"Sisi ni Waholanzi"

Translation: We are Dutch

[Daoken]

Wa is a prefix for nationality?

Is it like -jin in Japanese or ren in Chinese?

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

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

[Daoken]

Thank you!

This video also helped me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK9Zejky5L8

I hope it's useful for you too :)

[likes2hike]

Yes, you'll learn later that the prefix m- (plural wa-) denotes a person and is one of the Swahili noun classes.

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

Wonderful! Asante Daktari Shawarma! =)

[OliverBens1]

Thanks for this! So if it has an m it denotes a singular, and if it has a w it denotes it is plural. :)

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

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

[tu.8zPhLD72zzoZN]

Those "possessive pronouns" are specifically describing nouns and not standing alone? Those are often called possessive adjectives where I am from.

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

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

[RaizinM]

More or less. M- is for one person, and wa- is for multiple people.

[PERCE_NEIGE]

"ren", in Chinese, means persons, so it's the same I guess, yes.

person + country = nationality.

[tu.8zPhLD72zzoZN]

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.

[Reinhard488125]

Buy is a prefix for nationality.

[RaizinM]

Dutchies unite! Sisi ni Waholanzi!

[LuBichNgoc1]

I thought that it must write like this: Sisi ni Wanetherlands

[clh335763]

Indeed, many languages seem to use Netherlands and Dutch almost interchangeably...

[Reinhard488125]

Wa is the prefix for nationality

[Cheetah-2018_456]

My computer is not letting you hear it

[Anisa884790]

Wonderful

[Mark721417]

I am Dutch