-etu

Our with -etu

Level 1

In Swahili, to say 'our', you use the possessive stem -etu. It always comes after the noun it describes.

How It Works

To build 'our' in Swahili, you combine the noun's possessive concord with -etu.

Here are the forms you will see:

  • wetu: for people (Class 1/2), trees/plants (Class 3), and U-class nouns (Class 11/14), e.g., watoto wetu (our children), mti wetu (our tree), wakati wetu (our time)
  • yetu: for plural plants (Class 4), plural fruits/vehicles (Class 6), and singular everyday objects (Class 9), e.g., miti yetu (our trees), magari yetu (our cars), nyumba yetu (our house)
  • letu: for singular fruits/vehicles (Class 5), e.g., gari letu (our car)
  • chetu: for Class 7 nouns, e.g., kitabu chetu (our book)
  • vyetu: for plural Class 8 nouns, e.g., vitabu vyetu (our books)
  • zetu: for plural Class 10 nouns, e.g., nyumba zetu (our houses)
  • kwetu, petu, mwetu: for locative classes (places), e.g., nyumbani kwetu (at our home)

Note on Animate Nouns and Family Members: Because of the animacy rule, animals in non-human classes (like mbwa 'dog') usually take Class 1/2 agreement for possessives (e.g., mbwa wetu). However, for kinship and relationship terms like rafiki (friend), baba (father), and mama (mother), both Class 1/2 and Class 9/10 concords are acceptable and commonly used (e.g., rafiki wetu or rafiki yetu, baba wetu or baba yetu). Baba yetu and Mama yetu are often used as standard formal forms, including in religious contexts like the Lord's Prayer.

When a noun is followed by both a possessive and an adjective, the possessive almost always comes first (Noun + Possessive + Adjective). It is important to note the distinction between adjectives and possessives for these relationship terms: while adjectives take Class 1/2 prefixes (e.g., rafiki mzuri 'good friend'), the possessive can use Class 9/10 (e.g., rafiki yetu mzuri 'our good friend'). For the plural marafiki (friends), you can use either Class 10 (marafiki zetu) or Class 2 (marafiki wetu).

Remember that possessives use a different agreement system than adjectives. You can learn more about this in the Of and Association with -a pattern.

Examples (4)

  1. Nyumba yetu ni kubwa.

    Our house is big.

    Word by Word: House our is big.

    Uses 'yetu' because 'nyumba' (house) is a Class 9 noun.

  2. Watoto wetu wanacheza.

    Our children are playing.

    Word by Word: Children our they-are-playing.

    Uses 'wetu' because 'watoto' (children) is a Class 2 noun.

  3. Kitabu chetu kimepotea.

    Our book is lost.

    Word by Word: Book our it-has-gotten-lost.

    Uses 'chetu' because 'kitabu' (book) is a Class 7 noun. The possessive concord 'ki-a' merges with '-etu' to form 'chetu'.

  4. Gari letu ni jipya.

    Our car is new.

    Word by Word: Car our is new.

    Uses 'letu' because 'gari' (car) is a Class 5 noun.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the possessive before the noun.

    Yetu nyumba ni nzuri.
    Nyumba yetu ni nzuri.

    In Swahili, possessive words like -etu must always come after the noun they describe, unlike in English.

  • Using Class 9 agreement for Class 5 nouns.

    Gari yetu ni nzuri.
    Gari letu ni zuri.

    While many common nouns belong to Class 9 and take yetu, words like gari (car) and tunda (fruit) belong to Class 5 and must take letu.

  • Mixing up -etu (our) with -enu (your plural).

    Different MeaningHiki ni kitabu chenu.
    Hiki ni kitabu chetu.

    -etu means "our", while -enu means "your" (plural). Hiki ni kitabu chenu is a good sentence, but it means "This is your (plural) book". They sound alike, so pay attention to the middle consonant.

How It Connects

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

-etuLevel 1Our with -etu

Learn This First

To use -etu (our), you must understand how Swahili noun classes determine the prefix that attaches to the possessive stem. It is also helpful to be familiar with the personal pronoun 'sisi' and the general behavior of possessive stems like -angu.

Words in This Pattern

etu