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Most common Swahili words, most frequent words in Kiswahili


Most common words in Swahili (Kiswahili, Suahili)



Nouns: (forms of plural after the comma).
mtu, plural: watu = man
mwaka, miaka = year
mji, miji = city
jina, majina = name
chama, vyama = party
kipindi, vipindi = period
nchi = country
kazi = work, job
siku = day
sababu = reason
upande, pande = side
wakati, nyakati = time
usiku = night
Nouns are traditionally classified in groups.

Verbs:
ni = am, is, are
kuwa = to be
kusema = to say
alikuwa = (he) was
alisema = (he) said
Examples : John ni daktari (doctor). John ni mtu. Nairobi ni mji.

Conjunctions:
na = and
kama = as, like
lakini = but
kwamba = that
au = or
wakati = while, until
ili = in order to, so that

Prepositions :
katika = in : katika Tanzania
kutoka = from : kutoka Tanzania

Similar words :
kwenye = in, at

Adverbs :
zaidi = more
pia = also
sasa = now

Adjectives :
mkuu = great, main
Form of adjectives depend on the group of the noun. The form mkuu can be used in :
mtu mkuu, mji mkuu, upande mkuu
Another form, kuu is used with : nchi kuu, kazi kuu, siku kuu, sababu kuu

Numbers :
moja = one (mmoja)
mmoja mtu, mmoja mji, mmoja upande, moja nchi, moja kazi, moja siku, moja sababu

Pronominal forms :
wake = his : mtu wake, mji wake, upande wake
yake = his : nchi yake, kazi yake, siku yake, sababu yake

Genitives:
As an equivalent of English "of", genitives are used. These particles are extremely popular. We will show them for all groups. They are : ya, wa, kwa, za, la, cha :
m- group (mtu) : mtu wa Afrika (man of Africa) , watu wa Afrika
m- group (mji) : mji wa Tanzania, mwaka wa Tanzania, miji ya Tanzania
ji- group (jina) : jina la John (John's name), majina ya John
ki-, ch- group (kipindi, chama) : chama cha John, kipindi cha mweli
n-, 0 group : here ya is in singular, za in plural :
nchi ya Afrika, plural : nchi za Afrika
sababu ya John, sababu za John
kazi ya John, kazi za John

Prepositions with genitives :
baada ya = after : baada ya mwaka
wakati wa = at the time of, during : wakati wa mwaka

Pronouns : all of them mean that (sometimes the), their use depends on the noun :
hiyo, hilo, huo, hivyo, huyo, hao, hayo
m- group (mtu) : mtu huyo , watu hao
m- group (mji) : mji huo, mwaka huo, miji hiyo, miaka hiyo
ji- group (jina) : jina hilo, majina hiyo
ki-, ch- group (kipindi, chama) : chama hicho, kipindi hicho, vyama hivyo, vipindi hivyo
n-, 0 group : singular: nchi hiyo, kazi hiyo, sababu hiyo (in plural it would be hizo)

Equivalents :
mtu : huyu, wa
watu : hao, wa
mji : huo, wa
miji : hiyo, ya
jina : hilo, la
majina : hiyo, ya
kipindi : hicho, cha
vipindi : hivyo, vya
nchi : hiyo, ya
nchi (plural): hizo, za
upande, usiku : huo, wa
pande (plural) : hizo, za

Names of countries and places :
Uingereza = England
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Afrika