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This post is part of a series on Swahili noun classes. For an overview, see this post. To learn about each noun class in depth, check out these posts: The A-Wa Class, the Ki-Vi Class, the Li-Ya Class, the U-I Class, the I-I Class, the U-Zi Class, the I-Zi Class, the Ya-Ya Class, the Ku-Ku Class, the PaKuMu-PoKoMo Class.

Overview

The I-Zi noun class is very broad and includes a wide range of types of nouns. Many nouns borrowed from English, Arabic, and other languages belong to the I-Zi class. The forms are the same in the singular and plural.

• betri (battery, batteries)
• motokaa (automobile, automobiles)
• kalamu (pen, pens)
• nyumba (house, houses)
• kompyuta (computer, computers)
• nchi (country, countries)
• runinga (television, televisions)

Summary of Agreement Markers

Adjective Agreement

Adjectives tend not to take an agreement prefix for the I-Zi class.

• motokaa kuukuu, motokaa kuukuu (an old car, old cars)
• betri kubwa, betri kubwa (a big battery, big batteries)

Possessives

The possessive prefix for the I-Zi class is  y- in the singular and z– plural.

• karatasi yangu, karatasi zangu (my paper, my papers)
• nyumba yetu, nyumba zetu (our house, our houses)
• nguo yako, mbwa wako (your clothes, your clothes)

Verbal Agreement

The verbal subject agreement prefixes for the I-Zi class are the same as its name, i- in the singular and zi– in the plural.

• Pegi imeanguka.
  The peg has fallen.
• Pegi zimeanguka.
  The pegs have fallen.
• Karatasi imeraruka.
  The paper is torn.
• Karatasi zimeraruka.
  The papers are torn.

Locatives

The prefixes i-/zi– are used on the locatives –ko, –po, and –mo.

• Betri iko wapi? Betri iko garini.
  Where is the battery? The battery is in the car.
• Redio ziko wapi? Redio ziko darasani.
  Where are the radios? The radios are in the classroom.

Object Infixes

The object infixes for the I-Zi class are –i- in the singular, and -zi– in the plural.

• Tarakilishi? Ninaiona.
  The computer? I see it.
• Redio? Ninaziona.
  The radios? I see them.
• Ninaziona.
  I see them.
• Unaiona.
  You see it.
• Tunaziona.
  We see them.

Demonstratives

The demonstratives for the I-Zi class are hii (this), hizi (these), hiyo (that), hizo (those), ile (that over there), zile (those over there).

• redio hii (this radio)
• runinga hizi (these television)
• pegi ile (that peg)
• betri zile (those betries)

Relatives

The relative agreement infixes for the I-Zi noun class are yo– in the singular and zo- in the plural. They can appear as infixes in the verb of the relative clause (iliyovunjika) or as suffixes on amba (ambayo).

• Pegi iliyovunjika… /pegi ambayo ilivunjika… (the peg that broke…)
• Betri zilizotumika… / betri ambazo zilitumika… (the batteries that were used..)

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