How to speak Nigerian Pidgin: a beginner’s guide

If you speak English, you already know most of the words in Nigerian Pidgin. What you need is the grammar, and the good news is that there is not much of it. Verbs do not change their endings. There is no “I am / you are / he is”. A handful of small words do almost all the work. This guide walks you through them, with examples you can say out loud today.

A quick word on what you are learning. Nigerian Pidgin, also called Naijá, is spoken by tens of millions of Nigerians, by most estimates more than 75 million people. It has no official status and no official spelling, so you will see words written several ways. It is not “broken English”: it is a language of its own, with rules that English does not have.

1. The pronouns

Two things to notice. First, Pidgin does not mark “he” and “she” separately: im or e covers both, and am covers him, her and it. Second, una, borrowed from Igbo, is a proper plural “you”, something standard English does without.

2. The four little words: dey, don, go, no

Pidgin verbs never change. “Go” is always “go”. Instead, you put a small word in front of the verb to show when, or whether, it happens.

Yes, “I go go” is real, and it means “I will go”: the first go is the future marker, the second is the verb. Once you see that, sentences that look strange start to make sense.

A verb with no marker at all usually means the past, or a plain fact: “I go town” can mean “I went to town”. There is also bin for a further past (“I bin go”, I had gone), but it is rarely used, and linguists who study Pidgin note that past time is often left unmarked and read from context.

Dey has a second job: on its own, it means “to be somewhere” or “to exist”. “I dey” is “I’m here” or “I’m fine”; “wahala dey” is “there is trouble”.

3. Saying no, and “not yet”

No goes before the verb: “I no sabi” (I don’t know), “E no dey” (he isn’t here). For “not yet”, Pidgin uses never, spelled neva by some writers: “I never chop” means “I haven’t eaten yet”, not “I have never eaten in my life”. This trips up English speakers more than anything else.

4. “Na”: it is

Na works like “it is” or “it’s”, and it is how Pidgin puts weight on a word. “Na you?” is “Is it you?” “Na me” is “It’s me.” “Na so” is “That’s how it is.” Put na in front of whatever you want to stress.

5. Plurals

You can keep the English -s, but you will often hear dem after a noun instead: “di moto dem” is “the cars”. Di is “the”.

6. Asking questions

• Wetin: what. “Wetin you wan chop?” (What do you want to eat?) It comes from English “what thing”.
• Where, who, how, why: as in English. “Where you dey go?”
• Abi? and shebi?: “right?” or “isn’t it?” Both are from Yoruba. “You don chop, abi?”
• Or simply raise your voice at the end: “You dey come?”

7. The little words at the end

Pidgin speakers finish sentences with small words that add feeling rather than meaning:

• o: emphasis, like an exclamation mark. “Na wa o!”
• sef: annoyance or emphasis. “Who you be sef?” (Who even are you?)
• sha: anyway, regardless. “I go come sha.” (I’ll come anyway.)

8. Ten words to learn first

Abeg (please), wetin (what), sabi (know), chop (eat), comot (leave), pikin (child), oga (boss), wahala (trouble), wan (want to) and get (have). With these and the four markers, you can say a surprising amount. Our list of 50 Nigerian Pidgin phrases puts them to work.

How to sound natural

• Listen first. BBC News Pidgin, launched in 2017 and based in Lagos, publishes news in Pidgin every day, and its writers had to settle on one way of spelling it.
• Mix, don’t switch. Many Nigerians slide between English and Pidgin in the same conversation. Start by dropping a Pidgin word or two into English, the way the characters below do.
• Know the setting. Pidgin is for friends, markets, buses and the street. Interviews, offices and formal letters are standard English.
• Do not perform it. An exaggerated accent sounds like mockery. Speak plainly and people will help you.

Hear it from Chuks and Benny

AJ Cities is a free open-world game set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos. Its characters speak English with a light touch of Pidgin, which makes them a gentle way to hear how the two mix. Chuks, the cook at his coal pot, greets AJ with “AJ! Na you?” and asks “Because of the accent, abi?” before telling him to “sit down small”. Benny, who sells anything to anyone, gives AJ his best market advice: “Speak the English, AJ. The oyinbo price goes up.” You can read them in AJ’s story and Danger and Benny’s, then find them on June 12 Street.

Is Nigerian Pidgin hard to learn?

Not for English speakers. Most words come from English and verbs never change form; the main things to learn are the markers dey, don, go and no.

What does “I go go” mean?

I will go. The first “go” marks the future, the second is the verb.

How do you say “not yet” in Pidgin?

Use “never”: “I never chop” means “I haven’t eaten yet”.

Where can I hear Nigerian Pidgin?

BBC News Pidgin, based in Lagos since 2017, publishes news in Pidgin. Nigerian films, music and comedy are full of it too.