1/24/2024 0 Comments Kitabu book project ugandaIt is used to refer to inanimates almost solely, but Swahili considers plants and groupings of animals or people to be inanimate. ![]() This class is also known as Class III (in the singular) and Class IV (in the plural). watoto - children.įor a list of Wiktionary entries for nouns in this class, see Category:Swahili m-wa class nouns. These prefixes may be added to adjective, noun, or verb stems to express the idea that a person has that characteristic, like Kenya ( “ Kenya ” ) → Mkenya ( “ Kenyan ” ), or -gonjwa ( “ sick ” ) → mgonjwa ( “ sick person ” ).Īdjectives agree with the same prefixes as the noun, but verbs agree with the prefix a- in the singular and wa- in the plural. It is used to refer to people almost solely the two notable exceptions are mnyama ( “ animal ” ) and mdudu ( “ insect ” ), which both serve to categorise animate objects. This class is also known as Class I (in the singular) and Class II (in the plural). Watu wazuri wawili wale wameanguka ( watu = people -zuri = good -wili = two -le = those -anguka = fall down). ![]() Just as gender accord is required in many Indo-European languages (e.g., French, Spanish, German, Russian), the modifiers and verbs associated with a given noun must show class agreement with the noun by using certain prefixes. Swahili nouns, like those in other Bantu languages, are noted for a system of semantically based classing, which affects not only nouns but also their modifiers (adjectives, numbers, demonstratives) and verbs.
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