Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns

This page documents the grammatical details of personal pronouns and pronoun concord in Swahili. See Appendix:Swahili noun classes for details of the noun class system.

Full table

		Independent	Subject concord		Object concord	Relative	Combined forms				Possessive
			affirmative	negative			na	ndi-	si-	-ote
m(I)	1st person	mimi	ni-	si-	-ni-	-ye	nami, na mimi	ndimi, ndiye	simi, siye	–	-angu
	2nd person	wewe	u-	hu-	-ku-		nawe, na wewe	ndiwe, ndiye	siwe, siye		-ako
	3rd person	yeye	a-, yu-	ha-, hayu-	-m-, -mw-, -mu-		naye, na yeye	ndiye	siye	wote	-ake
wa(II)	1st person	sisi	tu-	hatu-	-tu-	-o	nasi, na sisi	ndisi, ndio	sio	sote	-etu
	2nd person	ninyi	m-, mw-, mu-	ham-, hamw-, hamu-	-wa-		nanyi, na ninyi	ndinyi, ndio	sinyi, sio	nyote	-enu
	3rd person	wao	wa-	hawa-	-wa-		nao	ndio	sio	wote	-ao (animate), -ake (inanimate)
m(III)		yeye	u-	hau-	-u-	-o	nao	ndio	sio	wote	-ake
mi(IV)			i-	hai-	-i-	-yo	nayo	ndiyo	siyo	yote
ji(V)			li-	hali-	-li-	-lo	nalo	ndilo	silo	lote
ma(VI)			ya-	haya-	-ya-	-yo	nayo	ndiyo	siyo	yote
ki(VII)			ki-	haki-	-ki-	-cho	nacho	ndicho	sicho	chote
vi(VIII)			vi-	havi-	-vi-	-vyo	navyo	ndivyo	sivyo	vyote
n(IX)			i-	hai-	-i-	-yo	nayo	ndiyo	siyo	yote
n(X)			zi-	hazi-	-zi-	-zo	nazo	ndizo	sizo	zote
u(XI)			u-	hau-	-u-	-o	nao	ndio	sio	wote
ku(XV/XVII)			ku-	haku-	-ku-	-ko	nako	ndiko	siko	kote
pa(XVI)			pa-	hapa-	-pa-	-po	napo	ndipo	sipo	pote
mu(XVIII)			m-, mw-, mu-	ham-, hamw-, hamu-	-mu-	-mo	namo	ndimo	simo	mote
Reflexive		—	—		-ji-	—	—				—

Overview

Independent pronouns

Independent pronouns are optionally used

• as the subject of verbs without subject concord: ni, si, the hu- tense,
• to draw the contrast between the subject or the object of a given verb with other persons or objects.

Subject and object concord

Subject concord is used in all finite verbs (except the plain imperatives) and goes at the very beginning, before the tense and aspect markers.

Object concord is used if the object is definite and goes right before the verb stem, after tense and aspect markers and after the relative marker. The ku-/kw- is always removed from the verb when object concord is present.

Relative

Relative concord is used

• suffixed to the verb stem to form the general relative,
• suffixed to the tense marker (-li-, -na-, -taka-) or the negative marker -si- to form tensed and negative relative forms, with eventual object markers following.

The relative can concord with either subject or object, or be in one of the adverbial classes (vi class_(VIII) or a locative class). First and second-person relative concord in the verb is identical to third person m-wa class_(I/II).

The same morpheme is used

• suffixed to na, such as to denote object concord in -wa na,
• as concord in
  • amba- to form a general subordinating conjunction,
  • ndi- or si- to form the emphatic copula,
  • hiyo,
  • the first part of o-ote,
  • the suffix in -ingine-o.

When suffixed to na, ndi-, si-, there exist forms that distinguish first, second, and third person.

References

• Fidèle Mpiranya (2015), Swahili Grammar and Workbook