-ake

His or Her with -ake

Level 1

Swahili uses a single word stem, -ake, to mean "his", "her", or "its". It does not change based on the gender of the owner.

How It Works

In Swahili, possessives must agree with both the possessor (which determines the stem) and the object being possessed (which determines the prefix). When you want to say "his", "her", or "its" (referring to a single owner), you use the stem -ake. Note that if the owner is plural ("their"), you must use a different stem, -ao.

Because Swahili is completely gender-neutral in its pronouns, you don't need to worry about whether the owner is male or female. Kitabu chake can mean "his book" or "her book" depending entirely on the context.

Word Order:
Unlike English, Swahili possessives typically come after the noun as separate words. You say "book his" (kitabu chake), not "his book".

How to form it:
You combine the of-association prefix for the noun's class with -ake. The vowels merge smoothly:

  • Class 1/2 (m-/wa-): wa + ake = wake (e.g., mtoto wake - his/her child, watoto wake - his/her children). Notice that the possessive wake does not change form between the singular and plural because the Class 1 associative prefix (wa-) and the Class 2 associative prefix (wa-) happen to be identical.
  • Class 3/4 (m-/mi-): wa + ake = wake (e.g., mti wake - his/her tree), and plural ya + ake = yake (e.g., miti yake - his/her trees)
  • Class 5/6 (ji-/ma-): la + ake = lake (e.g., jina lake - his/her name), and plural ya + ake = yake (e.g., majina yake - his/her names)
  • Class 7/8 (ki-/vi-): cha + ake = chake (e.g., kitabu chake - his/her book), and plural vya + ake = vyake (e.g., vitabu vyake - his/her books)
  • Class 9/10 (N-): ya + ake = yake (e.g., kazi yake - his/her work), and plural za + ake = zake (e.g., kazi zake - his/her jobs)
  • Class 11/14 (U-): wa + ake = wake (e.g., ukuta wake - his/her/its wall)
  • Class 15 (KU-): kwa + ake = kwake (e.g., kusoma kwake - his/her reading)
  • Classes 16/17/18 (PA-KU-MU-): pa/kwa/mwa + ake = pake/kwake/mwake (e.g., mahali pake - his/her place). Note that kwake is very commonly used to mean "at his/her place" or "to him/her".

Animals and Kinship Terms:
Note that most family members (like baba, mama, kaka) take Class 9 agreement in the singular and Class 10 agreement in the plural for possessives. So you say mama yake (his/her mother) and mama zake (his/her mothers), not mama wake. However, standard Class 1 human nouns (like mtoto, mke, mwalimu) take the regular Class 1 agreement wake. For animals, Swahili uses Animal Agreement Choices. Animals in Class 9/10 take Class 1 possessive agreement in the singular. In the plural, they can either revert to their native class agreement or use Class 2 animate agreement. For example, you say mbwa wake (his/her dog) in the singular, and for the plural, both mbwa zake and mbwa wake (his/her dogs) are acceptable. Animals in other classes, such as kifaru (Class 7/8), take Class 2 agreement in the plural (vifaru wake - his/her rhinos).

Contracted Forms:
In everyday speech and literature, possessives can attach to certain kinship terms. For example, -ake merges directly into the noun for mama yake to become mamake (his/her mother) and baba yake to become babake (his/her father). Other words like mke and mwana use a historical enclitic suffix -we instead of merging with -ake, forming mkewe (his wife) and mwanawe (his/her child).

Examples (5)

  1. Jina lake ni nani?

    What is his/her name?

    Word by Word: Name his/her is who?

    The noun 'jina' (name) is Class 5, so it takes the prefix la- to form 'lake'.

  2. Kitabu chake kiko wapi?

    Where is his/her book?

    Word by Word: Book his/her is where?

    The noun 'kitabu' (book) is Class 7, so it takes the prefix cha- to form 'chake'.

  3. Mama yake anafanya kazi.

    His/her mother is working.

    Word by Word: Mother his/her is doing work.

    Kinship terms like 'mama' use Class 9 agreement for possessives, taking the prefix ya- to form 'yake'.

  4. Mbwa wake analala.

    His/her dog is sleeping.

    Word by Word: Dog his/her is sleeping.

    Animals like 'mbwa' (dog) take Class 1 agreement for possessives due to animacy rules, so it uses 'wake' instead of 'yake'.

  5. Tazama mti na majani yake.

    Look at the tree and its leaves.

    Word by Word: Look tree and leaves its.

    The possessive '-ake' can also mean 'its'. Here, 'yake' agrees with the Class 6 plural noun 'majani' (leaves).

Common Mistakes

  • Making the possessive agree with the owner instead of the object being owned.

    Kitabu wake kiko wapi?
    Kitabu chake kiko wapi?

    English speakers often try to use a Class 1 prefix (w-) because the owner is a person. In Swahili, the prefix must agree with the possessed object (kitabu is Class 7, so it takes chake).

  • Using Class 1/2 prefixes for family members instead of Class 9/10.

    Baba wake ni mwalimu.
    Baba yake ni mwalimu.

    Even though family members are humans, most kinship terms (like baba, mama, rafiki) use Class 9/10 agreement for possessives. Therefore, you must use yake instead of wake.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-akeLevel 1His or Her with -ake

Learn This First

To use -ake (his/her/its), you must understand how Swahili nouns are categorized into classes and how those classes dictate the specific prefix that must be attached to the possessive stem. It is also helpful to be familiar with the third-person singular pronoun 'yeye' and the general behavior of possessive stems like -angu.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

ake