Noun class (ngeli) & Plural (wingi)

Nouns (nomino) in Swahili are grouped into noun classes (ngeli) based on the prefix they have. For example watu people which is characterized by wa- as a prefix belong to the group a-/wa-. The wa denotes the plural form of the word mtu, which is a singular (umoja) for the word watu. There are 9 noun classes each having its plural form but some noun class maintain the word in both singular (umoja) and plural form ie the word nguo which belongs to the noun class i-/zi.

The table below shows the list of noun class (ngeli) that will be used:

Noun class (ngeli)

Noun class (ngeli)

Singular (umoja)

Plural (wingi)

a-/wa-

m-, mw-

wa-

u-/i-

m-, mw-

mi-, my-

ki-/vi-

ki-

vi-

li-/ya

ji-

ma

i-/zi-

n-

n-

u-/zi-

u-

u-

u-/u-

u-

u-

pa-/pa-

pa-

pa-

ku-/ku-

ku-

ku-

mu-/mu-

mu-

mu-

How to add noun class (ngeli)

once you’ve opened your editing window, add added the synomyms, relations (if available) and description,its time to add noun class (ngeli) and plural (wingi). DebVisDic does not support this natively and so a workaround is to use the Note section.

  1. head over to the Note section, click on the + button, then followed by Add> button, a new box will appear.

  2. under the nex box, enter ‘Ngeli’ followed by part of noun class of that particular word enclosed in a parenthesis. i.e. Ngeli (i-/zi-). NB take note of the format of the noun class, just to be sure always countercheck on the table above.

  3. the next step is to add the prefix that denotes plural (wingi), on the same box, add the prefix if the word has a plural form enclosed in a parenthesis next to the noun class. i.e. the word ‘vazi’ the prefix will be (ma-) its final results will be Ngeli (li-/ya-) (ma-). In cases where the word has no plural form like ‘nguo’ (cloth), dont add any prefix and so the final output will be Ngeli (i-/zi-).

  4. each word under the synset which is a synomym (kisawe), its noun class must be entered in a chronological otder. check the below image for an example.

ngeli

NB: Notice the order of entry of the Synomym and Note, we started with nguo, as the main word this is also refelected in the Note section.