5 Comments
Why is the adjective prefix "n-"?
The tips and notes say that the prefixes for the -a of association for the U/N noun class are w- for the singular nouns and z- for the plural nouns, and that the possessive pronoun in the U/N noun class also uses the prefix w- for singular and z- for plural nouns.
But I haven't found a clear rule about adjective prefixes. What would be the correct prefix for the singular "wimbo (-)zuri"?
Where is this explained?
I found a really good cheat sheet on adjectives (https://www2.ku.edu/~kiswahili/pdfs/lesson_24.pdf) from the University of Kansas, but actually I am still pretty lost when it comes to adjective agreement in many noun classes. Any help would be appreciated!
wimbo mzuri
nyimbo nzuri
I'm pretty sure any resource that tells you about Swahili adjectives will tell you that u- nouns take adjectives with m-
In the plural, nyimbo is a class 10 noun (same as the plural of N/N nouns, classes 9/10) and adjectives that begin with d j g z r l take "n" (with "nr" and "nl" becoming "nd") and adjectives starting with b v w take "m" (with "mw" becoming "mb").
Thanks for the clarification!
I did later find the U agreement "m-" in the Adjectives lesson tips:
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/sw/Adjectives/tips-and-notes
Those class 10 agreements are mind-boggling though. I'd better do that lesson again (and again, probably).
