Speaking Fijian

Speaking Fijian

Chief Jonathon and some of the kids at Kia Island

Fiji is most definitely one of the friendliest countries on earth! With her magnificent and welcoming people you can’t help but to fall in love with this place. And what better way to experience it than to learn a bit of Fijian so that you can speak it with the locals? 

Dan and I don’t know a lot of Fijian but just using these few words and phrases always brings a smile to the locals. They love the fact that we try to assimilate even if it’s in the smallest of ways. 

First it’s important to understand a few of the sounds and things like that so you will actually pronounce the words correctly. Here’s little information we got from ….

When speaking Fijian it’s important to know that words have different vowel sounds to how you read words in English. On top of that, there are a few differences worth mentioning between how to pronounce letters in Fijian compared to English. For example:

“D” has an unwritten “n” in front of it, so Nadi is pronounced “Nandi or the tasty marinated seafood dish called kokoda, is pronounced kokonda”.

“G” has an unwritten “n” in front, so “Sigatoka” pronounced “Singatoka”.

“C” is pronounced “th”, so the “Mamanucas” is pronounced “Mamanuthas”. 

“B” has an unwritten “m” in front for some words, so Toberua is pronounced “Tomberua” and “Bula” is pronounced “mbula”.

Below we’ve tried to give you an idea of how to pronounce the words. If you’re unsure, just as a local. They love to share their language with you.

Kalougata! (Good Luck)

HelloBula Bula or Bula Vinaka (mbūla mbūla or mbūla ve naka)
Good MorningNi sa yadra (nē sa yondra)
Good EveningNi sa bula
GoodbyeMoce (Mō thay)
See You LaterSota Tale (Sōta Tallay)
Nice to meet youla bula
Thank YouVinaka (Vē naka)
Thank You Very MuchVinaka vaka levu (Vē naka vaka ley vū)
PleaseKerekere (Kerry Kerry)
CheersBula Bula (mbūla mbūla)
Excuse MeJilou (Chee low) or Tolou (too low)
YesEo (ēē ōō)
NoSega (Sang a)
No Worries…You can also use this when a watier or bartender asks if you want something else and you do not.Sega na lega (Sang a na lang a)
Numbers
1dua
2rua
3tolu
4va
5lima
6ono
7vitu
8walu
9ciwa
10tini
11tini ka dua
12tini ka rua
13tini ka tolu
14tini ka va
15tini ka lima
16tini ka ono
17tini ka vitu
18tini ka walu
19tini ka ciwa
20rua saga vulu
21ruasagavulu ka dua
22ruasagavulu ka rua
23ruasagavulu ka tolu
24ruasagavulu ka va
25ruasagavulu ka lima
26ruasagavulu ka ono
27ruasagavulu ka vitu
28ruasagavulu ka walu
29ruasagavulu ka ciwa
30tolu saga vulu
40va saga vulu
50lima saga vulu
60ono saga vulu
70vitu saga vulu
80walu saga vulu
90ciwa saga vulu
100drau / e dua na drau
200e rua na drau
300e tolu na drau
400e va na drau
500e lima na drau
600e ono na drau
700e vitu na drau
800e walu na drau
900e ciwa na drau
1,000udolu
5,000lima saga udolu

Click Here To Download The Fijian Phrases As A PDF

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.