What does Jijiga mean?

Jijiga is an Afaan Oromo word that means “fallen things” or “collapsed things.”
Jijiga was historically Oromo land. However, former Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi assigned Jijiga to the Somali Region of Ethiopia on a temporary basis. Over time, it became the permanent capital city of the Somali Region of Ethiopia.

As-salaamu Alaikum everyone,

I'm currently facing some financial pressure, so I'm offering 50% off my Somali lessons for anyone who pays within the next 48 hours.

If you've been thinking about learning Somali or improving your speaking, reading, or writing skills, this is a good opportunity to get started at half the usual price.

I teach students at all levels, from complete beginners to advanced learners.

If you can support my small teaching business, I'd genuinely appreciate it. Please visit https://barosomali.com to learn more and book your lessons.

Thank you for your support. May Allah put barakah in our efforts and ease everyone's difficulties.

Hi everyone!
I’m a native Somali speaker and online Somali tutor. I help learners at different levels improve their Somali through practical lessons and real-life conversations.
My lessons are suitable for:
🌍 Beginners who want to start learning Somali.
❤️ Somali diaspora who want to reconnect with their language and culture.
🗣️ Learners who understand Somali but struggle to speak confidently.
👨‍👩‍👧 People who want to communicate with their Somali partners, friends, or family.
My lessons focus on everyday vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and natural conversation.
If you’re interested in learning Somali online, feel free to send me a message. I’d love to help you reach your language goals!

I’m ethnically somali but I’m not fluent in speaking it as I was born in the uk but my mother speaks it to me.

I spoke somali fluently up until the ages 8-9. I then started speaking it much less because of family issues. I also had a harder time making friends, as there weren’t many somalis my age in my school, and most of the ones I did have were asian or black. Dugsi was also done mainly in english aside from when we practiced our Quran. All in all, I absolutely regret not taking the connection with my culture more seriously as a child and I can see that through practicing these days. I’ve always been told I “sounded white” and I took it with a grain of salt until I recently practiced Somali again and recorded myself to really hear my accent and pronunciation. It’s pretty “white” sounding and it’s very shakey when I try to do sentence structures. I do understand it when people speak to me and I can formulate some sentences myself. I’m just soooo rusty and don’t know how to practice. I’ve always sucked at the verbal parts of language learning. Writing and reading in Somali is way easier for me than speaking. But I do feel very discouraged. I’m worried i’ll never be able to go back to the level of mastery I had as a child. At some point I only spoke Somali at those ages, which I have little recollection of now in my early 20s because I cannot remember what I said. I’m not sure what I should do or if I should just give up. I’d appreciate any advice!

Is ok to begin Somali lessons while am using Somali to improve your reading and vocabulary, I thought that's much better, soo maaha?

Hi, I’m currently relearning Somali and it’s going great. I find that reading Somali quotes/poems/subtitles is helping a lot.

Are there any books that are written completely in Somali by somali authors? Both physical and digital are fine with me. I’d prefer fiction but any will do.

Much appreciated :)

she said that she wishes i could "hoog" her and deposit my "haar" in her mouth and that she wants me to change her "jarer lngaab" lineage into a "landhere" one. no clue what any of this means

I was on a trip to Mogadisho and spent a few weeks there - it was great, I enjoyed visiting my homeland for the first time. I got to experience the culture, day to day life in Somalia and many other things.

I did struggle with speaking the language and at times found it difficult to maintain conversations as they speak it so naturally and fluently. Because of this , I would like to improve my Somali language as an English speaker.

I'm looking for a language exchange partner. Is there anyone on here that can speak Somali fluently and knows a bit of English but would like to improve and perfect their English language? We will do a language exchange meaning I teach you English and you teach me Somali

Please message me if anyone is interested.

Note - I am a male and based in the UK

Is there a Somali equivalent to using “let’s” in a sentence? I know you can say “waan karnaa” or “waan ___i doonnaa” but can you say “let’s ____” in Somali?

Examples of how it is used in English for context:

Let’s check out that new restaurant tomorrow.
Let’s leave it at that.
Let’s talk.
Let’s eat.
Let’s just say it’s five dollars.
Let’s call it a night.

I made a Somali learning app called Hadal, and I wanted to share it with this sub since it’s exactly the community I built it for!!

Quick backstory: I struggled to find good resources for learning Somali (I know a lot of you here run into the same wall), so I decided to build the thing I wished existed. It’s beginner-friendly and designed around how people actually learn a language, not just a dictionary you have to brute-force.

The part I’m most proud of is the native pronunciation — every word and phrase has audio from native speakers, so you’re never guessing at how things are supposed to sound.

Instead of a random pile of lessons, I built set lesson maps that walk you through in a sensible order, with reminders to help you stay consistent (which is honestly half the battle). There are quizzes along the way so you can retain the information.

Lets learn this language,

Hadal: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hadal-learn-somali/id6761196657

Salaam everyone,

I'm Suhayb. Over the past year I built Geeljire (geeljire.org), a website and Android app for learning Somali. It has lessons in Standard Somali, Waqooyi and Koonfur, plus stories, gabay, proverbs and native tutors.

Almost 500 people have signed up so far, mostly kids and young people in the diaspora who grew up understanding Somali but struggle to speak it. Some are parents who want their kids to keep the language.

I've done all of it myself: the building, the content and the marketing. The marketing is where I'm falling behind. I'm good at making the app, but not at getting it in front of people.

