Sounds, Tones and Special Letters
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Lesson overview
How Kinyarwanda is written and pronounced: tones and special letters.
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Pacing
Read the stem stem-last (question clause first), eliminate two distractors, then verify constraints.
How Languages marks this
Focus on how Languages scenarios frame constraints, qualifiers ("FIRST", "BEST", "MOST likely"), and boundary cases.
Watch out for
Technically true statements that do not solve the specific constraint in the scenario.
Lesson content
Overview
Kinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda) is spoken in Rwanda, where almost everyone speaks it, and neighbouring countries. Before learning phrases, get to know how it sounds and how it is written.
How It's Written
Kinyarwanda is written in the Latin alphabet. It is tonal, but tones are not marked in everyday writing. Look out for letter combinations such as cy, shy and nshy. Kinyarwanda and Kirundi (spoken in Burundi) are very close and mostly mutually understandable.
Examples
Here are some of the greetings you'll learn in the next lesson: • Muraho — Hello • Mwaramutse — Good morning • Mwiriwe — Good afternoon / good evening • Amakuru? — How are you?
Learning Tip
Kinyarwanda is spelled the way it sounds; tones aren't written, so listen to native speakers to pick up the melody of each word.
Practise
Say every word aloud, then take the 10-question check below (60% to pass) to unlock the next lesson. Stuck? Ask the AI tutor about this lesson. This course is in beta: it sticks to common, everyday language, but it has not yet been reviewed by native speakers, and many phrases have regional variants. If something looks wrong, please tell us.
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