Nouns in Kiswahili are grouped into various noun

classes for two main reasons:

1. Their characteristics as a noun

2. Kiswahili’s vowel harmony

There are 9 noun classes in Kiswahili. Each noun class

has both a singular and a plural form, to make 18 total.

M - WA [A - WA]

KI - VI [KI - VI]

M - MI [U - I]

JI - MA [LI - YA]

N - N [I - ZI]

U - U

U - U

[U - ZI]

[U - U]

KU - KU [KU - KU]

PA - PA [PA - PA]

MU - MU [MU - MU]