Countries
Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia
  
Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
  
National Language
Somalia
  
Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
  
Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Speaking Continents
Africa, Middle East
  
Africa, Asia
  
Minority Language
Yemen
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Regulated By
National Languages Committee, Regional Somali Language Academy
  
Academy of the Arabic Language, Arabic Language International Council
  
Interesting Facts
- Somali language is one of the best documented Afro-Asiatic languages.
- One of the most widely spoken of the Cushitic languages is the Somali Language.
  
- Arabic is 5th common language in world.
- Classical Arabic is the language of Quran and also it is official language. Classical Arabic is the only way to learn Arabic language in academic way and it does not change.
  
Similar To
Afar and Oromo Language
  
Amharic and Hebrew
  
Derived From
Arabic Language
  
Not Available
  
Alphabets in
Somali-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Arabic.jpg#200
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Arabic, Latin, Osmanya
  
Arabic
  
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
  
Right-To-Left, Horizontal
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
Hello
Hello
  
مرحبا
  
Thank You
Waad ku mahadsan tahay
  
شكرا
  
How Are You?
Sidee tahay ?
  
كيف حالك؟
  
Good Night
Habeenka Good
  
تصبح على خير
  
Good Evening
Evening Good
  
مساء الخير
  
Good Afternoon
galab wanaagsan
  
مساء الخير
  
Good Morning
Subax wanaagsan
  
صباح الخير
  
Please
Fadlan
  
من فضلك
  
Sorry
sorry
  
آسف
  
Bye
caraysiiyo
  
وداعا
  
I Love You
Waan ku jeclahay
  
أحبك
  
Excuse Me
iga raali ahow
  
اعذرني
  
Dialect 1
Northern Somali
  
Maghrebi
  
Where They Speak
Gabon, Standard Somali
  
Algeria, Libya, Maghreb, Morocco, Tunisia
  
Dialect 2
Benaadir
  
Sudanese
  
Where They Speak
Georgia, The capital of Mogadishu
  
Sudan
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
17,000,000.00
  
6
Dialect 3
Af-Ashraaf
  
Levantine
  
Where They Speak
Standard Somali
  
Cyprus, Levant
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
21,000,000.00
  
3
How Many People Speak?
13.00 million
  
99+
452.00 million
  
4
Speaking Population
Not Available
  
Native Speakers
8.00 million
  
99+
206.00 million
  
6
Second Language Speakers
Not Available
  
246.00 million
  
2
Native Name
af Soomaali
  
(al arabiya) العربية
  
Alternative Names
Af-Maxaad Tiri, Af-Soomaali, Common Somali, Soomaaliga
  
Al-’Arabiyya, Al-Fusha, Literary Arabic
  
French Name
somali
  
arabe
  
German Name
Somali
  
Arabisch
  
Pronunciation
Not Available
  
/al ʕarabijja/, /ʕarabi/
  
Ethnicity
Somalis
  
Arabs
  
Origin
19th century
  
512 CE
  
Language Family
Afro-Asiatic Family
  
Afro-Asiatic Family, Semitic Family
  
Subgroup
Cushitic
  
Semitic
  
Branch
Not Available
  
North Arabic
  
Language Forms
  
  
Early Forms
No early forms
  
No early forms
  
Standard Forms
Somali
  
Modern Standard Arabic
  
Signed Forms
Somali Sign Language
  
Signed Arabic
  
Scope
Individual
  
Macrolanguage
  
ISO 639 1
so
  
ar
  
ISO 639 2
  
  
ISO 639 2/T
som
  
ara
  
ISO 639 2/B
som
  
ara
  
ISO 639 3
som
  
ara
  
ISO 639 6
Not Available
  
Not Available
  
Glottocode
soma1255
  
arab1395
  
Linguasphere
No data available
  
12-AAC
  
Types of Language
  
  
Language Type
Living
  
Living
  
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb
  
Subject-Verb-Object
  
Language Morphological Typology
Not Available
  
Fusional, Synthetic