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    Swahili Gender Swahili Gender: Grammar Tips

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    questnvr73
    Swahili does not have gendered nouns like in other languages such as English. Both male and female nouns are considered neutral and do not change form based on the gender of who or what they refer to. Adjectives also do not change form to agree with the gender of nouns. Examples are given comparing gendered English nouns and adjectives to their neutral Swahili equivalents. The document also provides a table of common vocabulary words translated between English and Swahili to build vocabulary.

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    Swahili Gender Swahili Gender: Grammar Tips

    Uploaded by

    questnvr73
    384 views3 pages
    Swahili does not have gendered nouns like in other languages such as English. Both male and female nouns are considered neutral and do not change form based on the gender of who or what they refer to. Adjectives also do not change form to agree with the gender of nouns. Examples are given comparing gendered English nouns and adjectives to their neutral Swahili equivalents. The document also provides a table of common vocabulary words translated between English and Swahili to build vocabulary.

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    Swahili Gender

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    Swahili does not have gendered nouns like in other languages such as English. Both male and female nouns are considered neutral and do not change form based on the gender of who or what they refer to. Adjectives also do not change form to agree with the gender of nouns. Examples are given comparing gendered English nouns and adjectives to their neutral Swahili equivalents. The document also provides a table of common vocabulary words translated between English and Swahili to build vocabulary.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    384 views3 pages

    Swahili Gender Swahili Gender: Grammar Tips

    Uploaded by

    questnvr73
    Swahili does not have gendered nouns like in other languages such as English. Both male and female nouns are considered neutral and do not change form based on the gender of who or what they refer to. Adjectives also do not change form to agree with the gender of nouns. Examples are given comparing gendered English nouns and adjectives to their neutral Swahili equivalents. The document also provides a table of common vocabulary words translated between English and Swahili to build vocabulary.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Swahili Gender

    Swahili Gender
    As we mentioned before, there is no Swahili gender which is good news (compared to other
    languages).
    While in English it is known that feminine refers to female qualities attributed specifically to
    women and girls or things considered feminine. The complement to feminine is masculine. In
    Swahili, nouns are not masculine, feminine, they might be all considered "neutral".
    Grammar Tips:
    There are no genders in Swahili, no feminine and no masculine. This applies to adjectives as well
    as nouns.

    Here are some examples:


    English Gender

    Swahili Gender

    Feminine
    he is happy
    she is happy
    he is American
    she is American

    Uke
    amefurahi
    amefurahi
    ni Mmarikani
    ni Mmarikani

    man
    woman
    father
    mother
    brother
    sister
    uncle
    aunt
    bull
    cow
    boy
    girl

    mwanamme
    mwanamke
    baba
    mama
    ndugu
    dada
    mjomba
    shangazi
    ng'ombe ndume
    ng'ombe
    mvulana
    msichana

    As you can see from the example above, there is no structure of the Feminine in Swahili.

    Gender in Swahili

    Below are examples of some vocabulary words that you can try to memorize to help you boost
    your vocabulary.
    English Vocabulary
    objects
    bathroom
    bed
    bedroom
    ceiling
    chair
    clothes
    coat
    cup
    desk
    dress
    floor
    fork
    furniture
    glass
    hat
    house
    ink
    jacket
    kitchen
    knife
    lamp
    letter
    map
    newspaper
    notebook
    pants
    paper
    pen
    pencil
    pharmacy
    picture
    plate
    refrigerator
    restaurant
    roof
    room
    rug

    Swahili Vocabulary
    vitu
    bafu
    kitanda
    chumba cha kulala
    dari
    kiti
    nguo
    shati
    kikombe
    dawati
    mavazi
    sakafu
    uma
    samani
    kioo
    kofia
    nyumba
    wino
    koti
    jikoni
    kisu
    taa
    barua
    ramani
    gazeti
    daftari
    suruali
    karatasi
    kalamu
    penseli
    duka la dawa
    picha
    sahani
    jokofu
    mkahawa
    paa
    chumba
    rug

    English Vocabulary
    scissors
    shampoo
    shirt
    shoes
    soap
    socks
    spoon
    table
    toilet
    toothbrush
    toothpaste
    towel
    umbrella
    underwear
    wall
    wallet
    window
    telephone

    Swahili Vocabulary
    makasi
    Sabuni ya nywele
    shati
    viatu
    sabuni
    soksi
    kijiko
    meza
    choo
    mswagi
    dawa ya meno
    kitambaa
    mwavuli
    chupi
    ukuta
    mkoba
    dirisha
    simu

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