Family and Relationships in Wolof: Words and Dialogues

In Senegal, nobody asks "How are you?" without also asking how everyone at home is doing. In Wolof, family comes first in almost every conversation, well before work or the weather. In this article, you will learn the key words for talking about your parents, your children and your cousins. You will also see how to use them in real exchanges, taken from lessons recorded by native teachers.

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Cultural context: family at the heart of conversation

To understand Wolof family vocabulary, you first need to know what "family" covers. It does not only mean father, mother and children. It includes uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents. Sometimes it also includes people with no blood tie who have been welcomed as relatives.

Wolof uses several words for this idea. The expression waa keur means "family" (literally "the people of the house"). You will also see waa kër, which means "the family / the people of the house (extended family)". Both spellings appear in the lessons. Wolof spelling varies a little, so it helps to get used to that early. The word njaboot also means the extended family, and mbokk means a relative, a member of the family.

This broad view explains a sentence you will hear often in our lessons: Dalal ak jamm! Yow nit nga, ay mbokk la niou. It means "Welcome! You are a person, you are family." A guest becomes a relative, and hospitality is part of that bond. Another sentence puts it plainly: Bu baax lool! Teranga ci ker gi la fekk baax. It means "Excellent! Hospitality comes from the family." In other words, the famous Senegalese teranga (hospitality) is learned at home first.

Family is also a shared memory. In the griot tradition, your role is passed down by birth: Deedeet! Gewel ci juddu la. Sa baay gewel, yow gewel. ("No! Being a griot runs in the family. Your father is a griot, you are a griot.") The same heritage shows up in this sentence: da Ñuy tagg wakeur gi, woy ak tëgg tama. ("They sing the praises of the family, sing and play the tama.") Here the family is praised through music, and the tama (a talking drum held under the arm) goes along with the songs.

Finally, family passes down everyday skills. One sentence from our recordings says it simply: Waaw, sama yaay moo ma jangal. ("Yes, it was my mother who taught me.") And when the topic is food: Neex na lool! Yaay dji moo ko togg. ("It's really good! The mother is the one who cooked it.")

Wolof family vocabulary

Here is a table of the most useful words. They all come from lessons recorded by Targumi's native teachers, where you can hear how they are pronounced.

A few notes to help you remember them.

Baay and yaay are the two words you will hear most. They mean "father" and "mother" in everyday sentences, as in Ñu ngi ci jàmm, alxamdulillaah. Sama baay ak yaay nioo ngi ci kër gi. ("They are well, in peace, thank God. My father and my mother are at home.") The lessons also note that baay ji can mean "father in the broad sense" and ndey ji "mother in the broad sense". So father and mother are not always the only people with those titles: an uncle or an aunt can fill that role in a child's life. The lessons also list tonton / baay ji for an uncle (father's brother) and njekkur / ndey ji for an aunt (mother's sister).

Doom means "child". To say whether it is a boy or a girl, you use doom ju góor for a son and doom ju jigéen for a daughter. On its own, jigéen means "woman / female / adult girl". You will also come across xale bi, "the child", which belongs to noun class B (young humans), and janq, "young girl".

Rakk means a younger sibling: a little brother or a little sister. Wolof focuses on relative age rather than only on the type of relationship. English speakers often say "my brother" without saying older or younger. In Wolof, age order matters.

Nijaay (maternal uncle) and bajen (paternal aunt) show that Wolof separates the mother's side from the father's side, where English just has "uncle" and "aunt". As for njeex, it means your in-laws.

One more word from the same lessons is worth knowing even though it is not strictly about family: taalibé, a disciple, a student of a marabout, or a child at a Quranic school. It is a reminder that the circle of close people often reaches into the wider community.

Examples and dialogues for talking about your family

Asking how the family is doing

Greetings are the best place to start. The basic expressions are:

• naka sa waa keur? : "How is your family?"
• Jaam rekk. Ana sa waa keur? : "Peace only. How is your family?"
• nieuppa ngui ci jamm : "Everyone is fine."

Here is a short, complete exchange.

Assalaamu aleykum Aida. Nanga def? Ana waa ker ga? Hello Aida. How are you? And the family?

Mangi doxal, jërejëf. Sa waa kër gi naka la ñu def? Getting along, thank you. How is your family?

Ñu ngi ci jàmm, alxamdulillaah. Sama baay ak yaay nioo ngi ci kër gi. They are well, in peace, thank God. My father and my mother are at home.

Notice that it goes both ways: each person asks about the other's relatives. Another version of the same greeting is naka sa waa kër ? mba Ñoo ngi ci jàmm? ("How is your family? Are they well, in peace?") A possible answer: Ñoo ngi ci jamm, jërejëf! Sama yaay ak sama baay ñu ngi ci kër gi. ("They are well, in peace, thank you very much! My mother and my father are at home.")

To talk about all your relatives at once, you can say Waaw. Ñoom, sama waa kër yi, ñepp a ngi ci jàmm. : "Yes. Them, my family, they are all well, in peace."

Talking about your children

Another very common exchange is about children.

Am nga ay doom? Ñeent walla juróom? Do you have children? Four or five?

Waaw! Am naa ñett doom , ñaar doom yu góor ak benn doom bu jigéen. Yes! I have three children, two sons and one daughter.

You can spot words from the table: doom for child, plus the male and female forms built with góor and jigéen. Another version on the same topic is Waaw! Am naa ñaar doom , benn bu goor ak benn bu jigéen. ("Yes! I have two children, a boy and a girl.")

To ask "whose child?", you say doomu kane? One possible answer: Doomu Fatou. Tuddé nañu ko Ibrahima. ("Fatou's child. We named him Ibrahima.")

