The subject is the part of the sentence which is doing the action: I read, you dance, Chengo sleeps.
In English, the subject is a separate word (called a pronoun). In Giriama, as in Swahili and other Bantu languages, the subject is attached to the beginning of the verb (and called a concord).
The subject concords in Giriama are as follows:
| Giriama | English |
| ni- | I |
| u- | you |
| a- | he/she |
| fu- | we |
| hu- | we |
| mu- | you |
| ma- | ‘they’ |
There are a few more than in English! Let's work through them.
Ni
Read the following examples aloud:
| ni-enda | I go |
| ni-dza | I come |
| ni-dima | I can |
| ni-gula | I buy |
| ni-shoma | I read |
| ni-ona | I see |
U and Mu
We notice that there are two words for you: u-, which you use when talking to 1 person, and mu-, which you use when talking to a group of people.
'mu-' could be translated as 'youse', 'y'all', 'you guys' or 'you lot'.
Read the following examples aloud:
Read the following examples aloud:
'mu-' could be translated as 'youse', 'y'all', 'you guys' or 'you lot'.
Read the following examples aloud:
| u-enda | you go |
| mu-enda | you (both) go |
| u-dza | you come |
| mu-dza | you (all) come |
| u-adima | you can |
| mu-dima | you (guys) can |
| u-gula | you buy |
| mu-gula | you (lot) buy |
| u-shoma | you read |
| mu-shoma | you (all) read |
| u-ona | you see |
| mu-ona | you (guys) see |
A
a- is used for both 'he' and 'she'.
Read the following examples aloud:
| a-enda | he goes |
| a-dza | she comes |
| a-dima | he can |
| a-gula | she buys |
| a-shoma | he reads |
| a-ona | she sees |
