Kipilefti

Because “ndiyo”, the Swahili equivalent of “yes”, is long and literally means something like “it is so”, Swahili speakers tend not to use it that much. Even after I picked up on this I kept using it, out of laziness and because I liked saying it. But I started to feel weird, not because anyone seemed to judge me for it but because they used it so infrequetly.

They grunt instead. It can be best phoneticized as “eh” (although they write it as “ee”). It’s actually a really useful word, if you want to call it that: it indicates vague confirmation without the certainty of “ndiyo” and can also be used as “uh-huh” or if you can’t figure out what someone’s saying because they’re talking too fast. So I’ve been working on my “eh”. I think it’s getting pretty good, and it’s becoming natural to stick an “eh” in if someone pauses in their monologue or looks at me quizzically. I’m rather enjoying it.