Shopping at the Market in Wolof: Phrases and Prices

In Senegal, a market is much more than a place to buy things. People greet each other there, they chat, and the price is something two people settle together. Knowing a few phrases in Wolof completely changes the welcome you get, whether you're buying mangoes, fish or a boubou. In this article you'll find the essential vocabulary, real dialogues recorded by a native teacher, and an explanation of the unusual way Senegalese people count money. By the end, you'll be able to ask a price, haggle and check your change without switching to French or English.

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The Senegalese Market: What to Know Before You Go

Relationships come before business

In the big Dakar markets and in small neighborhood ones alike, you don't walk up to a vendor and say what you want right away. You start with a greeting. The most common one, shared with much of the Muslim world, opens this recorded exchange:

Customer: assalaam aleykum, sëriñ bi ! Ñaata la jën yi di jar? Hello, sir! How much is the fish?

Vendor: wa aleykum salaam! Benn jën juroom ñent fukk lay jar. Hello! One fish costs four hundred and fifty CFA francs.

assalaam aleykum is the greeting and wa aleykum salaam is the reply. The exchange seems small, but it sets a tone of respect. A customer who greets in Wolof is immediately seen as someone making an effort, and that often shows in the first price you're quoted.

Haggling is normal, not rude

At stalls selling fruit, fabric or crafts, the first price is rarely the final one. Haggling is part of the game, and a vendor may even be a little disappointed if you agree straight away. It follows a familiar rhythm: the vendor gives a price, the customer says it's expensive and offers less, and the two meet somewhere in the middle. Finally, the vendor states a "last price" and won't go any lower. Respect it, because pushing past that point quickly becomes tiresome.

For basic goods sold by weight or at a known rate, like fish, tomatoes or bread, there's usually much less room to negotiate. Haggling is mostly for items without a fixed price.

Counting money: the most confusing part

This is the number one problem for learners. In Wolof, sums of money aren't counted in CFA francs. They're counted in a unit worth five francs. In practice:

• teemeer (one hundred units) = 500 CFA francs
• niaar teemeer (two hundred units) = 1,000 CFA francs
• nient teemeer (four hundred units) = 2,000 CFA francs
• junni (one thousand units) = 5,000 CFA francs

So if you translate word for word, every price you hear will seem five times too low. When a vendor tells you kilo bi nient teemeer la, they don't mean 400 francs. They mean 2,000 francs a kilo. With a little practice the math becomes automatic: take the number you hear and multiply it by five.

Spelling still varies

In this article's examples, you'll notice that the same word is sometimes spelled in different ways: niata, ñaata or ñata for "how much". Wolof has an official Latin spelling, but in everyday life many people write it the way French spelling suggests. We've kept every sentence exactly as the teacher recorded it. Spoken aloud, these variants all sound the same, with a sound close to the "ny" in "canyon".

Essential Wolof Market Vocabulary

These are the words you'll hear and use all the time. Pronunciations are given in the International Phonetic Alphabet to help you reproduce them.

A few notes on using this table:

• jend and jaay are an easy pair to remember: one means buy, the other means sell. From jaay comes jaaykat, the seller, formed by adding a suffix that marks the person doing the action.
• jar originally means "to be worth" or "to deserve". That's why you hear it in price questions such as Lii niata lay jar? (How much does this item cost?).
• Several verbs exist for asking for a discount: waneg, waayal, wàññi, wëññi. In one of the recorded conversations below, the customer uses the command form Wagnil ! (Lower it!), another spelling of the same idea.

Real Market Dialogues

A native teacher recorded the following exchanges. Read them with the translation first, then try saying them aloud.

Buying fish

Fish is central to Senegalese cooking, especially the national dish of rice and fish. Besides the greeting dialogue above, here's another version heard at a fish stall:

Vendor: juroom ñett fukk CFA benn bi. Ñaar yi téeméer la. It's four hundred CFA for one. Two cost five hundred.

In the earlier dialogue, juroom ñent fukk literally means "ninety": times five, that gives 450 francs. Here, juroom ñett fukk is "eighty", so 400 francs. Notice the volume discount too: buy two fish and each one costs less.

At the fishmonger's: grouper, shrimp and chili

Customer: Dama bëgg jend jenn ak tamaat. I want to buy fish and tomatoes.

Vendor: Thiof nga bëgg walla yabooy? Do you want grouper or shrimp?

Customer: Thiof. Ak tuuti kaani. Grouper. And a little chili.

Vendor: Bii bou bess la. Ci souba ba légui This one is very fresh. Since this morning.

Customer: Baax na. Ñaata laay fay? Good. How much do I pay?

Vendor: lepp juroom benn teemeer la Three thousand altogether.

Thiof (grouper) is one of Senegal's best-loved fish. The question Ñaata laay fay? is very handy for asking the total when you've bought several things.

Mangoes and your first haggle

Customer: mango yi niata lay jar? How much are the mangoes?

Vendor: kilo bi nient teemeer la The kilo is two thousand francs.

Customer: Dafa seer! niett temeer nak? That's expensive! Fifteen hundred?

Vendor: Waaw, jend leen! Neex na lool. All right, buy them! They're really good.

The word nak at the end of the counteroffer works like "how about...?" It's the natural way to propose a price.

