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Wa is a prefix for nationality?
Is it like -jin in Japanese or ren in Chinese?
1138
I think this is for the plural noun. :)
Edit: Plural form for persons and also the word "wadudu" (insects).
Etymology (mdudu)
From Arabic دُود (dūd).
Noun
mdudu (m-wa class, plural wadudu)
1) insect
From Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mdudu
SINGULAR
Pronoun Particle Noun
Mimi/Wewe/Yeye ni Mtanzania/Mmarekani/Mkenya
I/You/He or She am/are/is (a/an) Tanzanian/American/Kenyan
Mimi/Wewe/Yeye si Mtanzania/Mmarekani/Mkenya
I/You/He or She am/are/is not (a/an) Tanzanian/American/Kenyan
PLURAL
Pronoun Particle Noun
Sisi/Ninyi/Wao ni Watanzania/Wamarekani/Wakenya
We/You (pl)/They are Tanzanians/Americans/Kenyans
Sisi/Ninyi/Wao si Watanzania/Wamarekani/Wakenya
We/You (pl)/They are not Tanzanians/Americans/Kenyans
(from Tips and notes)
More info (see Noun class, Bantu languages, Class number 2, plural: persons): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_class
Thank you!
This video also helped me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK9Zejky5L8
I hope it's useful for you too :)
Yes, you'll learn later that the prefix m- (plural wa-) denotes a person and is one of the Swahili noun classes.
Thanks for this! So if it has an m it denotes a singular, and if it has a w it denotes it is plural. :)
- 1138
Remember the notes for the unit of People:
For the M- WA- noun class, the prefix w- is used for both singular AND plural possessive pronouns. For example, my child will be mtoto wangu and my children will be watoto wangu.
Note: The exceptions to this rule are certain kinship nouns that come from Arabic: baba, mama, bibi, babu, shangazi, binamu, rafiki, dada, kaka, etc. These nouns take the y- agreement in the singular and the z- agreement in the plural.
Accordingly, my sister will be dada yangu whereas my sisters will be dada zangu.
Also, I think we can find some of the words of this class in the list below:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Swahili_m-wa_class_nouns
Those "possessive pronouns" are specifically describing nouns and not standing alone? Those are often called possessive adjectives where I am from.
- 1138
These are called "adjectives" also in Wiktionary.
Here, this text shows the Swahili denomination:
Possessive Pronouns [vivumishi vimilikishi]
https://www2.ku.edu/~kiswahili/pdfs/lesson_45.pdf
Noun
kivumishi (ki-vi class, plural vivumishi)
1) (grammar) adjective
From Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kivumishi
"ren", in Chinese, means persons, so it's the same I guess, yes.
person + country = nationality.
I think "ren" can be singular or plural. There is something added for plural. Here the m is replaced with wa to make the plural.
Indeed, many languages seem to use Netherlands and Dutch almost interchangeably...
