National language
Maltese
Malti in Maltese.
Malta Guide · 02
MalteseLanguage
A language between worlds
Semitic at its core. Mediterranean in everything it picked up along the way.
Arabic roots, Sicilian and Italian layers, English additions - all written in a Latin alphabet.
A language unlike its neighbours
Maltese sounds like the Mediterranean compressed into one language.
Maltese - Malti - is Malta’s national language, with Maltese and English both official. Semitic at its core, it developed from the Arabic varieties of medieval Malta and Sicily, then absorbed major Sicilian, Italian and English influences before being written in its own Latin-based alphabet.
Language profile
Malti at a glance.
The essentials behind Malta’s national language.
Official languages
Maltese & English
Both have official status in Malta.
Language family
Semitic
Within the Afro-Asiatic language family.
Writing system
Latin script
Adapted with letters unique to Maltese.
Alphabet
30 letters
Including Ċ, Ġ, Għ, Ħ, Ie and Ż.
EU status
Official since 2004
One of the European Union’s 24 official languages.
Earliest known literary text
Il-Kantilena
A fifteenth-century poem by Pietru Caxaro.
Language council
Kunsill tal-Malti
The National Council for the Maltese Language, established in 2005.
The Maltese alphabet
Latin letters, with unmistakably Maltese sounds.
Maltese uses a Latin-based alphabet of 30 letters, including several letters and digraphs that immediately mark a word as Maltese.
A B Ċ D E F Ġ G GĦ H Ħ I IE J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Ż Z
Familiar script. Very different sound system.
The alphabet is based on Latin script, but characters such as ċ, ġ, ħ and ż and the digraph għ preserve sounds and spelling patterns rooted in Maltese history.
Ċ sounds like “ch”; Ġ like “j”.
Think of ċ in ċavetta and ġ in ġurnata. The dot above the letter changes the sound completely.
Għ shapes vowels; Ħ carries a stronger breathy sound.
Modern għ often affects the neighbouring vowel rather than sounding as a separate consonant, while ħ represents a strong h-like sound.
Q is a glottal stop, X sounds like “sh”, and Ż like “z”.
These letters appear constantly in place names, signs and everyday words - learning them makes Maltese spelling far less intimidating.
30 letters, written from left to right.
Maltese uses the Latin alphabet with its own letters and digraphs, allowing Semitic sounds to be written without switching scripts.
Ċ sounds like “ch”; Ġ like “j”.
Think of ċ in ċavetta and ġ in ġurnata. The dot above the letter changes the sound completely.
Għ shapes vowels; Ħ carries a stronger breathy sound.
Modern għ often affects the neighbouring vowel rather than sounding as a separate consonant, while ħ represents a strong h-like sound.
Q is a glottal stop, X sounds like “sh”, and Ż like “z”.
These letters appear constantly in place names, signs and everyday words - learning them makes Maltese spelling far less intimidating.
Roots & influences
A Semitic skeleton wrapped in centuries of Mediterranean contact.
Maltese grew independently from Arabic while continuously absorbing the languages of the powers and peoples around the islands.
Siculo-Arabic foundation
Maltese developed from the Arabic varieties spoken in medieval Malta and Sicily, then continued evolving separately after Arabic disappeared from the islands.
Romance reshaping
Sicilian and later Italian supplied thousands of words, while those borrowings were often adapted to Maltese pronunciation and grammar.
English enters the mix
British rule and modern bilingual life introduced English vocabulary and helped make code-switching a normal part of everyday speech.
Maltese is not simply “Arabic written in Latin letters”. It is an independent Semitic language with its own literary tradition, standard orthography and centuries of Sicilian, Italian and English influence.
Written history
From a spoken vernacular to an official European language.
The language survived long before its spelling was standardised.
9–13c
Semitic roots
Arabic and Siculo-Arabic form the linguistic foundation from which Maltese develops.
c.1450
Il-Kantilena
Pietru Caxaro’s poem becomes the earliest known substantial literary text in Maltese.
