Class 8: The Plural of Class 7 (vi-)

01

Making the Plural

• kitabu book becomes vitabu books
• kiti chair becomes viti chairs
• kisu knife becomes visu knives
• chakula food becomes vyakula foods
• kiatu shoe becomes viatu shoes

Look at chakula. Where the singular has ch-, the plural has vy-, because both are the same prefix adjusting to the vowel that follows. kiatu is an exception that keeps a full ki- before its vowel, so its plural keeps a full vi-.

• Unasoma vitabu.

  You are reading books.

• Niliweka viatu ndani ya kabati.

  I put the shoes inside the wardrobe.

02

The Linking Word Is vya

• Unataka viatu vya rangi gani?

  What colour shoes do you want?

• Samahani, nina mzio wa vyakula vya baharini.

  Sorry, I am allergic to seafood.

vyakula vya shows the noun and its linking word carrying an identical prefix.

03

Adjectives and Possessives

• Vitabu vyangu viko juu ya dawati.

  My books are on the desk.

• Viatu hivi ni vidogo.

  These shoes are small.

Three words in a row in the second one, viatu, hivi and vidogo, all carry vi-.

04

The Same Prefix Builds Adverbs

Attached to an adjective stem, vi- makes a word describing how something is done.

• -zuri good gives vizuri well
• -baya bad gives vibaya badly

• Unajisikiaje? Vizuri au vibaya?

  How do you feel? Well or badly?

• Inakukaa vizuri. Inunue!

  It fits you well. Buy it!

These are not adjectives describing a class 8 noun. They are adverbs, and their vi- is frozen: it never changes to match anything else in the sentence.

05

Pointing at a Class 8 Noun

• hivi - these
• hivyo - those, the ones just mentioned
• vile - those over there

• Viatu hivi ni ghali sana.

  These shoes are very expensive.

06

The Object Marker Is -vi-

When a class 8 noun is the object, -vi- goes inside the verb and the noun itself can vanish.

• Vitabu vyangu vimepotea. Sivioni.

  My books are lost. I cannot see them.

• si- I do not
• -vi- them, the class 8 object
• oni see