The alphabet in Lingala contains many of the letters used in English, with a couple of additions. The sounds they make (phonemes) are the basic blocks we use to create syllables and then words.
These are seven main vowel sounds in Lingala:
| Letter | Example | Meaning | English sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | bato | people | bat |
| e | elimo | spirit | hay |
| ɛ | mɔsɛnzɛli | watchmen | egg |
| i | likoló | heaven | bee |
| o | moto | man | boat |
| ɔ | linɔngi | tower | cot |
| u | buku | book | do |
The letters ɛ and ɔ are both half vowels, ɛ of e and ɔ of o. For many Lingala speakers, they often write them as e and o.
In additional to vowels, Lingala has many consonants (about 29), some of which we need to write with more than one letter:
| Letter | Example | Meaning | English sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | bokilo | in-law | bag |
| d | dati | date | dog |
| f | fololo | flower | fact |
| g | gɔigɔi | lazy | god |
| h | hema | tent | house |
| j | njambe | god (archaic) | French ‘j’ |
| k | likaku | monkey | kick |
| l | likambo | thing (abstract) | lemon |
| m | mama | mother | man |
| mb | mbano | reward | tumble |
| mp | mpamba | nothing | damp |
| mw | mwana | child | Tamworth |
| n | nini | what | nod |
| nd | ndenge | way | hand |
| ng | ngonga | hour | sang |
| nk | nkanda | anger | bank |
| ns | nsango | news | bins |
| nt | ntango | time | want |
| ny | nyama | animal | canyon |
| nz | nzambe | god | heinz |
| p | papa | father | pot |
| r | rulo | scroll | rain |
| s | solo | truth | sack |
| sh | shaku | parrot | shame |
| t | toli | counsel | talk |
| v | velo | bicycle | vain |
| w | wolo | gold | watch |
| y | yango | it | yoghurt |
| z | zulunalo | magazine | zoo |
Some of these letters are used rarely for a few different reasons.
r and h are often used by words that are brought into Lingala from other languages (French, English or other African languages). In old Lingala, r was usually replaced by the letter l, especially in names.
j and sh are very rarely used in modern Lingala. In fact, now the letter z is used in place of it. sh is used with only a handful of words.
Many of the consonant sounds that begin with n and m are sounds that are partly sounded through the nose and are only slightly spoken. Many Lingala speakers will often drop them from the beginnings of words when writing.