Dhivehi Language Guide

Official language in
Maldives
Also spoken in
India
Script
Thaana

Where it's spoken

Dhivehi is the national language of the Maldives. A national-language act requires that state communications and correspondence be in Dhivehi. Dhivehi is also spoken outside the Maldives, on Minicoy, an island belonging to India at the northern end of the Maldivian archipelago. Within the Maldives, the northern dialect area — which includes Malé — differs enough from the dialects of the three southernmost atolls that northern speakers can hardly understand them; the reverse is much easier, because the standard language of Malé has become widespread.

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Script & pronunciation

Dhivehi is written in its own script, Thaana, which — like Arabic — runs from right to left. Unlike Arabic, though, Thaana counts as a full alphabet rather than an abjad, because writing the vowel is obligatory: every consonant letter carries either a vowel sign or a special mark, the sukun, showing that the syllable ends in a bare consonant. Digits are a partial exception to the right-to-left direction: the European-style digits that Thaana most commonly uses are displayed left to right even inside a right-to-left line of text, as in this app's card ހަވީރު 3 ގަ ބައްދަލުވާނީ. (Haveeru 3 ga badhaluvaa nee., "Let's meet at 3 pm."), where the 3 sits left to right inside the Thaana sentence. Dhivehi punctuation also mixes Arabic and European conventions, including the Arabic question mark ؟, as in this app's card ކިހިނެއްތަ؟ (ki-hi-ne-tha?, "How are you?").

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Grammar essentials

In a Dhivehi sentence built around a finite verb, the verb comes at the end of the sentence, following the pattern of placing the verb last that is typical of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, as in this app's card ކަނާ ތިލަ ފިތާ (Kana thila fitha, "Turn right"), where the direction word comes first and the verb "turn" comes last. Word order does not change to form a yes/no question; instead, Dhivehi marks the question with a particle, as in this app's card ކޮތަޅެއް ބޭނުންތަ؟ (Kothalheh beynun-tha?, "Do you need a bag?"), which ends in the particle -tha. Negation is formed by attaching the prefix nu- directly to the verb, as in this app's card ...ނުކަން. (...nukan., "I don't eat any animal products"), where nu- attaches to kan, "eat". The finite verb itself changes form for person — three persons, singular and plural — and for tense: present, preterite (past), and future.

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Politeness & etiquette

Politeness in Dhivehi runs through a hierarchical system tied to social status, historically distinguishing three degrees among commoners, nobles, and royalty, and it shapes the pronouns and many of the verbs a speaker chooses. This shows up in verb forms: this app's cards give ދެއްވާ (dhevvaa, "please") as the polite way to ask shop staff or an elder for something, next to the plain ދީ (dhee) used informally. It also shows up in the choice of the word for "you": this app's cards use ތިޔަ ބޭފުޅާ (thiya beyfulhaa, "You (polite)") as the polite second person, and their usage notes advise travelers to avoid a plainer alternative, which is rude. The politeness distinction reaches even the yes/no-question particle: the plain -tha can be replaced by the more formal -tho, as in this app's card ކާޑުން ދެއްކިދާނެތޯ؟ (Kaadun dhekkidhaanetho?, "May I pay by card?"), a polite question ending in -tho.

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