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LESSON 4. THE SWAHILI ADJECTIVE
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PART ONE 11 LESSON 4 THE SWAHILI ADJECTIVE In Swahili the adjectives agree with the nouns they qualify both in number and in nominal prefixes.With the exception of kila “each”, “every”, all adjectives follow their nouns. e.g. kila mtoto, “every child”, but mtoto mdogo, “a small child”. The following is a list of Swahili adjectives. It is not exhaustive. It contains, however, most of the commonly used adjectives. Note that those which are preceded by a dash,take the nominal prefixes, and those which are not preceded by a dash do not take any prefix: __ dogo, small, little __ gumu hard, difficult __ kubwa, big, great __ zima, whole, living __ refu, long, high __ pya, new __ fupi, short, shallow __ chungu,bitter, sour __ zuri, nice, pretty __ tamu, sweet __ baya, bad, ugly __ chache, few __ kali, sharp, fierce __ nene, fat __ pole, mild, gentle __ nono, fat (animal) __ kavu, dry __ chafu, dirty __ bichi, unripe, raw __ vivu, lazy 12 SWAHILI MADE EASY __ bovu, rotten, broken __ kuu, great __ pana, wide __ tupu, empty __ embamba, slender __ ote, all, whole __ zito, heavy __ epesi light, easy __ ema, kind, good __ erevu, cunning __ ekundu, red __ ingi, much, many __ eusi, black __ ingine, other __ eupe, white The following adjectives do not take nominal prefixes: bora, excellent safi, clean hafifu, poor (quality) rasmi, official hodari, brave, skilful halisi genuine ghali, expensive rahisi, cheap, easy haba, few, rare imara, firm, strong kamili, complete, exactly, on the dot laini, soft tajiri rich maskini poor tele, abundant Here are some examples of adjectives agreeing with their nouns: Singular Plural mtoto mdogo, a small child watoto wadogo mwalimu hodari, a good teacher walimu hodari kitabu cheusi, a black book vitabu vyeusi [34.229.223.223] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 11:53 GMT) PART ONE 13 mtu mwerevu7 , a cunning man watu werevu mwizi mkubwa, a big thief wezi wakubwa uso mweupe, a white face nyuso nyeupe lugha rahisi, an easy language lugha rahisi EXERCISE 3 Add the right prefixes to each of the following adjectives (in brackets): 1. Mgeni (safi) 11. Baba (kali) 2. Watu (ekundu) 12. Wake (hodari) 3. Walevi (ingi) 13. Wanaume (zito) 4. Wapishi (hodari) 14. Watoto (fupi) 5. Wagonjwa (chache) 15. Wazee (refu) 6. Watoto (eusi) 16. Mgonjwa (epesi) 7. Mwalinu (eupe) 17. Mwanamke (bora) 8. Mke(ema) 18. Wanafunzi (ingi) 9. Wanaume (hodari) 19. Mpishi (zuri) 10. Watu (ote) 20. Watoto (-dogo) 7 The plural of adjectives beginning with e is we in the mw class, vye in the ki/vi; mye in m/mi, me in ma; nye in N; in pee in pg. For the plural of U class see N, i.e. nye. Likewise ote - has wote, vyote etc. e.g. watu wote, “all people”, vitu vyote, “all things”, pahali pote, all places”, miti yote, “all trees”, nyumba zote, “all houses” etc. 14 SWAHILI MADE EASY EXERCISE 4 Using the word ni to translate “is”and “are”, change the following into the plural forms: 1. Mpishi ni mganga hodari na kipofu ni mtu mzuri. 2. Mgeni ni mwanamke mzuri na ni mke hodari. 3. Mzee ni mlevi mkubwa na msichana ni mwanamke mdogo. 4. Mwizi ni mwerevu na ni mtu mwongo na mbaya. 5. Mwalimu ni mtu mwema na ni baba mzuri. 6. Mtumishi ni mtu mfupi na mwerevu. EXERCISE 5 Translate into Swahili: 1. Mothers are good cooks; doctors are good people. 2. Men and women are people; children are small people. 3. Servants are nice men; servants are women. 4. The visitors are tall men; the visitors are white men. 5. Tatu is a good wife and Mashaka is a good child. 6. Many men are good husbands and many women are good wives. 7. Many pupils are small children and many teachers are old men. 8. Many people are sick, few men are doctors. 9. Many guests are tall people, few are short. 10. Amina is an excellent teacher and a very good mother. 11. Blind men are few; blind women are many. 12. The children are all white and the old men are all black. ...