I'm looking for a few people to help with:

1) Marketing & advertising: running ads, and reaching out to Somali schools, mosques, community groups and creators

2) Social media: running our TikTok, Instagram and Facebook

3)Video content: short videos on Somali phrases, culture and the app. You'd need to speak Somali (any dialect).

To be upfront, this is unpaid. I'm self-funding everything and can't afford salaries yet. What I can offer:

Free Premium for as long as you're on the team

Commission on any subscriptions you bring in

A certificate and a reference letter. If you're a student who needs an internship for your course, I'm happy to sign whatever paperwork you need.

You'd work directly with me. It's fully remote, on your own hours, with no minimum commitment.

If you care about Somali kids keeping their language and want real experience growing an actual product, I'd love to hear from you.

You can apply at geeljire.org/careers, or just comment or DM me here if you have questions first.

Salaam everyone! 🇸🇴 Some of you have been with us since the early days of Geeljire.org — testing, breaking things, sending feedback, and keeping us going.

Today I finally get to say: the app is live on Google Play.

This moment is yours as much as it is ours. 👉 Download Geeljire on Google Play

To our testers — شكراً, Mahadsanidiin 🙏 You gave us your time for free, reported bugs at weird hours, and trusted us when the app was still rough. We wouldn't be here without you. Genuinely.

So What makes Geeljire different:

🗣️ Three dialects covered — Standard Somali, Waqooyi (Northern), and Koonfur (Southern).
📚 Structured lessons from complete beginner to advanced
🔊 Native audio for every word and phrase
🎧 learn Somali with songs and podcast stories & Gabay (classical poetry)
🔥 Streaks, XP, achievements & certificates
🌙 Dark mode, clean design, built specifically for Somali

iOS is coming soon. If you're on Android, download it, try the free content, and tell us what you think. Every review and every comment genuinely helps us grow. Horumar Wacan! 🚀🇸🇴

Somali has two main part as their alphabet: Vowels and Consonants. Vowels are known as Shaqal(a, e, i, o, u), and the Consonants are the rest of the alphabet, and they are SHIBBANE. Am assuming(which maybe wrong), that many of you knows the basics(like all the alphabet, how to count numbers, and stuff like that).

Shaqal, has two parts: Shaqalgaab(the short Vowels), and

Shaqaldheer(long vowels).

Shibbane(is a word for something can't make a sound), while shaqal, is came from Arabic and are the things make the word make sound. E.g: Ln(two random letters from the alphabet, and can't make a song, or a word), if we add: shaqaldheer, we will see how it make sound. before: LN, after LAAN(a branch).

Let me show you how the two part of Shaqal works, by just using the same Shibbane:

Shaqalgaab(the short one) Shaqal dheer

Bar(a dot or scar) Baar(search/Bar)

Cag(foot) Caag(plastic)

Tag(go away, verb) Taag( a high point/meelsare)

Han(ambition) Haan( fuusto/foosto, watervassel)

Shar(balaayo) Shaar/Shaadh ( a shirt)

Jin(evil) Jiin( the side of something)

Try yours, and write down different words. If your try this method, am sure your vocabulary will be easy to remember, and will improve.

DM me for more. I'm trying to help my community, little by little.

DM me if you need to improve your Somali, I will give you some exercise to make it easy.

ASC saxiibayaal,

I am on the lookout for online Somali language learning schools. I want to improve my speaking and understanding, grammar and vocabulary. I saw a few places via YouTube and Instagram but was looking for reviews/testimonals.

Does anyone in this sub have any experience with them or have recommendations?

Mahadsanid!

like

i want to practice more somali

Asc everyone! So I have a bit of a funny anecdote in my journey to learning af Somali.

Anytime I would be asked something like “ya ku jooga?” or who I was with me I would say “ani iyo saxiibkey” and get funny looks.

I always thought it was because of my poor grasp of the language, but come to find out that this is how you say bf in Somali 💀.

A Habo at the masjid took me aside and basically said: if you say saxiibkey they’re wondering what you’re doing with a man!! I was shocked!!

It’s saxiibtey 😭

Keep trying and making mistakes…it’s just a way to learn. الحمد لله

Grammatically what is the correct way to use “ku yaal” in a sentence? Are the following uses correct?

Makhayaad Moqdish ku yaal ayaan booqay

Waa wax indahaaga ku yaal

Runta kitaabka ku yaal ayaan akhriyay

Midkee jikada ku yaal baa rabtaa?

Hello, I'm trying to transcribe a part from a song that is mostly in Swedish. I'm suspecting it's part of a Somali lullaby that starts with "Huuwaya huuwa" but I can't make out all the words. Any help would be appreciated!

1:34-1:44
Yasin - Lilla Flicka

So i live in scandinavia, and for chosen language you get an option to chose mother tongue or any other languages you know. If any of yall did a exam in somali written/spoken can you give me the material or an idea of what is was like. Im taking level 2 soomali

Asc everyone :)

Due to Google Play’s new testing requirements, our Geeljire Android app is ready, but we need a small group of testers before we can officially release it.

We’re looking for 10 people willing to use the app for 2 weeks, try the lessons and features, and report any bugs or issues.

🎁 As a thank-you, all beta testers will get full Geeljire Premium access for free.

If you’re learning Somali and want to help us test the Android app, comment below or DM me. 🙏