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Swahili for Beginners

The N/N class


 We have learned already several N/N class nouns.


 We had those describing animals:

Simba, tembo, twiga, mamba, ndege, samaki, mbwa, paka, panya, buibui, mende

	which all behave completely like M/Wa nouns, except for having no plural form.

 
 We also saw persons:


 kaka, dada, mama, baba, rafiki

 
 which behave mainly like M/Wa nouns except for having no plural form and for using the possessive prefixes of the N/N class (yangu, zangu...)


 Now we will look at some 'pure blood' N/N words :D

<table class="ui celled definition table">
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>nyumba</td>
 <td>house</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>bahari</td>
 <td>sea / ocean</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>bandari</td>
 <td>harbour</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>barabara</td>
 <td>road</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>nchi</td>
 <td>country</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

 I chose words describing places, because I will introduce the verb kwenda - to go later on. Oooops spoiler alert !!!


 But back to our N/N words.


 The possessive endings are of course:

 y- and z-


 So: nchi yangu - my country


 nyumba zako - your houses


 barabara yao - their road 


 etc.


 the words for 'of' (belonging to) are:


<ul>
 <li>'ya' - for sg and</li>
 <li>'za' - for plural</li>
</ul>


 bandari ya bahari - the seaport ( the harbour of the sea)


 barabara za nchi - country roads (the roads of the country)


 Now for verbs:

<ul>
 <li> i - na* + root = sg</li>
 <li> zi - na* + root = pl</li>
</ul>

 *(present tense marker) 


 Barabara i-na-enda - The road goes


 Barabara zi-na-enda - The roads go


Kwenda - to go

<table class="ui fixed celled definition table">
 <thead>
 <tr>
 <th></th>
 <th>Infinitive marker</th>
 <th>Person marker</th>
 <th>Time marker (here: present tense)</th>
 <th>Verb stem (root)</th>
 <th>translation</th>
 </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Infinitive</td>
 <td>Kw - (= ku-)</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>-enda</td>
 <td> to go</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>First person</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>Ni-</td>
 <td>-na-</td>
 <td>-enda*</td>
 <td> I go</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Second person</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>U-</td>
 <td>-na-</td>
 <td>-enda*</td>
 <td> you go</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Third person</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>A-</td>
 <td>-na-</td>
 <td>-enda*</td>
 <td> he/she goes</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>First person plural</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>Tu- </td>
 <td>-na-</td>
 <td>-enda*</td>
 <td> we go</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Second person plural</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>M-</td>
 <td>-na-</td> 
 <td>-enda*</td>
 <td>you (pl) go </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Third person plural</td>
 <td>-</td>
 <td>Wa-</td>
 <td>-na-</td>
 <td>-enda*</td>
 <td> they go</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

 * You might come across positive forms using 'kwenda' instead of 'enda' e.g. 'ninakwenda'. Don't worry much about them. They are less common and focus more on the actual fact of walking.


 For our street to go anywhere we need to use the third person verbforms:

<ul>
 <li> a-naenda - he goes</li>
 <li> wa-naenda - they go </li>
</ul>

 We now need to replace the M/Wa person markers (a- / wa-) with the N/N person marker (i-/zi-)

<ul>
 <li> i-naenda - it goes</li>
 <li> zi-naenda - they go </li>
</ul>

 We still need a destination... for this we add '-ni' to the end of the place we want to go to.

<ul>
 <li> bahari-ni - to the sea</li>
 <li> nyumba-ni - to the house/ home </li>
 <li> nch-ni - to the country</li>
 <li> bandari-ni - to the harbour</li>
</ul>

 For a person we use 'kwa' before the person:

<ul>
 <li> kwa mpishi - to the cook</li>
 <li> kwa mhandisi - to the engineer </li>
</ul>

 For combined words we put 'kwenye' before the combo:

<ul>
 <li> kwenye bandari ya bahari - to the seaport</li>
 <li> kwenye barabara za nchi - to the country roads </li>
</ul>

 Barabara inaenda nyumbani. - The street goes (leads) home.


 Barabara zinaenda baharini. - The streets go to the sea.


 Ninaenda kwa mvuvi. - I go to the fisherman.


 Tunaenda kwenye bandari ya bahari. - We go to the seaport.

 
 Let's have one more destination:


 Shule - school


 However with school there is a littie change. If we use kwenda shule-ni this will mean 'to got to the school building' or 'to go to the school right now'. If we want to say that we go regularly to school, that we are inscribed, that children have already reached schoolage... we say simply 'kwenda shule' without the '-ni' suffix. 


 Let's look at the negative forms.

<table class="ui celled definition table">
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Si-endi</td>
 <td> I don't go</td>
 
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Hu-endi</td>
 <td>You don't go</td>
 
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Ha-endi</td>
 <td>He/she doesn't go</td>
 
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Hatu-endi</td>
 <td>We don't go</td>
 
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Ham-w-endi*</td>
 <td>You (pl) don't go</td>
 
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Hawa-endi</td>
 <td>They don't go</td>
 
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

 * There is an additional 'w' to faciliate pronunciation.


