Class 7: Things and Tools (ki-)

01

What Belongs Here

• kitabu - book
• kiti - chair
• kisu - knife
• chakula - food
• chumba - room

The class holds objects and tools above all, which is why so many household words sit here.

02

The Verb Prefix Is ki-

• Tunasoma kitabu. Kinavutia.

  We are reading a book. It is interesting.

• ki- it, the class 7 subject
• -na- happening now
• vutia be interesting

The second sentence names nothing. The ki- alone tells you the book is still what is meant.

03

Everything Echoes ki- or ch-

• Kiti changu cha zamani cha ofisi kimevunjika.

  My old office chair has broken.

Four words there carry the class: changu my, both instances of cha of, and the verb kimevunjika. Nothing else in Swahili rhymes quite so thoroughly.

• Tunakula chakula cha mchana.

  We are eating lunch.

• Mpishi mzuri hutumia kisu chenye ncha kali.

  A good cook uses a knife with a sharp point.

04

Languages Live Here

The name of every language is a class 7 noun, which is why they all begin with ki-.

• Kiswahili - Swahili
• Kiingereza - English
• Kifaransa - French

• Unasemaje "Asante" kwa Kireno?

  How do you say "thank you" in Portuguese?

05

Making Things Small

Swap a noun's own prefix for ki- and it becomes a small version of itself, moving into class 7 as it goes: mtoto child gives kitoto little child.

When the stem is a single syllable, ki- alone would leave the word too short, so -ji- is slipped in to give it body. It adds no meaning of its own. mto river is m- + -to, and its small version is ki- + -ji- + -to, kijito stream. mji town is m- + -ji, which gives kijiji village: the first -ji- is the padding, the second is the stem.

• Ninaishi kijijini chenye ng'ombe wengi.

  I live in a village with many cattle.

kijiji was built this way, and it takes class 7 agreement throughout: here the chenye that follows it.

06

Pointing at a Class 7 Noun

• hiki - this
• hicho - that, the one just mentioned
• kile - that one over there

• Kitabu hiki ni cha zamani.

  This book is old.

• Nini kile? Kile ni redio kuukuu.

  What is that? That is an old radio.

07

The Object Marker Is -ki-

Inside a verb, -ki- stands for a class 7 object, which lets the noun drop out of the sentence entirely.

• Nakisubiri kwa hamu.

  I am waiting for it eagerly.

• na- I, in the present
• -ki- it, the class 7 object
• subiri wait for