Class 2: People in the Plural (wa-)

01

Making the Plural

Take off the m- or mw- of class 1 and put wa- in its place. Before a vowel it shortens to w-.

• mtoto child becomes watoto children
• mwalimu teacher becomes walimu teachers
• mwanafunzi student becomes wanafunzi students
• mgeni guest becomes wageni guests

• Watoto wanapanda basi.

  The children are getting on the bus.

• wa- they, the class 2 subject
• -na- happening now
• panda get on, climb

02

Everything Takes wa-

The verb, the adjective, the number and the word for all every one of them carries wa-, so a class 2 sentence often has the same syllable four times over.

• Wazazi wangu wanafanya kazi benki.

  My parents work at a bank.

• Watoto wao wana kelele sana.

  Their children are very noisy.

• Ingawa wenzangu kazini ni watu wazuri.

  Even though my colleagues at work are good people.

In the last one the noun watu people and the adjective wazuri good stand side by side, both with wa-.

03

Borrowed Words Join the Class

Words for people that showed no prefix in the singular still change in the plural, and that is often the first clear sign of the class they were in all along. Several of them take ma- rather than wa-.

• rafiki friend becomes marafiki
• daktari doctor becomes madaktari
• dereva driver becomes madereva

The ma- is on the noun only. Everything agreeing with it still takes wa-, because these are people.

• Nina mbwa na paka. Ni marafiki.

  I have a dog and a cat. They are friends.

04

Animals Borrow This Class Too

Living creatures take class 1 and class 2 agreement whatever their own prefix suggests, because Swahili counts being alive for more than the shape of a word.

• Kuna samaki wengi baharini.

  There are many fish in the sea.

• Ninaishi kijijini chenye ng'ombe wengi.

  I live in a village with many cattle.

Neither samaki fish nor ng'ombe cattle carries a prefix of its own, yet both take wengi many, which is the class 2 form.