Discover Discomfort​ — Swahili Grammar Reference Cheat Sheet 

Adj.  Object  Poss.  Referential  This,  That, 

Class  Types of words typically in the class  Examples 
prefix  prefix  prefix  concord  these  those 

● Singular/plural starts with m/wa  ● mtu/watu (people)  m-  a-/yu-  w-  ye  huyu  yule 
● Used for people  ● mtoto/watoto (children) 
M/Wa (1/2) 
● All animals, animate objects  ● simba (lion)  wa-  wa-  w-  o  hawa  wale 
● rafiki (friend) 

● Words that start with ​m​ or ​mi​ for  ● mguu/miguu (leg/s)  m-  u-  w-  o  huu  ule 
M/Mi (3/4)  singular or plural (e.g. “tree/s”,  ● mti/miti (tree/s) 
mti​/​miti​)  ● mkate/mikate (bread)  mi-  i-  y-  yo  hii  ile 

● Words whose singular/plural  ● jina/majina (name/s)  -  li-  l-  lo  hili  lile 
starts with ji/ma  ● jibu/majibu (answer) 
● Words where the plural starts with  ● gari/magari (car/s) 
Ji/Ma (5/6) 
ma​, even if singular doesn’t start  ● tunda/matunda (fruit)  ma-  ya-  y-  yo  haya  yale 
with j​ i  ● mafuta (oil) (pl. only) 
● Some words that are plural only  ● maji (water) (pl. only) 

● Words start with Ki or Vi  ● kitu/vitu (thing/s)  ki-  ki-  ch-  cho  hiki  kile 
● Words starting Ch/Vy  ● kitabu/vitabu (book/s) 
Ki/Vi (7/8) 
● chakula/vyakula (food/s)  vi-  vi-  vy-  vyo  hivi  vile 
● chumba/vyumba (room/s) 

● Many start with ​n​ (not always)  ●
● A lot of imported loanwords  ●
N (9/10) 
● Words that have the same word  ●
form in singular and plural  ●
ndege (bird/s), ndizi (banana/s)  n-  i-  y-  yo  hii  ile 
simu (phone), meza (table) 
chumvi (salt/s), taa (light/s)  n-  zi-  z-  zo  hizi  zile 
asubuhi (morning), simu (phone) 

● Singular nouns that begin with a u,  ● umeme (electricity), umri (age) 
U (11)  sometimes uncountable   ● uma/nyuma (forks), ukuta/kuta (wall/s) 
(plurals  ● Conceptual adjective nouns  ● urefu (length), uwezo (ability) 
m-  u-  w-  o  huu  ule 
treated like  ● Country names  ● uzuri (beauty), upendo (love) 
n-class)  ● Some nouns beginning with w  ● Ufaransa (France), UChina (China) 
● wakati/nyakati (time), wimbo/nyimbo (song) 

Pa  ● Locations, places.  ●
● Location words that get a “ni” on  ●
Ku  the end (for “at this place”)  ●
● Ku: Infinitive form of verbs, when  ●
Mu  used as nouns.  ●
mahali or pahali (place)  pa-  pa-  p-  po  hapa  pale 
marikiti (market) 
nyumba (house/home)  ku-  ku-  kwa  ko  huku  kule 
duka (shop) 
ku class: kuishi (to live), kula (to eat)  m-  m(u)-  mwa  mo  humu  mule 

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