Swahili Made Easy: A Beginner's Complete Course

LESSON 7. THE N CLASS

PART ONE 19 LESSON 7 THE N CLASS Although this class is known as the N class, not every noun in this class begins with an N. The nouns in this class, however, have one thing in common; they retain the same form for both singular and plural, as will be shown below: Nouns that begin with N: ndege, bird(s); aircraft nyoka, snake(s) ndizi, banana(s) nyumba, house(s) ngoma, drum(s) nyuki, bee(s) ng’ombe, cow, cattle njaa, hunger, famine ngurumo, thunder(s) njia, way(s) nguvu, strength (s) njugu, peanut(s) nguo, cloth, clothes nzige, locust(s) nyama meat Some nouns which have b and v in the root,change N into M, thus: nb becomes mb, as in: mbwa, “a dog, dogs”; mbu “mosquito(s)”; mbegu “seed(s)”; mboga “vegetable(s)”; nv becomes mv, as in: mvua “rain(s)”; mvi ‘gray hair(s)’; mvinyo “wine, spirits”. The following nouns belong to the N class altbough they do not begin with N: barua, letter(s) mvua, rain bahasha, envelope(s) sukari, sugar barabara, road(s) ardhi, earth, land 20 SWAHILI MADE EASY chumvi, salt asali, honey chupa, bottle(s) asubuhi, morning faida, profit anga, sky hasara, loss habari, news fedha, money hatari, danger furaha, joy hesabu, sums, arithmetic huzuni, sadness meza, table (s) kalamu, pencil(s) saa, hour(s), watch(es) lugha, language taa, lamp(s) nazi coconut(s) siku, day (s) Adjectives qualifying nouns of the N class take the N prefix or both singular and plural, e.g. nyumba nzuri, “nice house(s)”; ndizi ndogo, “small banana(s)”. 1. Adjectives which begin with ch, f, k, p, t, take no prefix: e.g. ndizi chache, a few bananas njia fupi, a short way nyumba kubwa, big house(s) njia pana, wide, broad way(s) ndizi tamu, sweet banana(s) 2. N before b,like baya,and -pya,becomes m,e.g.njaa mbaya bad famine”, nyumba mpya, new bouse(s) 3. For nj, nd is used, thus: njia ndefu a long way·. (Some people still say njia refu, but this is not accepted in standard Swahili.) PART ONE 21 USEFUL PHRASES habari gani? what is the news? how are you? saa ngapi? what is the time? hatari mbele, danger ahead polepole, slowly chai tayari, tea is ready chai ya rangi, tea without milk kahawa ya rangi, coffee without milk weka chai mezani put tea on the table karibu chai, ndugu welcome to a cup of tea, brother EXERCISE 9 Translate into Swahili: 1. sweet coconuts 9. much money 2. big tables 10. a broad way 3. a long hour 11. a few hours 4. profit and loss 12. a sharp pencil 5. joy and sadness 13. good news or bad news 6. tea and sugar 14. a light bottle 7. bread and meat 15. long hours 8. potatoes and salt ...