This page documents the grammatical details of personal pronouns and pronoun concord in Swahili. SeeAppendix:Swahili noun classes for details of the noun class system.
| 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, namimi | ndimi,ndiye | simi,siye | – | -angu |
|---|
| 2nd person | wewe | u- | hu- | -ku- | nawe, nawewe | ndiwe,ndiye | siwe,siye | -ako |
|---|
| 3rd person | yeye | a-,yu- | ha-,hayu- | -m-,-mw-,-mu- | naye, nayeye | ndiye | siye | wote | -ake |
|---|
| wa(II) | 1st person | sisi | tu- | hatu- | -tu- | -o | nasi, nasisi | ndisi,ndio | sio | sote | -etu |
|---|
| 2nd person | ninyi | m-,mw-,mu- | ham-,hamw-,hamu- | -wa- | nanyi, naninyi | 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 |
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| ma(VI) | ya- | haya- | -ya- | -yo | nayo | ndiyo | siyo | yote |
|---|
| ki(VII) | ki- | haki- | -ki- | -cho | nacho | ndicho | sicho | chote |
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| 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 |
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| u(XI) | u- | hau- | -u- | -o | nao | ndio | sio | wote |
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| ku(XV/XVII) | ku- | haku- | -ku- | -ko | nako | ndiko | siko | kote |
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| 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- | — | — | — |
|---|
Independent pronouns
[edit]Independent pronouns are optionally used
- as the subject of verbs without subject concord:ni,si, thehu- tense,
- to draw the contrast between the subject or the object of a given verb with other persons or objects.
Subject and object concord
[edit]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. Theku-/kw- is always removed from the verb when object concord is present.
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 personm-wa class(I/II).
The same morpheme is used
- suffixed tona, such as to denote object concord in-wa na,
- as concord in
When suffixed tona,ndi-,si-, there exist forms that distinguish first, second, and third person.
- Fidèle Mpiranya (2015),Swahili Grammar and Workbook
