Swahili Made Easy: A Beginner's Complete Course

LESSON 9. THE U CLASS

24 SWAHILI MADE EASY LESSON 9 THE U CLASS The nouns in this class begin with u (or w before a vowel) in the singular. Most of them have no plural, and those that do have taken the plural formed of the N class. Many of these nouns are derivative, i.e. they are formed by simply prefixing u to the stems of other nouns and adjectives. e.g. From moja,“one”, we get umoja, “unity”; from -zuri, “beautiful” we get uzuri, “beauty”. 1. Here are some more nouns formed from other nouns and adjectives: uzuri, beauty, ukubwa, greatness, size urefu, length, height, depth udogo, smallness ufupi, brevity, shortness uzee, old age utu, humanity utoto, childhood utumwa, slavery ubaba, fatherhood wizi, theft ujanja, cleverness 2. The following are collective nouns: unga, flour, wali, cooked rice udongo, earth, soil ugali stiff porridge ugali uji, gruel ushanga, beads(s) utitiri crowd (of fleas) ufuta, oil-seed, sesame seed/oil simsim PART ONE 25 3. The following nouns, like those in sections 1 and 2, have no plurals: usiku, night, at night usingizi, sleep umri, age umeme, electricity ulimwengu, universe wino, ink 4. Some nouns have the prefix ma in the plural, e.g. ugonjwa, disease magonjwa,diseases ua, flower, maua, flowers ugomvi, quarrel, magonvi, quarrels 5. The following nouns also have plurals: a) ubao, timber mbao, timbers udevu, beard ndevu, beard wimbo, song nyimbo, songs uso, face nyuso face ubavu, rib mbavu, ribs wavu, net nyavu.nets b) ukuta, wall kuta,walls upepo, wind pepo, winds ufagio, broom fagio, brooms Adjectives which qualify nouns of this class have the m prefix the singular and n in the plural; e.g. uso mzuri, “a nice face” nyuso nzuri. “nice faces” wimbo mzuri “a nice nyimbo nzuri “nice songs” song” ujana ni mzuri ,“youth No plural is good” 26 SWAHILI MADE EASY ukubwa ni kitu kizuri, No plural “greatness is a good thing” umoja ni nguvu, No plural “unity is strength” EXERCISE 12 Translate into Swahili: 1. Unity is strength; unity is a good thing. 2. Theft is bad, humanity is excellent 3. Songs are long but sweet. 4. Walls are high and wide. 5. Sleep is good at night. 6. Great age is very good but youth is excellent. 7. Diseases are bad. 8. The universe is big and wide. 9. The flour is good but the loaves of bread are bad. 10. The flowers in the garden (bustani) are beautiful. ...