Kiswahili numbers and money words

Kenyans count in Kiswahili, quote prices in a mix of Kiswahili, English and slang, and pay with a phone. Ask 'Shingapi?' at a stall and you might hear 'mia tano', 'five hundred' or 'five hundred bob', and all three mean KSh 500. Recognizing the numbers is what stops you paying 5,000 when the trader said 500.

This is a reference glossary for travelers: the numbers with pronunciation, how big numbers and prices are built, the money words you hear in markets, matatus and shops, the most common slang, and the M-Pesa phrases. To learn the numbers properly, with practice, take lesson 3 of our Kiswahili course. For how to bargain, see bargaining in Kenya, and for cash, cards and M-Pesa as a visitor, our money guide.

One to ten

Sita, saba and tisa (six, seven and nine) come from Arabic, a trace of the coast's centuries of trade across the Indian Ocean; the others are Bantu. The tens from twenty upward, mia and elfu are Arabic too, and laki comes from the Indian lakh.

Eleven to ninety-nine

The teens are 'ten and': kumi na moja (11), kumi na mbili (12), up to kumi na tisa (19). The tens have their own words, and units follow with na (and), so ishirini na tano is 25 and hamsini na nane is 58.

Hundreds, thousands and prices

Mia is a hundred and elfu a thousand, and both come before the number that multiplies them: mia moja (100), mia mbili (200), elfu moja (1,000), elfu kumi (10,000). Laki is 100,000 and milioni is a million. Build a price from the biggest part down, with na before the last part: mia tatu na hamsini is 350, and elfu moja na mia tano is 1,500. In speech, shilingi usually comes first.

In practice many Kenyans say prices in English, or switch halfway through, especially in Nairobi: 'mia tano' and 'five hundred' are equally likely. Shillings are also called 'bob', a leftover from British coinage, so 'two hundred bob' is KSh 200. Phone numbers are usually read out in English, digit by digit.

Money words

Coins and notes you will handle

Kenyan coins come in 1, 5, 10 and 20 shillings and notes in 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 shillings, at about KSh 130 to $1 at the time of writing. A KSh 1,000 note is worth a little under $8, so the numbers sound bigger than they are. Small traders and matatu conductors often cannot change a KSh 1,000 note, so carry 50s, 100s and 200s. Check the Central Bank of Kenya's daily rate before you go.

Money slang

Slang changes fast and varies by neighborhood and age. These are long-standing words most Kenyans recognize, but you will not need them: a trader will always understand the standard numbers. Our Sheng page has more Nairobi slang.

M-Pesa phrases

M-Pesa, Safaricom's mobile money service, is how Kenya pays: at market stalls, in many matatus and taxis, in restaurants, and between friends splitting a bill. Visitors can use it with a Safaricom SIM registered with a passport, and our money guide explains how. These are the words you will need.

Before you press send, check the name M-Pesa shows for the number: it is the best protection against a wrong digit. Never share your PIN, and ignore texts claiming someone sent you money by mistake and asking you to send it back, a well-known scam.

Counting things

Some numbers change shape with the thing they count, which is the hardest part of Kiswahili numbers and the part you can safely ignore on a trip. Watu wawili is two people (from mbili) and vitu vitatu is three things (from tatu), but prices, phone numbers and counting out loud use the plain forms above. Lesson 3 of our course explains it gently. For telling the time, which in Kiswahili counts from sunrise, see lesson 8.