1700s
Vassalli
Mikiel Anton Vassalli becomes a major early force in studying and standardising Maltese.
1924
Orthography
Tagħrif fuq il-Kitba Maltija establishes the basis of modern standard spelling.
1934
Official status
Maltese receives official recognition in Malta.
2004
European Union
Maltese becomes an official EU language when Malta joins the Union.
MaltiSemitic · Latin script
The European Union’s only Semitic official language.
Maltese became an official language of the European Union in 2004. Among the EU’s 24 official languages, it stands alone as a Semitic language - but one whose written form and much of its later vocabulary show centuries of European contact.
How Maltese works
The Semitic machinery is still visible under the borrowed words.
You do not need to learn grammar to appreciate what makes Maltese structurally different from its European neighbours.
Maltese can look familiar on the page because it uses Latin script and contains many Romance and English words. Underneath, however, much of the language still behaves in characteristically Semitic ways.
Roots & patterns
Many related words are built around consonantal roots: kiteb, kitba and ktieb all preserve the k-t-b writing root.
The article il-
The definite article is il-, but its sound can assimilate to the next consonant - as in ix-xemx and ir-raħal.
Gender & plurals
Nouns have grammatical gender, while plurals can use suffixes or internal changes inherited from the Semitic system.
Borrowed vocabulary
Italian and Sicilian words have been absorbed for centuries, often changing pronunciation or form once they become Maltese.
Spelling matters
Letters such as ċ, ġ, ħ, q, x and ż carry specific sounds, so Maltese spelling is more systematic than it first appears.
Code-switching
Modern speakers frequently move between Maltese and English in the same conversation, sometimes even within the same sentence.
Bilingual Malta
Maltese and English live side by side.
The balance changes with the setting, the speaker and sometimes halfway through a sentence.
One national language. Two official languages.
Maltese has the strongest symbolic link to local identity and is the national language under the Constitution. English is also official and is deeply embedded in education, business, tourism, administration and everyday communication.
The result is not two separate linguistic worlds. Many Maltese speakers move naturally between the two, producing the code-switching and Maltese-English mix that visitors quickly begin to notice.
Useful Maltese
A few words go a long way.
Nobody expects a visitor to master Maltese. Using even a handful of words, however, immediately changes the tone of an interaction.
BonġuBON-joo
Hello / good morningBonswaBON-swa
Good eveningGrazziGRAT-see
Thank youJekk jogħġbokyek YOH-jbok
PleaseSkużaniskoo-ZAA-nee
Excuse me / sorryIva / LeEE-va / leh
Yes / NoKif inti?keef IN-tee
How are you?Fejn hu…?fayn hoo
Where is…?Kemm jiswa?kem YIS-wa
How much does it cost?Saħħa!SAH-ha
Bye / cheers, depending on contextMerħbaMER-ha-ba
WelcomeMa nifhimxma nif-HIMSH
I do not understandTitkellem bl-Ingliż?tit-KEL-lem bl-in-GLEEZ
Do you speak English?Il-kont, jekk jogħġbokil-KONT yek YOH-jbok
The bill, pleaseFejn hu t-tojlit?fayn hoo t-TOY-lit
Where is the toilet?Ta’ xejnta SHAYN
You’re welcomePronunciation cues are simplified approximations for English speakers.
Mela deserves a category of its own: depending on tone and context it can mean something like “so”, “well”, “then”, “of course” - or simply keep a Maltese conversation moving.
Further reading
Go deeper into Malti.
Official language guidance, legal status, European multilingualism and academic language resources.
National Council for the Maltese LanguageLanguage history, status, policy and the Council’s role.
Legislation MaltaThe Constitution, Maltese Language Act and legal language status.
European Union · LanguagesThe EU’s 24 official languages and multilingualism rules.
Maltese Language Resource ServerUniversity-linked corpora and research tools for Maltese.