a little longer than a short vowel (which is not doubled). Long and short vowels can occur anywhere in the word.

Vowel	Nearest English Equivalent	Wolof Examples
a	absorb	banta, tapa, santa
aa	far	laaj, naaj, caabi
e	get	dem, lem, gerte
ee	where	seet, leel
é	say	bés
éé	sane	wéér, réér
ë	bird	kër, dëgër
i	in, pit	nit, simiis, timis
ii	meet	siis, lii, kii
o	moment	xob, romba
ó	the 'aw' sound in awe	nób, sóf
oo	door	loo, soo
óó	phone	góór, fóót
u	cook	nuyu, ubi
uu	moon	tuuru, yuuxu

Consonants

Consonant	Nearest English Equivalent	Wolof Examples
b	boy	bunta, ban
c	ch in church	caabi, ceeb, caamoñ
d	dog	def, dara
f	fire	fas, fetel
g	good	dogal, duga
j	job	jambar, jox
k	cool	kaala, kumpa
l	land	loolu, laal
m	moon	meew, dem
n	not	nit, nax
ñ	Spanish ñ - closest equivalent in Englis is ny in Onion	ñeebe, gaañu
p	park	pare, soopa
r	rat	raxas, reer
s	sign	siis, safara
t	stamp	tubaab, aate
w	war	waaw, rew
x	between x and k (may also be pronounced merely as h, especially among non-natives)	xale, xaalis
y	your	yaay, youxu

Prenasalized Consonants

mb	mbéy, mbam
nd	ndey, ndigte
nj, ng	ngor
mp	lampa
ŋ	taŋka, luŋka

(This guide was adapted - with some changes - from the one in the Peace Corps Wolof Dictionary)

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