Describing family members

Wolof also lets you paint warm portraits of your relatives. For example:

• Sama yaay mag la té dafa baax. Dafa yaatu té mën a muñ. : "My mother is older and good. She is kind and patient."
• Dëgg! Sama baay jambaar dëgg la. Dafa am solo ci njabootam. : "True! My father is a brave and important man. He matters a lot to the family."
• Sama doom yi ndaw na ñu waaye ñoom ñepp a rafet. : "My children are young, but they are all very beautiful."

To ask about feelings, there is also this short question: Sa yaay, beugg nga ko? ("Your mother, do you cherish her?")

To talk about how big your family is: baax na! Sama waa kër dénioo bari , juróom benn nit ci kër gi. ("That's good! My family is big, six people in the house.") And a nicely turned compliment: kër gu xumb té rafet! ("Excellent! A lively and beautiful family!")

A real-life scenario: visiting relatives

Imagine you are invited to a Senegalese home. You arrive, people greet you and ask about your family. Then the conversation turns to the cousins.

Dëgg! Waa kër gu mag dafa baax. Ndax sa mbokk yi déñoo ñibi si? True! A big family is a good thing. Did your cousins come back?

Waaw, sama mbokk yi ñëw na niou demb. Dañu bëgg lekk ak nun. Yes, my cousins came yesterday. They want to eat with us.

Bu baax lool! Teranga ci ker gi la fekk baax. Excellent! Hospitality comes from the family.

In this exchange, mbokk yi refers to the cousins, that is, relatives from the same family. Sharing a meal is a natural thing to do together. Other sentences from our lessons carry the scene to the table: Dëgg! sama yaay mafé yapp lay togg. Dafa neex tamit. ("True! My mother is going to cook mafé with meat. It's delicious too.")

People also talk about everyday comings and goings: Dafa baax! Baay ji ak yaay ji demoon na ñu ci tool bi demb. means "That's good! The father and the mother went to the field yesterday." And to describe who does what at home: Niongui ci jamm. Baay défa liggeyi, yaay mu ngi ci keur gi. ("They are well. The father is working, the mother is at home.")

If you want to start with a compliment about the house, you can say Kër gi dafa rafet lool. Am nga ay doom ? ("The house is really beautiful. Do you have children?") It is a very natural way to move from the home to the children.

And to talk about a younger brother you know from a particular neighborhood: baax na! Moom, sama rakk bi, Médina laa ko xamè. ("Good! Him, my little brother, I know him from the Medina.")

A last dialogue shows how wisdom passes between generations, through a proverb:

Sama doom déglul leebi wolof. My child, listen to a Wolof proverb.

Waaw maam. Lan la wax? Yes, grandfather. What does it say?

Dégg na. Ku nekk soxla nga sa waakër I understand. Everyone needs their family.

Dëgg la. Ku nuroo ak yaw nuroo ak sa yaay That's true. Whoever looks like you looks like your mother.

And if someone recites something beautiful to you, you can reply: Loolu neex na lool. Dinaa ko woyal sama mbokk yi. ("That is very beautiful. I will recite it to my family.")

Recap and common mistakes

Key points

• Always start by asking about the family: naka sa waa keur?
• Learn the core words: baay, yaay, doom, rakk, mbokk.
• To say whether a child is a boy or a girl, use doom ju góor and doom ju jigéen.
• For relatives in the broad sense, think of njaboot and waa kër.
• For uncles and aunts, Wolof separates the mother's side (nijaay) from the father's side (bajen).

Mistakes to avoid

1. Mixing up "doom" and "dom". Our recordings explain it clearly: Waaw! "Doom" = enfant (oo long), "dom" = pousser (o court). In other words, "doom" with a long "oo" means child, and "dom" with a short "o" means to push. Vowel length changes the meaning. Listen to the teacher's audio and repeat, holding the "oo" for longer.

2. Translating "family" with a single word. Depending on the context, you will use waa keur, waa kër, njaboot or mbokk. The English word "family" usually covers less than what Wolof culture includes.

3. Skipping the family greeting. Getting straight to the point without asking about someone's relatives can sound abrupt. Get into the habit of following your greeting with Ana waa ker ga?

4. Worrying about spelling variation. You will see kër and keur, jamm and jàmm. These variants appear in the lessons. Don't let them throw you off, and rely on the audio for pronunciation.

5. Assuming "father" and "mother" only refer to biological parents. The forms baay ji and ndey ji show that these titles can extend to other people around you.

Going further

The best way to lock in this vocabulary is to listen to native speakers saying the sentences, then repeat them out loud. Targumi's Wolof courses include human audio recorded by native teachers. You can replay every sentence in this article and correct your pronunciation, especially vowel length, as in doom.

Here is a simple one-week study plan.

1. Days 1 and 2: learn the words in the table (baay, yaay, doom, rakk, mbokk) and practice the greetings.
2. Days 3 and 4: memorize the dialogue between Aida and the person greeting her, then act it out loud on your own.
3. Days 5 and 6: practice talking about your children or your siblings, starting with Am nga ay doom?
4. Day 7: recite the proverb about family and mothers, then check your level.

If you want to see your progress, take the level test again after a week of practice and compare your results.

Conclusion

Talking about your family in Wolof means stepping into a way of speaking where relationships come first. The words baay, yaay, doom, mbokk and njaboot give you a solid base, and greetings built around waa kër open almost every conversation. Keep in mind the proverb from our recordings too: Ku nekk soxla nga sa waakër ("Everyone needs their family"). With listening, repetition and a few well-chosen sentences, you will be able to greet people, introduce your relatives and reply naturally. Keep going with Targumi's native audio to build your confidence.

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