Malagasy belongs to the Austronesian language family. For speakers of Indo-European languages it can be quite hard to start with Malagasy. The vocabulary is hardly similar and even the sentence structure is different, as the subject is normally placed after the verb and object (verb-object-subject order). However, in the province and at the coast, they do use the subject-verb-object order which is much more comfortable for speakers with Roman or Germanic language background.
VOS example (capital): Manasa lamba aho (Do-laundry-I)
SVA axample (coastal regions): Zaho manasa lamba (I-do-laundry)
After traveling around Madagascar and spending some time on Nosy Be, I managed to understand the following words and phrases. It is certainly not enough to replace French in everyday situations. The list shows what I was able to catch in everyday life due to the frequency or oddness of those words and phrases.
| Malagasy | English | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Ambesa! | wait! | |
| Araiky tavela | Another one (drink) | Literally one is left |
| Azafady | Excuse me, please, sorry | In contrast to english it is used for both asking and apologizing |
| Azala! | Damn! | To express disappointment |
| Inona no vaovao? | What’s the news? | Usually, the response is tsisy vaovao |
| JIRAMA | Water and electricity (utility company) | Acronym for jiro sy rano malagasy. Tsisy JIRAMA means there is no power… and maybe no water, too |
| Mbola tsara | Hello | literally still good |
| Misaotra betsaka! | Thank you very much! | Normally just misaotra |
| Misy môko | There are mosquitoes | |
| Mora mora! | Easy easy! | Tranquillo! |
| Ngoma anao zaho | I miss you | |
| Ny anarako dia Samuel | My name is Samuel | Literally the name of mine is Samuel as -ko is a genitive suffix |
| Rano maventy araiky, azafady! | A big bottle of water, please! | |
| Salama | Hello | From arabic salaam |
| Tiako anao | I love you | Composed of tia (love) -ko (of me) and anao (you) |
| Tsaiky lehilahy | A boy, young man | Composed of tsaiky (child) lehilahy (man) |
| Tsisy miresaka | No news | Nothing to say |
| Tsisy vaovao | No news | |
| Tsy haiko | I don’t know | |
| Tsy mavandy! | Don’t tell me lies | |
| Tsy misy olana! | No worries! | There is no problem, hakuna matata |
| Veloma! | Farewell! | |
| Zah hiala! | Leave me alone! | Literally I will leave |
| Malagasy | Part of Speech | English | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| anarana | noun | name | |
| araiky | numeral | one | |
| ary | conjunction | and | used for last addition after connecting nouns with sy |
| asa | noun | work | verb miasa |
| be | adjective | big | |
| eny | adverb | yes | |
| eto | adverb | here | |
| firy | adverb | how many | |
| fo | noun | heart | |
| foko | noun | tribe | heart of mine |
| gasy | adjective | Malagasy, Madagascan | |
| hamaray | adverb | tomorrow | |
| hoatrinona | adverb | how much? | other spelling ohatrinona |
| ia | adverb | yes | |
| ianao | pronoun | you | |
| izaho | pronoun | I | |
| kelikely | adjective | a bit | |
| kely | adjective | little | |
| kibo | noun | belly | |
| kiraro | noun | shoes | also savaty |
| lamba | noun | clothes | |
| lehilahy | noun | man | |
| loaka | noun | hole | |
| madiniky | adjective | small | |
| mafana | adjective | hot | |
| mahay | verb | to know something | |
| malagasy | adjective | Malagasy, Madagascan | |
| malala | adjective | beloved | |
| malalako | noun | my dear | |
| maloto | adjective | dirty | |
| mamita | verb | to finish | |
| mamy | adverb | sweet | |
| manangy | noun | a woman | |
| mandeha | verb | to walk | |
| manintsy | adjective | cold | |
| marary | adjective | ill | |
| maventy | adjective | big, heavy | |
| miambe | verb | to wait, to pay attention | |
| miasa | verb | to work | |
| mifoha | verb | to wake up, to get out of bed | |
| mihinana | verb | to eat | |
| mila | verb | to want, to need | |
| misy | verb | there is | |
| mitsangantsangana | verb | to stroll | |
| mody | verb | to go home | |
| mofo | noun | bread | pronounced like mofu but u does not exist in malagasy |
| mora | adjective | easy | |
| moramora | adverb | slowly, slowly | |
| mosary | noun | hunger | zaho mosary means I am starving |
| môko | noun | mosquitoes | |
| ngoma | noun | miss | |
| nono | noun | breast | |
| nosy | noun | island | Nosy Be the big island |
| ny | article | the | determined atricle |
| olana | noun | problem | |
| ondana | noun | a pillow | |
| rano | noun | water | |
| ratsy | adjective | bad, ugly | |
| ronono | noun | milk | composed of ro (bouillon) and nono (breast) |
| savaty | noun | shoes | |
| sipa | noun | girlfriend, boyfriend | vady is much more common |
| sira | noun | salt | |
| siramamy | noun | sugar | composed of sira (salt) and mamy (sweet) |
| sy | conjunction | and | |
| tavela | noun | leftover | |
| teny | noun | word | |
| tsaiky | noun | child | |
| tsara | adjective | good, nice | |
| tsia | adverb | no | |
| tsisy | adverb | nothing | |
| tsy | adverb | not | |
| vadiko | noun | my spouse | |
| vady | noun | spouse | |
| vaovao | adjective | new | |
| vary | noun | rice | |
| vava | noun | mouth | |
| vazaha | noun | foreigner | like mzungu in Africa |
| velona | adjective | living | |
| vita | verb | finished | |
| voky | adjective | full | no more hungry |
| vola | noun | money | |
| zaza | noun | child |