Image by Jani Mwitu from Pixabay
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 U-Zi noun class includes nouns beginning with u– (or w-) in the singular, and ny-/nd-/nj-/ng-/mb– or ∅ in the plural. To form the plural of U-Zi nouns, the u– is dropped and replaced by a nasal (n– or m-) plus another consonant.
If the noun stem begins with a vowel, the plural begins in ny-.
- uso, nyuso (face, faces)
- uma, nyuma (fork, forks)
- uwanja, nyanja (field, fields)
If the noun stem begins with w-, the plural begins with nd-. Stems beginning with l- or r- will also change to nd–
- uwele, ndwele (illness, illnesses)
- ulimi, ndimi (tongue, tongues)
If the noun stem begins with d-, z-, j– or g-, the plural begins with nj-.
- ujiti, njiti (stick, sticks)
- ujukuti, njukuti (spoke, spokes)
- ugavu, ngavu (fish net, fish nets)
- ugoya, ngoya (feather, feathers)
If the noun stem begins with b-, the plural begins with mb-.
- ubao, mbao (wood/board, boards)
- ubeleko, mbeleko (baby carrier, baby carriers)
- ubawa, mbawa (wing, wings)
If the noun stem begins with a consonant other than b, d, z, j, or g, it has a zero ending in the plural.
- ukuta, kuta (wall, walls)
- ukurasa, kurasa (page, pages)
- ufunguo, funguo (key, keys)
Some nouns in this class begin with w– in the singular and ny– in the plural.
- waya, nyaya (wire,wires)
- wakaa, nyakaa (opportunity, opportunities)
- wimbo, nyimbo (song, songs)
Summary of Agreement Markers
| adjective | possessive | subject | object | demonstratives | relatives |
| m-/n- | w-/z- | u-/zi- | u-/zi | huu, hizi huo, hizo ule, zile | o-/zo- |
Adjective Agreement
The adjective agreement prefixes for the U-Zi class are m– in the singular and n– in the plural.
- uwanja mzuri, nyanja nzuri (a good field, good fields)
- ulimi mrefu, ndimi ndefu (a long tongue, long tongues)
- ujiti mdogo, njiti ndogo (a small stick, small sticks)
Possessives
The possessive prefix for the U-Zi class is w-, in the singular and z– plural.
- uwanja wangu, nyanja zangu (my field, our fields)
- uma wetu, nyuma zetu (our teacher, our teachers)
- uso wako, nyuso zako (your face, your faces)
Verbal Agreement
The verbal subject agreement prefixes for the U-Zi class are the same as its name, u- in the singular and zi– in the plural.
- Uzi umekatwa.
The thread has been cut. - Nyanja zimerembeshwa.
The fields have been decorated. - Ukurasa umefunguliwa.
The page has been opened. - Mbao zimevunjika.
The boards are broken.
Locatives
The prefixes u-/zi– are used on the locatives –ko, –po, and –mo.
- Ubao uko wapi? Ubao uko darasani.
Where is the piece of wood? The piece of wood is in the classroom. - Mbao ziko wapi? Mbao ziko shuleni.
Where are the pieces of wood? The pieces of wood are at school.
Object Infixes
The object infixes for the U-Zi class are u- in the singular, and zi– in the plural.
- Waya? Ninauona.
Wire? I see it. - Nyaya? Ninaziona.
The wires? I see them.
Demonstratives
The demonstratives for the U-Zi class are huu (this), hizi (these), huo (that), hizo (those), ile (that over there), zile (those over there).
- ubawa huu(this feather)
- mbawa hizi (these feathers)
- ukuta huo (that wall)
- kuta zile (those walls)
Relatives
The relative agreement infixes for the U-Zi noun class are o– in the singular and zo- in the plural. They can appear as infixes in the verb of the clauses or as suffixes on amba (ambazo).
- uwanja uliotengenezwa…/ uwanja ambao ulitengenezwa… (the field that was repaired…)
- nyuzi zilizokatwa… / nyuzi ambazo zilikatwa… (the thread that got cut…)
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