Dendi

Dendi is a member of the Southern Songhay branch of the Nilosaharan language family. It is spoken by about 440,000 people mainly in nothern Benin, and also in southwestern Niger and northwestern Nigeria in West Africa. In particular, Dendi speakers can be found in the departments of Alibori, Borgou, Donga and Atakora in Benin, in the states of Kebbi, Kwara, Niger and Sokoto in Nigeria, and in the city of Gaya in the Gaya Department of the Dosso Region in Niger.

Dendi is also known as Dendawa, and is recognised as a minority language in Benin. It is written with the Latin script, and is taught in some schools.

Dendi alphabet

Download aphabet charts for Dendi (Excel)

Sample texts

múúsù bèèrì dà kóórò ńgáy yà márgú. ì háy. ká̰ ì háy │tô│, múúsù bèèrì nà ńgá ízé nà̰ │tô│, yǒ mà ngà ízé nà̰ │tô│, màn cí ní gǒ gà mâ, ì mà kwáy fóyá̰ │tô│. dí kwày fóyámó │tô│, ì mà dù hâm, ì mà kàndâ, ì mà nó ízáy sé ì mà ŋâ │tô│.

Source: https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/

Translation

A lioness and a camel got together. Then they each had children. The lioness left her child, and the camel also left her child, and they went hunting. -Do you hear?- Once they were hunting, they found some meat, brought it back, and gave it to their cubs, who ate it.

Aduniya kuna n gu ibuna damayo hɛi nɔ dei-dei nn daama nna n burucinitɛrɛ fɔ, n lasabu nna laakari ya nam nn mɔ huro cɛrɛ kuna nyanze tɛrɛ bɔŋɔɔ.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample videos

Links

Information about Dendi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendi_language
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_dendi
https://stg.ethnologue.com/language/ddn/
https://www.101lasttribes.com/tribes/dendi.html

Songhay languages

Dendi, Tadasahak, Zarma

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 05.11.25. Last modified: 05.11.25

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