hakuna matata
/ha-KOO-na ma-TA-ta/· phrase
there are no problems; no worries.
A warm reassurance when things are fine. In everyday Swahili, usijali or hakuna shida may often sound more natural.
Origins
At heart, hakuna matata is ordinary Swahili. Hakuna means “there is not” or “there are no,” and matata means “problems” or “troubles.” Put together, the phrase is literally “there are no problems,” or, more naturally, “no worries.” In everyday local Swahili, though, it can sound like a set phrase, especially in tourist-facing settings, where hakuna shida or usijali may feel more natural.
Did “hakuna matata” exist before The Lion King?
The phrase had a life of its own long before The Lion King. In 1980, the Kenyan coastal band Them Mushrooms recorded Jambo Bwana with hakuna matata at its heart. Disney’s song came later and was entirely different. The Lion King gave the phrase another tune and sent it around the world, but it did not invent the words. Teddy Kalanda Harrison’s accountHear The Lion King version
What was Jambo Bwana?
Jambo Bwana began as a welcome song and simple Kiswahili lesson for visitors to the Kenyan Coast. Its easy greetings travelled from hotel stages to cover versions and homes around the world. Them MushroomsWatch Jambo Bwana
Sources3
Chege Githiora, Sheng: Rise of a Kenyan Swahili Vernacular (Woodbridge and Rochester, NY: James Currey, 2018), 24.
Places Hakuna Matata in a limited tourist-local Swahili register, supporting the caution that it can sound like a set slogan.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 90, 238.
Records hakuna as a negative verb-form and matata as a plural noun for tangles, complications, and troubles.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), 282, 364.
Records hakuna as “there is not” and matata as “a tangle, an embroilment.”
Examples
Hakuna matata, nitakusaidia.
No worries, I will help you.
Usijali, hakuna matata.
Do not worry; there is no problem.
Alisema hakuna matata na akaendelea na kazi.
They said there was no problem and continued working.
Hakuna matata kama tutachelewa kidogo.
It is no problem if we are a little late.
Kwa sasa hakuna matata.
For now, there are no problems.
Walituambia hakuna matata.
They told us there was no problem.
Hakuna matata kati yetu.
There are no problems between us.
Hakuna matata kuhusu malipo.
There are no problems with the payment.
Hakuna matata leo; kila kitu kiko sawa.
No worries today; everything is fine.
