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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 Ki-Vi noun class includes names of objects and things, including many body parts. Nouns in this class take ki- in singular and vi– in the plural.

• kikapu, vikapu (basket, baskets)
• kisu, visu (knife, knives)
• kiti, viti (chair, chairs)
• kitabu, vitabu (book, books)
• kitanda, vitanda (bed, beds)
• kiazi, viazi (potato, potatoes)
• kilima, vilima (hill, hills)
• kichwa, vichwa (head, heads)
• kidole, vidole (finger, fingers)

The Ki-Vi class also includes nouns with ch- and vy.

• chakula, vyakula (food, food(stuff)s)
• chumba, vyumba (room, rooms)
• cheti, vyeti (certificate, certificates)
• chuma, vyuma (piece of metal, pieces of metal)

Summary of Agreement

Here is a summary of the agreement prefixes you’ll see related to the Ki-Vi class.

Adjective Agreement

The adjective agreement prefixes for the Ki-Vi class are ki– in the singular and vi– in the plural.

• kiatu kizee, viatu vizee (an old shoe, old shoes)
• kioo kikubwa, vioo vikubwa (a big mirror, big mirrors)
• chumba kidogo, vyumba vidogo (a small room, small rooms)

Possessives

The possessive prefixes for the Ki-Vi class are ch– in the singular and  vy– in plural.

• kikombe changu, vikombe vyangu (my cup, my cups)
• viti vyangu, viti vyetu (my chairs, our chairs)
• kisima chako, visima vyako (your well, your wells)

Verbal Agreement

The verbal subject agreement prefixes for the Ki-Vi class are the same as its name, ki- in the singular and vi– in the plural.

• Kiti kimevunjika.
  The chair is broken.
• Vitabu vimeraruka.
  The books are torn.
• Kitambaa kimeng’ara.
  The cloth is clean.
• Vikapu vimejaa.
  The baskets are full.

Locatives

The prefixes ki- and vi– are used on the locatives –ko, –po, and –mo.

• Kidonge kiko wapi? Kidoge kiko mezani.
  Where is the pill? The pill is on the table.
• Vidonge viko wapi? Vidonge viko mezani.
  Where are the pills? The pills are on the table.

Object Infixes

The object infixes for the Ki-Vi class are –ki- in the singular, and –vi– in the plural.

• Kiti? Ninakiona.
  The chair? I see it.
• Vikombe? Ninaviona.
  The cups? I see them.
• Unakiona.
  You see it.
• Tunaviona.
  We see them.

Demonstratives

The demonstratives for the Ki-Vi class are hiki (this), hivi (these), hicho (that), hivyo (those), kile (that over there), vile (those over there).

• kiti hiki (this chair)
• vikapu hivi (these baskets)
• kijiko hicho (that fork)
• vijiji vile (those towns over there)

Relatives

The relative agreement infixes for the Ki-Vi noun class are cho– in the singular and vyo- in the plural. They can appear as infixes in the verb of the  clause (kilichovunjika) or as suffixes on amba (ambacho).

• kiti kilichovunjika… / kitu ambacho kimevunjika… (the chair that is broken…)
• kikapu kilichoraruka… / kikapu ambacho kimeraruka… (the basket that is torn…)

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