People in Classes 1 and 2

Understanding the M-/WA- class is your first step to building Swahili sentences about people.

1. The Noun Prefixes
Many human nouns (like professions or nationalities) start with m- (singular) and change to wa- (plural). If the word root starts with a vowel, the singular prefix usually becomes mw-. In the plural, the prefix wa- is often preserved before vowels (like mwandishi / writer → waandishi / writers, or mwimbaji / singer → waimbaji / singers), though there are a few exceptions where the vowels merge (like mwizi / thief → wezi / thieves, and mwalimu / teacher → walimu / teachers). Also, keep in mind that many kinship terms and titles (like baba or rafiki) do not start with m- and belong to other classes. While they trigger Class 1/2 agreement for verbs and adjectives, both their singular and plural possessives often revert to their native Class 9/10 agreement (e.g., baba yangu / my father, and baba zangu / my fathers).

• mtu (person) → watu (people)
• mwalimu (teacher) → walimu (teachers)

2. Agreement
When you talk about people, the other words in the sentence must "agree" with them. Adjectives take Class 1/2 prefixes (m- and wa-), regardless of what the noun's native prefix looks like (for example, kijana mzuri / good youth → vijana wazuri / good youths). For verbs, when talking about a third person, we use the affirmative Class 1 Subject a- for one person, and the Class 2 Subject wa- for multiple people. Remember that 1st and 2nd person subjects are also part of this system: use ni- (I), u- (you), tu- (we), and m- (you all). For negative sentences, use si- (I don't), hu- (you don't), and the He or She Does Not ha- prefix for 3rd-person singular. For plurals, use hatu- (we don't), ham- (you all don't), and They Do Not hawa- for 3rd-person plural. When a person is the object of the sentence, verbs also require object markers. For the 3rd person (him/her/them), use -m- (or -mw-) for singular and -wa- for plural. For the 1st and 2nd persons, use -ni- (me), -ku- (you), -tu- (us), and -wa- / -wa-...-eni (you all). For example, ninamwona / I see him, or hawatusikii / they don't hear us. The associative particle ('of') is wa for both singular and plural. Similarly, standard possessives use the w- prefix for BOTH singular and plural (like wangu / my), making them look identical. Demonstratives have irregular forms like huyu and hawa (this/these), huyo and hao (that/those near), and yule and wale (that/those far).

3. The "Animacy" Rule
While Classes 1 and 2 are primarily for humans, generic animal and insect words (like mnyama / animal or mdudu / insect) are natively in this class. Furthermore, Swahili has a special rule for specific animals (like simba / lion or mbwa / dog). Even though these specific animal words belong to other noun classes, they "borrow" the verb and adjective agreement from Classes 1 and 2 because they are living creatures. However, plural possessives for animals often revert to their native class (e.g., mbwa zangu instead of mbwa wangu). You can learn more about this in Human Agreement Across Classes.