Animals and borrowed words: classes 9 and 10
Classes 9 and 10 (Chatelain's class IX): no prefix in the singular, ji- in the plural.
After this unit
Form the plural of a class 9 noun with ji-, and recognise a noun that has no prefix.
Class 9 has no prefix, and class 10 takes ji-
Chatelain puts nouns with no prefix in the ninth class of his scheme, which is class 9 and 10 in the standard numbering. In the singular the noun stands bare. To make the plural, put ji- in front of it. The plural belongs to class 10. His own example is the word for a lion and the word for lions.
Chatelain's own examples
Chatelain prints these pairs on page 7. The singular is a dictionary entry. The dictionary has no entry for the plural, so the plural is shown exactly as he prints it. Open the singular to read its entry. He writes that this class once held only animals. Today it also holds some people and things, which is why a knife and a neck appear next to a lion and a hen.
More pairs from the dictionary
In each pair below, both words are dictionary entries. The stem stays the same. Only ji- is added. The plural can have extra meanings, so open a word to see every meaning it has.
A noun that begins with i-
When the noun begins with i-, that i- joins the i of ji-, so only one is written. The word for a house is the example in the table of dictionary pairs: the singular begins with i-, and the plural is ji- followed by the rest of the word.
Borrowed words
Chatelain writes that almost every borrowed word makes its plural like this, whatever letters it begins with. His example is the word for a horse, which begins like a word of another class but takes ji-. The dictionary holds both the singular and the plural. The first row of the table of dictionary pairs shows them. Chatelain gives no other example, and this unit does not claim that any other word in the table is borrowed.
How to recognise a class 9 noun
A class 9 noun is one that has none of the other prefixes. It does not begin with mu-, mi-, ki-, di-, ma-, ka-, tu-, lu-, u- or ku-. A noun that begins with one of the others can still be class 9, because the letters may be part of the stem. Chatelain says doubt is possible only for nouns that begin like ku-, lu- or tu-. In that case, ask a speaker for the plural. Any noun whose plural takes ji- is class 9.
Back to Nouns come in classesWhere this comes from
- Chatelain, Grammatica elementar do Kimbundu (Loanda, 1889), printed page 7 — class IX, ji- in the plural, how to recognise the class, borrowed words, the lost i-
- The 1940s Kimbundu–Portuguese dictionary this site is built from — every dictionary word