Noun prefixes
Noun classes, prefixes and stems
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Noun classes: all nouns belong more or less uniquely to a certain class;
identifying that class is essential to being able to talk correctly about that
noun, as it affects almost any grammatical ‘object’ relating to it (e.g., verb,
adjective, etc.)
There are two major prefixes (i.e., attached to the front of something else)
associated with each class; these get attached to stems to form grammatical
objects. (Normally, each of these two prefixes has distinct singular and plural
forms.)
Prefixes are often written with a following hyphen, to show that they are to be
attached to a stem, e.g. wa-; similarly, stems are often written with a
preceding hyphen, e.g. -refu
Noun prefixes
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Even nouns themselves are made up of stems and prefixes, but people may
not appreciate this because they simply learn the whole noun and don’t usually
need to isolate the noun stem
These prefixes used on singular and plural nouns together constitute one of
the two prefixes associated with the class, and are normally used to name the
respective classes: (Singular prefix/Plural prefix). For example, (M/WA);
(KI/VI); and (N/N). They will henceforth be referred to as noun prefixes.
Normally, you learn the singular form of a noun, e.g. mtoto, kiatu. If you are
aware of the class of a noun, these class names help you understand how to
form the plural; e.g., mtoto becomes watoto; kiatu becomes viatu.
[‘N’ stands for ‘Nasal prefix’ which can vary between different noun stems (see
below). The N/N class is a special case, since there is no difference between
singular and plural noun prefixes, and so singular and plural nouns are identical in
this class. It will henceforth be referred to simply as the N class.]
Using the noun prefix on other grammatical objects
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There are a small number of other grammatical objects which use the same
prefixes as the nouns themselves:
 Numbers (quantities) i.e. when you are expressing the number of a
certain countable noun. These follow their nouns and the stems used
are simply the numbers one normally learns (-moja, -tatu, etc., except
for the number two where the root is -wili, e.g. watu wawili). Only
when the number ends in a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 8 (the Bantu number stems)
does it require a prefix. All numbers ending in 1 (e.g. 11, 21, 31, 101,
etc.) take a singular noun prefix (e.g. wanafunzi kumi na mmoja),
while those ending in 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 take a plural noun prefix (e.g.
vitu vitatu)
 The stems -ngapi? (“how many?” – takes plural noun prefix), -ingi
(“many, lots”) and -chache (“few”), both normally taking plural noun
prefix, and -ingine (“another, different, some” – can take singular or
plural noun prefix)
 Certain qualitative adjective stems, e.g. -kubwa. Bantu adjective stems
follow their nouns and use the same prefixes (singular or plural to
match the noun) e.g. viti vikubwa.
[Numbers not ending in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 8, i.e. 6, 7, 9, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, etc.
(including all multiples of 10) and certain adjectives, e.g. rahisi, do not take any
prefixes because they are of foreign (non-Bantu) orgin. They are always written
without a preceding hyphen.]
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If you use both a quantity and an adjective with a noun, the correct word order
is: noun, adjective, quantity, e.g. wanaume warefu watatu
Special rules for prefixes (don’t worry about learning all these – they’ll hopefully
come with practice):
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Note the rules for modification of prefixes when attached to stems beginning
with vowels:
 m → mw, e.g. mtoto mwingine;
 wa + a → wa, e.g. mwalimu → walimu (not waalimu);
 wa + e → we, e.g. wanafunzi wema
 wa + i → we, e.g. wanawake wengi
 ki → ch, vi → vy e.g. kiatu cheusi, viti vyeupe, chumba, vyumba;
BUT, ki + i → ki, vi + i → vi, e.g. kitabu kingine (NOT
chingine/kiingine), vitu vingi
The N prefix changes depending on the stem to which it is attached, and
sometimes this means there is no prefix. This is mainly significant when using
Bantu adjectives with N class nouns, e.g. ndizi kubwa, safari ndefu, baiskeli
nyingi, habari mbaya. Please ask Joe for a photocopied sheet which explains
these rules in detail.