"Wanyama weusi"
Translation:Black animals
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Ah, yeah, the course hasn't done a good job of explaining this. Swahili has three basic colour adjectives:
-eusi = black
-eupe = white
-ekundu = red
They carry prefixes that relate to the class of the noun they describe.
gari j
ekundu = a red car
magari m
ekundu = red cars
kitanda ch
eupe = a white bed
vitanda vy
eupe = white beds
ndege ny
eusi = black aeroplane(s)
ndege mw
eusi = a black bird
ndege w
eusi = black birds
Other colours are indicated by nouns, and you generally link these to the noun you're describing with -a. The -a has prefixes for the noun class, but the colour noun itself does not change. Sometimes you can place a noun directly after another noun without -a, but it's not as common.
gari l
a kijivu = a grey car
magari y
a kijivu = grey cars
ndege y
a buluu = a blue aeroplane
ndege z
a buluu = blue aeroplanes
ndege w
a buluu = (a) blue bird(s)
By the way, if you need to use -eusi, -eupe or -ekundu as nouns, give them the ny- prefix ... but don't precede them with -a. E.g. Rangi ninayoipenda zaidi ni ny
ekundu / buluu. = My favourite colour is red / blue.