Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 nde · nd
North Ndebele Language Sindebele
North Ndebele is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.7 million people in 1 country. It is an official language of Zimbabwe. It is written in the Latin script.
Where North Ndebele is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak North Ndebele
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Southern Bantu
- Nuclear Southern Bantu
- Dimsuffix Southern Bantu
- Nguni-Tsonga-Copi
- Nguni (S.40)
- Nuclear Nguni
- Southern Ndebele-Lowland
- Swatic
- North Ndebele
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the North Ndebele language
North Ndebele (Sindebele) is spoken by about 1.7 million people, which makes it the 344th most spoken language in the world — just behind Mandeali (1.7 million) and ahead of Nimadi (1.7 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Swatic group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is North Ndebele spoken?
North Ndebele is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Zimbabwe (2.1 million).
North Ndebele is an official language in 1 country: Zimbabwe.
Writing system and status
North Ndebele is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Swati, Zulu, Xhosa, Tsonga, Tswa, Ronga and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 nd, ISO 639-3 nde.
Frequently asked questions about North Ndebele
How many people speak North Ndebele?
Where is North Ndebele spoken?
In which countries is North Ndebele an official language?
What language family does North Ndebele belong to?
What is North Ndebele called in North Ndebele?
Is North Ndebele an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.