Haggling over a boubou

With clothing, the negotiation gets tighter:

Customer: Mbubb mi ñaata la? How much is this boubou?

Customer (after the first price): Dafa seer lool! junni nak? That's way too expensive! Five thousand?

Vendor: junni ak niaar teemeer, moom laa yor. Six thousand, that's my last price.

The phrase moom laa yor ("that's my last price") signals that the negotiation is over. You'll also hear it in other forms, such as jurom-niett teemeer laa am. (Four thousand, that's my last price.)

A Real-Life Scenario: A Morning at the Market

Imagine you're staying in Dakar and want to buy mangoes for the week. Here's how the morning might go, using only sentences recorded by our teacher.

As you leave, you tell your host your plans:

Suba si démay dém ci jaa-ba, après ma togg thièb. This morning I'm going to the market, then I'm cooking rice.

(Notice the French word "après" slipped into the sentence. That's very common in the Wolof spoken in Dakar.)

On the street, you can't find your way:

You: nga Baal ma, fan la jaa-ba nekk? Excuse me, where is the market?

Once you reach the stall:

You: Mangos yi ñaata lañuy jar? The mangoes, how much are they?

Vendor: kilo bi teemeer la? Five hundred, one kilogram.

You: Jox ma niari kilo, mou nekk niata? Give me two kilos. How much do I pay?

Vendor: niaar teemeer One thousand francs.

You only have a 5,000-franc note:

You: Am nga weccitu junni? Do you have change for five thousand?

Vendor: Waaw, amnaa. Juroom niett teemeer weccit bi Yes, here you go. Four thousand in change.

The math checks out: two kilos at 500 francs make 1,000 francs, and from a 5,000-franc note you get 4,000 back. This is exactly where the "multiply by five" rule pays off: juroom niett teemeer is eight times five hundred, which makes 4,000 francs.

On the way home, you stop at the bakery:

You: Jaaykat bi, mburu mi ñaata la? Seller, how much is the bread?

And if a piece of jewelry catches your eye at a craftsman's stall:

You: takkaay bi niata la? How much is this piece of jewelry?

You (after hearing the price): Dafa seer lool! Wagnil ! That's too expensive! Lower it!

Recap and Common Mistakes

Phrases you really need

1. ñaata la? / Lii niata lay jar?: asking a price
2. Dafa seer! / Dafa seer lool!: saying it's expensive, or way too expensive
3. ... nak?: proposing a price ("how about...?")
4. Ñaata laay fay?: asking what you owe in total
5. Am nga weccitu junni?: asking whether the vendor has change
6. moom laa yor: recognizing the vendor's last price

Mistakes to avoid

Forgetting to multiply by five. This is the most common mistake. When you hear teemeer, think "500 francs", not "100". If you're not sure, ask the vendor to show you the amount in notes or coins. Nobody will be offended.

Haggling over things with fixed prices. Bread, fish sold at a set rate and basic vegetables often have prices everyone knows. Pushing hard over 50 francs comes across badly. Save your energy for crafts, fabric and clothing.

Ignoring the last price. When a vendor says moom laa yor or Deedeet, juroom niett teemeer laa meuna yém. (No, four thousand is my last price), they're closing the discussion. You can accept or walk away politely, but continuing to offer less is frowned upon.

Skipping the greeting. Opening with ñaata la? and no assalaam aleykum sounds abrupt. The greeting takes a few seconds and puts you on the right footing.

Getting thrown by spelling. niata, ñaata and ñata all mean the same thing. At the market, what counts is how you say it, not how it's written.

A complete negotiation to practice

To practice, here's a full haggling sequence. Every line was recorded by our teacher:

Customer: Lii niata lay jar? How much does this item cost?

Customer (after the price): Dafa seer! Nient teemeer dina baakh? That's expensive! Two thousand, is that OK?

Vendor: Deedeet, juroom niett teemeer laa meuna yém. No, four thousand is my last price.

Customer: juroom niaari temeer nak? Thirty-five hundred?

Practice it with a friend, swap roles, and each time check the real amount in CFA francs.

Going Further

The phrases in this article cover the essentials of a market visit, but your ear is the real key. In Senegal, conversations are fast, prices are given quickly, and compound numbers like juroom ñent fukk or junni ak niaar teemeer take practice to catch the first time.

On Targumi, Wolof lessons come with audio recorded by native teachers. It's the best way to:

• get used to numbers: replay the prices until you can convert them to CFA francs instantly;
• work on pronouncing sounds that don't exist in English, like the ñ in ñaata or the long vowels in jaay and kees;
• repeat the dialogues aloud, copying the exclamatory tone of Dafa seer lool!, which is an essential part of haggling.

Here's an effective method: pick one dialogue a day, listen to it three times, then play both roles. After a week, you'll know the most common expressions. If you're preparing for a trip, also practice converting prices out loud: a friend says an amount in Wolof and you answer in CFA francs.

Shopping at the market in Wolof is really about learning a small ritual: greet, ask, react, propose, conclude. With about fifteen words and a handful of phrases, you can already buy fish, mangoes or a boubou. Better still, you'll be welcomed as someone who makes the effort to speak the local language. Remember the five-franc rule, greet before talking prices, and respect the vendor's last price. After that, all that's left is to practice.

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