Dagbani is the language you will hear in the markets, trotros and compounds of Tamale. It is a Gur (Mabia) language of the Niger–Congo family, spoken across Ghana’s Northern, North East, Savannah and Upper East Regions and into northern Togo. If you are visiting or settling in Tamale, even a handful of Dagbani greetings will change how people receive you.
This guide covers what Dagbani is, the two main dialects you will encounter around Tamale, the phrases actually worth learning first, and how the language is studied and written in Ghana.
What is Dagbani?
In the language itself the names are distinct, and that distinction matters to speakers:
- Dagbanli — the language
- Dagbamba — the people
- Dagbaŋ — the land
- Dagbana — a single person
Dagbani is the anglicised form, dating from the colonial and missionary period, and it is the spelling adopted by the Ghanaian education system and the Bureau of Ghana Languages. The suffix -li, used to form language names, is common across the Mabia languages.
Dagbani is the most widely spoken language in the northern half of Ghana, including among communities historically under the authority of the King of Dagbaŋ, the Yaa-Naa. It is mutually intelligible with Mampruli and closely related to Nabit, Talni, Kamara, Kantosi and Hanga, as well as to Dagaare, Wali, Frafra and Kusaal spoken further west and east.
How many people speak Dagbani?
Estimates differ depending on what is being counted, and it is worth being precise about that:
- Wikipedia’s figure, citing Ethnologue, is around 1.17 million native speakers.
- Wikivoyage’s Dagbani phrasebook gives a higher figure of more than 3.5 million speakers.
- Ghana’s 2021 census recorded roughly 5.6 million Dagomba by ethnicity.
The gap is explained by the difference between first-language speakers, total speakers including second-language use, and ethnic population. Treat any single number as an estimate rather than a settled count.
The dialects: Nayahali and Tomosili
Dagbani has a major dialect split, and it runs directly through the region you are visiting.
- Eastern Dagbani — Nayahali. Centred on Yendi (called Naya in the local form), the traditional capital of the Dagbon kingdom.
- Western Dagbani — Tomosili. Centred on Tamale, the administrative capital of the Northern Region.
The two are mutually intelligible. The differences are mainly different root vowels in some words and different forms or pronunciations of some nouns — particularly those naming local plants. There are no known syntactic differences. In practice, this means a visitor who learns phrases in Tamale will be understood in Yendi.
A note on how many dialects there are. Sources do not fully agree. Wikipedia’s Dagbani article describes the major split as Eastern and Western, and lists Nanuni (Nanumba), Tomosili and Nayahali as dialects. Wikivoyage describes four regional variations — Eastern, Northern, Western and Southern Dagbon — while noting they do not act as barriers to communication. Nanunli, spoken around Bimbilla, is sometimes grouped as eastern or southern. We flag the disagreement rather than pick a side.
Twelve Dagbani phrases worth learning first
Start here. These are the phrases that carry the most goodwill per syllable in Tamale.
| English | Dagbani |
|---|---|
| Good morning | Dasiba |
| Good evening | Antire |
| Hello / greeting | N doo |
| How are you? | Ka di be wula? |
| I am fine | M mali alaafei |
| What is your name? | A yuli? |
| My name is… | N yuli booni… |
| Please | Pahimi suɣulo |
| Thank you | M paɣiya |
| Yes | Iin |
| No | Aayi |
| Goodbye | Naawuni ni sɔŋ |
Numbers in Dagbani
Prices are negotiated daily in Tamale’s markets, so numbers are the highest-value vocabulary a visitor can carry.
| Number | Dagbani |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ndam |
| 2 | Ayi |
| 3 | Ata |
| 4 | Anahi |
| 5 | Anu |
| 6 | Ayobu |
| 7 | Apɔin |
| 8 | Anii |
| 9 | Awɔi |
| 10 | Pia |
| 20 | Pishi |
| 100 | Kɔbiga |
| 1,000 | Tuhili |
Useful phrases for getting around
| English | Dagbani |
|---|---|
| How much is this? | A la n nyɛ ŋɔ |
| That is too expensive | Di be kirikiri yaɣi |
| Cheap | Alaha |
| Expensive | Kirikiri |
| I don’t want it | M bi borili |
| OK, I’ll take it | Din ŋuna, n ni kpuɣi li |
| Where is the toilet? | Ya polo ka baanjira be? |
| Help! | Sɔŋmi ya ma |
| Excuse me / sorry | Gaafara |
| I don’t understand | N bi gbaai |
| Do you speak English? | A ni tooi yɛli silimiinsilii? |
| Left | Nuzaa |
| Right | Nudirigu |
These entries are taken from the published Dagbani phrasebook on Wikivoyage, so that every phrase here can be checked against a source rather than copied from memory. Where the source itself shows uncertainty in pronunciation, we have not invented a cleaner version to fill the gap.
