Originally posted by: machieng https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33673457
All the nouns in this noun class are inanimate objects. While this is true for all other noun classes other than M/Wa, some patterns, however unreliable at times, are observed, e.g. a good number of fruits do fall into this class.
Like most noun classes in Swahili, not all nouns will adopt their noun class prefix Ji in their singular form, but they do take on the prefix Ma, or sometimes Me, in their plural
Singular | Plural | Translation |
---|---|---|
Jino | Meno | tooth |
Jina | Majina | name |
Jiwe | Mawe | stone/rock |
Jeraha | Majeraha | injury/wound |
Embe | Maembe | mango |
Daraja | Madaraja | bridge |
Ua | Maua | flower |
Some adjectives, like their noun counterparts, do not adopt the singular prefix Ji, but they take on either Me- or Ma- in their plural form.
Singular | Plural | Translation |
---|---|---|
Jiwe jeusi | Mawe meusi | black stone(s) |
Ua jekundu | Maua mekundu | red flower(s) |
Jani bichi | Majani mabichi | green leaf/leaflet |
Embe gumu | Maembe magumu | hard mango(es) |
Jeraha baya | Majeraha mabaya | bad injury(or in this context, 'serious injury') |
For nouns in this noun class, the affixes Li/Ya are adopted. In some cases, the affixes are Ji/Ya. Because this is a broad application, these nuances will not be covered here, but as always you are welcome and encouraged to try out different sentence construction in the comment section, and ask additional questions.
Note: the preposition \"of\" will always be in the form la (singular) - ya (plural)