The rule
Every Somali noun is either masculine or feminine. To say "the", you do not add a word in front. You attach a short ending to the noun. Masculine nouns usually take -ka and feminine nouns usually take -ta.
| A ... | The ... | English | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| nin | ninka | a man, the man | masculine, -ka |
| wiil | wiilka | a boy, the boy | masculine, -ka |
| guri | guriga | a house, the house | masculine, -ka softens to -ga after a vowel |
| naag | naagta | a woman, the woman | feminine, -ta |
| gabar | gabadha | a girl, the girl | feminine, -ta becomes -dha after r |
He-words take -ka. She-words take -ta.
The ending softens after some sounds: -ka can appear as -ga, -a or -ha, and -ta as -da, -dha, -sha or -ha. The idea is always the same, only the spelling bends to fit the word.
In real sentences
- Wiilku buug buu akhrinayaa. The boy is reading a book.
- Sabtida: on Saturday. Day names take the ending too, which is how you say on a day. See the days of the week.
- guriga: the house, or at home. Our Colour the home sheet for young children is titled with it.
The past "the"
Somali has a second pair of endings, -kii and -tii, for something already mentioned or in the past: wiilkii is that boy, the boy we were talking about. Learn -ka and -ta first. The past pair comes naturally once those are solid, and it is covered in the grammar notes inside our student area.
Why this matters for reading
Because "the" is an ending, the same word appears in several shapes on a page: guri, guriga, gurigii. Readers who speak Somali but never learnt the letters often stumble here, seeing three words where there is one. It is the second thing we teach in our reading lessons, straight after the alphabet.
Common questions
How do you say the in Somali?
There is no separate word. You add an ending to the noun: -ka for masculine nouns (wiil, wiilka, the boy) and -ta for feminine nouns (naag, naagta, the woman).
What is the difference between wiil and wiilka?
Wiil is a boy, any boy. Wiilka is the boy, a particular one. The -ka ending is doing the job of the English word the.
Why is it gabadha and not gabarta?
The -ta ending changes its spelling after certain sounds. After r it becomes -dha, so gabar, a girl, becomes gabadha, the girl. Guri becomes guriga for the same reason: -ka softens to -ga after a vowel.
How do I know if a Somali noun is masculine or feminine?
Mostly by learning each noun with its ending, the way you learn le and la in French. As a rough guide, most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine and many ending in -o are feminine, but there are plenty of exceptions.