Chapter 11 - Concordant Adjectives

"True" adjectives are relatively few in Swahili, but it will be seen later that there are several ways of making adjectival concept words. (See : Chapter 44.)

In Swahili, unlike in English, the adjective is always placed AFTER the noun it qualifies.

We distinguish two main categories of adjectives :

1. Those which take a class prefix to agree with the noun they qualify.
2. Those which remain invariable : they are in their majority loanwords from Arabic.

We will devote this first chapter to the study of the adjectives which agree : the concordant adjectives.

The adjectives are usually introduced without any prefix in the lists of vocabulary. It is therefore advisable to be able to recognize them from their roots.

The agreement prefixes of the adjectives are identical to the class prefixes of the nouns with which they agree.

However, a few modifications of a phonetic nature can be observed, especially with the adjectives whose root starts with a vowel. Therefore, for more transparency, we propose to divide our study of the concordant adjectives into two sub-categories : the adjectives whose root starts with a consonant and those whose root starts with a vowel.

 1. ADJECTIVES STARTING WITH A CONSONANT : 

The prefix agreements for the M-/WA- gender (Classes 1 / 2), the M-/MI- gender (Classes 3 / 4) and the KI-/VI- gender (Classes 7 / 8) are strictly identical to those of the nouns. For the JI-/MA- gender (Classes 5 / 6), only the adjective -PYA takes the prefix JI- in the singular, which makes : JIPYA. The other adjectives do not take any prefix in the singular. They all take the prefix MA- in the plural.

It is only with the N- gender (Classes 9 / 10), that matters get a little more tricky :

1. The adjective takes the prefix N- if the adjectival root starts with D, G ou Z :
   
   

   N-	-DOGO	-> NDOGO	(= small, little)
   N-	-GUMU	-> NGUMU	(= hard)
   N-	-ZURI	-> NZURI	(= beautiful, nice)

   
   

2. The adjective takes the prefix M- if the adjectival root starts with B, P ou V :
   
   

   M-	-BAYA	-> MBAYA	(= bad)
   M-	-PYA	-> MPYA	(= new)
   M-	-VIVU	-> MVIVU	(= lazy)

   
   
3. The adjectives whose roots start with other consonants do not take any prefix, except for -REFU which makes : NDEFU (= long, high).

SOME EXAMPLES :

Mtoto mdogo	a little child	(Class 1)
Watoto wadogo	little children	(Class 2)
Mti mrefu	a high tree	(Class 3)
Miti mirefu	high trees	(Class 4)
Tunda jipya	a new fruit	(Class 5)
Matunda mapya	new fruits	(Class 6)
Chakula kibaya	a bad food	(Class 7)
Vyakula vibaya	bad foods	(Class 8)
Nguo fupi	a short cloth	(Class 9)
Nguo fupi	short clothes	(Class 10)
Uso mzuri	a beautiful face	(U- Gender, Sing, Adj Cl 3)
Nyuso nzuri	beautiful faces	(U- Gender, Plur, Adj Cl 10)
Kusoma kuzuri	studying is good	(KU- Gender)

 2. ADJECTIVES STARTING WITH A VOWEL : 

-aminifu	honest, faithful
-angavu	bright
-ekundu	red
-ema	good, nice
-embamba	thin
-epesi	light, easy
-erevu	malignant, cunning
-eupe	white, clear
-eusi	black, dark
-ingi	much, many, a lot
-ingine	other, another
-ovu	bad
-ume	male

The presence of a vowel at the beginning of the adjectival root leads to modifications of a phonetic nature. Let's examine those changes, gender after gender :

1. The M-/WA- Gender :

   SINGULAR (Class 1)

   M(u) + A	-> MWA	Ex : Mtu mwaminifu	An honest person
   M(u) + E	-> MWE	Ex : Mtoto mwema	A nice child
   M(u) + I	-> MWI	Ex : Mtoto mwingine	Another child

   
   

   PLURAL (Class 2)

   WA + A	-> WA	Ex : Watu waminifu	Honest people
   WA + E	-> WE	Ex : Watoto wema	Nice children
   WA + I	-> WE	Ex : Watoto wengine	Other children

   
   
   

2. The M-/MI- Gender :

   SINGULAR (Class 3)

   M(u) + E	-> MWE	Ex : Mti mweusi	A dark tree
   M(u) + I	-> MWI	Ex : Mkate mwingine	Another bread

   
   

   PLURAL (Class 4)

   MI + E	-> MYE	Ex : Miti myeusi	Dark trees
   MI + I	-> MI	Ex : Mikate mingine	Other breads

   
   
   

3. The JI-/MA- Gender :

   SINGULAR (Class 5)

   JI + E	-> JE	Ex : Jua jekundu	A red sun
   JI + I	-> JI	Ex : Jua jingi	A lot of sun

   
   

   PLURAL (Class 6)

   MA + E	-> ME	Ex : Mabasi mekundu	Red buses
   MA + I	-> ME	Ex : Mabasi mengine	Other buses

   
   

   EXCEPTION :    JI + INGINE -> LENGINE (= another)

   
   

4. The KI-/VI- Gender :

   SINGULAR (Class 7)

   KI + E	-> CHE	Ex : Kiti cheusi	A black chair
   KI + I	-> KI	Ex : Chakula kingi	A lot of food

   
   

   PLURAL (Class 8)

   VI + E	-> VY	Ex : Viti vyeusi	Black chairs
   VI + I	-> VI	Ex : Vyakula vingine	Other foods

   
   
   

5. The N- Gender :

   SINGULAR (Class 9)

   N + E	-> NYE	Ex : Nguo nyeupe	A white cloth
   N + I	-> NYI	Ex : Nguo Nyingine	Another cloth

   
   

   PLURAL (Class 10)

   N + E	-> NYE	Ex : Nguo nyeupe	White clothes
   N + I	-> NYI	Ex : Nguo Nyingine	Other clothes

   
   

   EXCEPTION :    N + EMA -> NJEMA (= good)

EXERCISES

EXERCISE 1 : Translate into Swahili :

1. Big, fat, small, short, heavy, light, dirty, hard, sweet, bitter, new, lazy, red, black, white, malignant, main, raw, bad, good.

2. A cunning man, an honest child, a few people, a severe teacher, a lazy young man, a jealous woman, a nice young girl, adult people, a high mountain, sweet sugar cane, beautiful maize, a thin body, dirty hands, a whole month, a black umbrella, long legs, a white smoke, a red fire, a difficult exam, a good heart.

EXERCISE 2 : Translate into English :

1. Mfupi, nzito, mvivu, kavu, kigumu, kidogo, machafu, mbichi, mkali, jipya, makubwa, nzuri, njema, lengine, mzee, nyekundu, waminifu, mwangavu, chepesi, tupu.

2. Mtoto mvivu, mfuko mtupu, watu wazima, wanyama wakali, wamasai wakubwa, nguo mpya, mtu mweusi, mji mkuu, miguu mifupi, wazungu wageni, mikono mipana, mpira mdogo, magari machache, kitu kingine, chakula kitamu, muhindi mbichi, mtoto mbaya, wanafunzi wengi, mwizi mwovu, nguo fupi.

EXERCISE 3 : Put the following phrases in the plural :

Gari jipya, nguo nyekundu, kiti kidogo, uso mwema, mwanamke mkali, mto mpana, mti mrefu, mtu mzima, mvulana mvivu, mnyama mnono, mji mkubwa, mgonjwa mwingine, mlango mkuu, mshahara mdogo, mkate mwingi, moyo mzito, msitu mweusi, mkono mchafu, gari bovu, chakula kichache.