 On top of this we need the 3rd person N/N class forms in the negative:

<table class="ui celled definition table">
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>i-na-enda - it goes</td>
 <td>ha-i- endi - it doesn't go</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>zi-na-enda - they go</td>
 <td>ha- zi- endi - they don't go</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

 Let's increase our vocabulary:

<ul>
 <li> leo - today</li>
 <li> sasa - now </li>
 <li> kila- every</li>
 <li> asubuhi - morning</li>
 <li> kila asubuhi - every morning</li>
 <li> pia - too / as well</li>
</ul>

 Ninaenda nyumbani leo. - I go home today.


 Kaka, je unaenda sasa? - Brother, are you going now?


 Hatuendi nyumbani sasa. - We are not going home now.


 Wanaenda baharini. - They are going to the sea.


 Je wanaenda bandarini? - Are they going to the harbour?


 Ndiyo, wanaenda bandarini pia. - Yes, they are also going to the harbour.


 Je mnaenda kwenye nchi yenu? - Are you (pl) going to your country?


 Hapana, hatuendi kwenye nchi yetu. - No, we are not going to our country.


 Barabara zinaenda bandarini. - The road is going to the harbour.


 Barabara haziendi kwenye bandari ya bahari. - The roads don't go to the seaport.

Question	Answer
house	nyumba true N/N noun class
sea / ocean	bahari true N/N noun class
harbour	bandari true N/N noun class
road	barabara true N/N noun class
country	nchi true N/N noun class
my country	nchi yangu
your houses	nyumba zako
their road	barabara yao
the seaport	bandari ya bahari
country roads	barabara za nchi
to go	kwenda
I go	ninaenda
to (a place) / suffix	ni
(to) home	nyumbani
I go home.	Ninaenda nyumbani.
You go	unaenda
You go to the sea.	Unaenda baharini.
he/she goes	anaenda
He is going to the harbour.	Anaenda bandarini
we go	tunaenda
We go to our country.	Tunaenda kwenye nchi yetu.
you (pl) go	mnaenda
to (a place - used for combos e.g. bandari ya bahari)	kwenye
You (pl) go to the seaport.	Mnaenda kwenye bandari ya bahari.
they go	wanaenda
They go home.	Wanaenda nyumbani.
to (a person)	kwa
to the engineer	kwa mhandisi
They go to the engineer.	Wanaenda kwa mhandisi.
to your place*	kwako kwa and possessive = to yours - meaning to your place
They go to your place.	Wanaenda (nyumbani) kwako.
Come ! *	Njoo ! We didn't have this verb yet. The imperative is irregular. Just learn it like this for now.
Come to my place !	Njoo kwangu !
it goes (for N/N sg words)	inaenda
they go (for N/N pl words)	zinaenda
the street goes	barabara inaenda
the streets go	barabara zinaenda
The street goes home.	Barabara inaenda nyumbani.
The streets go to the sea	Barabara zinaenda baharini
school	shule true N/N noun class
to go to school / to attend school *	kwenda shule There is no -ni suffix on the word shule. We are talking of habital going, of being inscribed, of taking classes. If you add -ni (shuleni) it would be like : Are you going to school right now? Are you going to the school (building)?
He is not going to school. (never ever)	Haendi shule.
I am not going to school (I will go tomorrow)	Siendi shuleni.
I don't go	siendi
you don't go	huendi
he /she doesn't go	haendi
Are you not going to the sea?	Je huendi baharini?
No, I don't go to the sea today.	Hapana, siendi baharini leo.
today	leo
now	sasa
morning	asubuhi true N/N noun class
every	kila
every morning	kila asubuhi
we don't go	hatuendi
We don't go home now.	Hatuendi nyumbani sasa.
Brother, are you going now?	Kaka, je unaenda sasa?
you (pl) don't go	hamwendi * Did you notice the extra 'w'. HamWendi ?
You (pl) don't go in the morning	Hamwendi asubuhi.
they don't go	hawaendi
They don't go to school today.	Hawaendi shuleni leo.
They don't go every morning.	Hawaendi kila asubuhi.
too / as well	pia
They are going to the sea.	Wanaenda baharini.
Are they going to the harbour?	Je wanaenda bandarini?
Yes, they are going to the harbour as well.	Ndiyo, wanaenda bandarini pia.
Are you (pl) going to your country?	Je mnaenda kwenye nchi yenu?
No, we are not going to our country now.	Hapana, hatuendi kwenye nchi yetu sasa,
The streets are going to the harbour.	Barabara zinaenda bandarini.
it doesn't go ( used for N/N sg nouns)	haiendi M/Wa sg : a-na-enda e.g. Mpishi anaenda. - The cook goes M/Wa sg neg. : ha-end-i e.g. Mpishi haendi. - The cook doesn't go N/N sg : i-na-enda e.g. Barabara inaenda. - The road goes N/N sg neg. : ha-i-end-i e.g. Barabara haiendi. - The road doesn't go
they don't go ( used for N/N pl nouns)	haziendi M/Wa pl : wa-na-enda e.g. Wapishi wanaenda. - The cooks go M/Wa pl neg. : hawa-end-i e.g. Wapishi hawaendi. - The cooks don't go N/N pl : zi-na-enda e.g. Barabara zinaenda. - The roads go N/N pl neg. : ha-zi-end-i e.g. Barabara haziendi. - The roads don't go
The streets are not going to the seaport.	Barabara haziendi kwenye bandari ya bahari.
The cook likes to go to the sea.	Mpishi anapenda kwenda baharini.
The fishermen go to the sea every morning.	Wavuvi wanaenda baharini kila asubuhi.