Class 6: The Plural of Class 5 (ma-)

01

Making the Plural

Put ma- in front of the class 5 noun. Where the noun began with ji-, that prop drops away.

• gari car becomes magari cars
• yai egg becomes mayai eggs
• tunda fruit becomes matunda fruit
• jino tooth becomes meno teeth

• Ninanunua ndizi moja na mayai sita.

  I am buying one banana and six eggs.

02

The Verb Prefix Is ya-

• Mabasi yanafika kituoni.

  The buses are arriving at the stop.

• ya- they, the class 6 subject
• -na- happening now
• fika arrive

• Ninakunywa maji. Yanaburudisha.

  I am drinking water. It is refreshing.

The second sentence has no noun in it at all. Yanaburudisha carries the class by itself, and that is how you know the water is still what is meant.

03

Liquids and Masses

A set of common nouns lives permanently in class 6 with no singular partner, because what they name cannot be counted.

• maji - water
• maziwa - milk
• mafuta - oil

English treats these as singular and Swahili as plural, so the verb comes out as ya- where English says it.

04

Adjectives and Linking Words

Adjectives take ma-, and the word for of is ya.

• Naweza kusema maneno machache ya Kijapani.

  I can say a few words of Japanese.

• Kuna mawingu mengi leo.

  There are many clouds today.

maneno machache and mawingu mengi: the adjective repeats the noun's own ma-.

05

Pointing at a Class 6 Noun

• haya - these
• hayo - those, the ones just mentioned
• yale - those over there

• Matunda haya ni matamu.

  This fruit is sweet.

06

The Object Marker Is -ya-

When a class 6 noun is on the receiving end of the verb, -ya- goes inside the word and the noun can be left out.

• Mayai yamekwisha. Nitayanunua kesho.

  The eggs are finished. I will buy them tomorrow.

The eggs are named once. Inside ni-ta-ya-nunua the -ya- carries them into the next sentence.