The copula
To say "I am at", we just used the subject concords: ni, u, a, etc.To say "I am" and "He is", as in "I am a teacher", "He is my husband", it is very similar. Read the following sentences, then spot the difference:
| nì | mwàlímù | I am a teacher. |
| ù | mwàlìmù | You(sg) are... |
| nì | mwálìmù | He/she... |
| fù | àlìmù | We(excl) ... |
| hù | àlìmù | We(incl)... |
| mù | àlìmù | You(pl) |
| nì | àlìmù | They... |
For he is a teacher, you say nì mwàlímù, instead of using a. For they are teachers, you say
nì àlìmù, instead of using ma.
I am or he is?
| The same copula is used for I, he/she and they. They takes a plural (alimu, not mwalimu), so that's clear enough. But how do you tell the difference between I am a teacher and She is a teacher? |
Look carefully at the tone marks on "teacher". For ù mwàlìmù and fù/hù/mù/nì àlìmù, teacher is pronounced as low-low-low.
For I am a teacher, it is pronounced nì mwàlímù, low-high-low. Ni mwa-LI-mu.
For She is a teacher, it is pronounced nì mwálìmù , high-low-low. Ni MWA-li-mu.
But if you're not sure you can get the tone right, there is another solution - pronouns. We will come back to them in the next post.
For I am a teacher, it is pronounced nì mwàlímù, low-high-low. Ni mwa-LI-mu.
For She is a teacher, it is pronounced nì mwálìmù , high-low-low. Ni MWA-li-mu.
But if you're not sure you can get the tone right, there is another solution - pronouns. We will come back to them in the next post.
It is
To say it is is very simple: the copula for every other noun class, everything that is not a person, everything, in short, which we would call it in English, you say: ni.
Just like 'he is' (ni) and 'they are' (ni), for objects you use ni (it is) and ni (they are).
Figuring out the noun class
You use this form of "be" everywhere where the noun class of the object can be figured out: He is [a teacher] - 'He' is obviously person class. It is [a coconut tree] - 'It' is obviously tree class.
So you can use 'ni' for all of them, since it's obvious to the listener which noun class you mean.
When you say "at Watamu", however, it is not obvious whether you mean "A person is at Watamu" or "A tree is at Watamu" or "A small thing is at Watamu" or ... . So you use the full subject concords - a and ma for people, mu and mi for trees, etc.
This is most relevant for adjectives, which we will get to in a later post. Most adjectives agree with their noun, but some do not.
Exercises
Translate the following sentences into Giriama:
When you are talking about people, this is yuyu and these is aa:
| Yuyu ni muche wangu. | This is my wife. |
| Aa ni wana wangu. | These are my sons. |
Translate the following sentences into Giriama:
