All, Having, and Any

01

-ote: All, the Whole

• Napenda filamu zote.

  I like all films.

• Nazijua nyimbo zao zote.

  I know all their songs.

• Vitabu vyangu vyote viko juu ya dawati.

  All my books are on the desk.

Two classes, two shapes, one stem: zote for class 10 and vyote for class 8. With a singular noun the same stem means the whole of.

02

-enye: Having

-enye turns a noun into a description, doing the work of English with.

• Mpishi mzuri hutumia kisu chenye ncha kali.

  A good cook uses a knife with a sharp point.

• Ninaishi kijijini chenye ng'ombe wengi.

  I live in a village with many cattle.

• Ana mwili wenye afya na kichwa chenye akili.

  He has a healthy body and a clever head.

Literally those read a knife having a sharp point, a village having many cattle, a body having health. That is the ordinary way to say it, not a roundabout one, and it is how Swahili covers ground English gives to endings like -ful and -y. Note the prefix changing to match each noun: chenye for the class 7 knife, wenye for the class 3 body.

03

-o-ote: Any at All

Built on the referential -o, this stem sweeps across a whole category. It is most at home in questions and in negatives.

• Unahitaji chochote?

  Do you need anything?

• Sijui wimbo wowote wa bendi hiyo.

  I do not know any song by that band.

• Kwa kweli sinywi bia yoyote.

  I really do not drink any beer.

chochote, wowote, yoyote: the same stem in three classes.

04

Telling -ote and -o-ote Apart

The two look alike and mean quite different things. filamu zote is every film there is; filamu yoyote is any film you like.

• Napenda filamu zote.

  I like all films.

• Unaweza kutazama filamu yoyote.

  You can watch any film you like.

05

-ote with People

Used with the pronouns, -ote gives all of us, all of you, all of them, and these are worth learning outright.

• sote - all of us
• nyote - all of you
• wote - all of them

• Watoto wetu na watoto wao wote ni wanafunzi.

  Our children and their children are all students.

06

Every Versus All

kila means every. Unlike the three stems above it never changes shape, and it comes before its noun, which is unusual enough to be worth noticing.

• Kila mtu anajua tatizo hili.

  Everyone knows this problem.

• Mbwa mkali analinda nyumba yao kila usiku.

  A fierce dog guards their house every night.

Set kila mtu beside watu wote all the people: kila picks them out one at a time, -ote takes them together.