Lesson 5: Swahili Personal Pronouns & its pronouns

                          PERSONAL PRONOUNS

The following are the Kiswahili personal pronouns;
   PERSON       SINGULAR                      PLURAL 
        I                 Mimi (I)                              Sisi (we)
       II                 Wewe (you)                        Ninyi/Nyinyi (you)
      III                 Yeye (he/she)                     Wao (they) 

Now, let`s see how sentences are made by using these pronouns; 

1. Mimi ni msichana (I`m a girl)
2. Sisi ni wasichana (we`re the girls)
3. Wewe ni mvulana (you are a boy)
4. Ninyi ni wavulana (you are the boys) 
5. Yeye ni mwalimu (he/she is a teacher)
6. Wao ni walimu (they are teachers) 

PREFIXES FOR PRONOUNS

PERSON             SINGULAR              PLURAL

      I                            ni- (I)                    tu- 

     II                            u- (you)                m- (you)

    III                           a- (he/she)             wa- (they)

Examples:-

1. Mimi ninaimba (I`m singing)
2. Sisi tunaimba (we`re singing)
3. Wewe unaimba (you are singing- addressed to one person)
4. Ninyi mnaimba (you are singing - addressed to 2+)
5. Yeye anaimba (he/she is singing)
6. Wao wanaimba (they are singing)

NB: When speaking, you may find that speakers tend to drop the pronouns, yet the remaining constituent will still have the same meaning due to the presence of prefixes for pronouns as shown below; 

1. ninaimba (I am singing)
2. tunaimba (we`re singing) 
3. unacheza (you are playing - to a person)
4. mnacheza (you are playing - to 2 or more people)
5. anasoma (he/she is reading/studying/schooling)
6. wanasoma (they are reading/studying/schooling) etc. 
7. Hassan na John wanakuja (Hassan and John are coming)
8. John anakula ugali (John is eating ugali)
9. Mimi na Bakari tunatembea (I and Bakari are walking)
10. Wewe na Bakari mnacheka (You and Bakari are laughing)

Asante sana