Days of the week
| English | Dagbani |
|---|---|
| Sunday | Alahari |
| Monday | Atani |
| Tuesday | Atalaata |
| Wednesday | Alaaba |
| Thursday | Alaamishi |
| Friday | Alizummah |
| Saturday | Asibiri |
These are recognisably Arabic in origin, reflecting the long presence of Islam in Dagbon — a reminder that the language has absorbed vocabulary from several directions over centuries.
How Dagbani is written
Dagbani is written in the Latin script, and also historically in Ajami (Arabic script). The Latin orthography uses characters beyond the basic English alphabet, including ɛ, ɔ, ɣ, ʒ, ŋ and ny. You may already have seen these in Tamale place names and signs.
The language has eleven phonemic vowels — six short and five long — and tone is significant, meaning the same sequence of letters said with different pitch can carry different meaning. That is the single biggest reason English-language spellings of Dagbani words look inconsistent across different sources: writers are trying to represent sounds English has no letters for.
Is Dagbani taught in schools?
Yes. Dagbani is studied from primary school through to university level in Ghana, and it has an established written literature and formal orthography maintained through the Bureau of Ghana Languages. This is not solely an oral language, which is good news for anyone trying to learn it: there are written materials to work from.
How to actually learn Dagbani in Tamale
- Lead with greetings. In northern Ghana, jumping straight to a request without a greeting is a social mistake. Dasiba in the morning and Antire in the evening will get you further than any amount of vocabulary.
- Learn numbers early. They are the vocabulary you will use every single day in the market.
- Expect amused encouragement. A visitor making a genuine attempt at Dagbani is generally received warmly, and corrections are usually offered freely.
- Learn from people, not just articles. Tone and vowel length are difficult to learn from text alone, and this is exactly where a live speaker beats any written guide.
Common mistakes visitors make
- Using “Dagbani” and “Dagbanli” interchangeably. They are not strictly the same word. In the language, Dagbanli is the language and Dagbani is the widely used anglicised spelling. Speakers understand both, but the distinction is real.
- Confusing Dagbon with Dagbani. Dagbon is the kingdom and its territory; Dagbani is the language; Dagbamba are the people.
- Assuming Tamale speech is the only Dagbani. Tamale speaks the Western (Tomosili) form. Travel to Yendi and you are in Nayahali territory.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dagbani hard to learn? The greetings and numbers are genuinely accessible to a visitor — you can learn the basics in an afternoon. The difficulty is tone and vowel distinctions, which need a live speaker to master properly.
Can I get by in Tamale with English? Largely, yes — English is Ghana’s official language and is widely spoken in Tamale. But attempts at Dagbani are appreciated and will noticeably change the quality of your interactions.
What is the difference between Dagbani and Dagbanli? Dagbanli is the name in the language itself; Dagbani is the anglicised spelling used in education and official contexts.
Do the dialects stop people understanding each other? No. Nayahali and Tomosili are mutually intelligible, differing mainly in some root vowels and the pronunciation of certain nouns.
Sources
- Dagbani language — Wikipedia, for language classification, dialect split, phonology and naming conventions.
- Dagbani phrasebook — Wikivoyage, for the phrase and number tables reproduced above.
Keep exploring
- Eastern Dagbani (Nayahali) — the dialect of Yendi, the traditional capital.
- Western Dagbani (Tomosili) — the dialect you will hear in Tamale itself.
- Your First Dagbanli Phrasebook — a visitor’s starting point.
- The Pillars of the North: A History of the Dagbon Kingdom — the kingdom whose language this is.
- Ghana Tamale: The Complete Guide to the Capital of the North — orient yourself in the city.
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