All nouns whose singular takes the prefix ri— belong to class IV; the plural prefix ma— replaces ri— (e.g. ritari 'stone', pl. matari 'stones'). When this class's prefix appears elsewhere in the sentence in agreement with the noun, that other word often lacks its own prefix.
Chatelain’s original wording (1889)
8. A' cl. IV pertencem todos os nomes que têm no sing. o pref. ri— No plur. o pref. ma— toma o logar do pref. sing. ri—. Ex.: ritari pl. matari. Quando o pref. d'esta cl. apparece n'outra parte da oração que concorda com o nome, este muitas vezes carece do seu prefixo.
Rule §9
The absolute personal pronouns are, singular: eme, eie, muene; plural: etu, enu, ene. Their corresponding prefix pronouns are ngi-, u-, u- in the singular, and tu-, nu- (or mu-), a- in the plural.
Chatelain’s original wording (1889)
9. Os Pronomes pessoaes absolutos são, para o sing.: eme, eie, muene; para o pl.: etu, enu, ene. Correspondem-lhes os Pronomes prefixos: ngi —, u —, u — no sing.; e no pl.: tu —, nu — ou mu —, a —.
Rule §10
In Kimbundu the verb 'to be' is generally not expressed. In the 1st and 2nd person the corresponding prefix pronoun is used in its place; in the 3rd person the prefix pronoun is also dropped, and the noun is simply placed in apposition, as shown in the examples.
Chatelain’s original wording (1889)
10. Em kimbundu o verbo ser geralmente não se exprime. Na 1ª e na 2ª pessoa usa-se em seu logar do Pronome prefixo correspondente; na 3ª pessoa supprime-se tambem o Pronome prefixo, e põe-se o nome em apposição, como se vê nos exemplos.
The pattern
Class IV noun declension: singular (pref. ri—) vs. plural (pref. ma—), with Portuguese/English glosses
Singular
Plural
rilongaplate
malongaplates
ribitudoor
mabitudoors
rilesuhandkerchief
malesuhandkerchieves
ritaristoneused as the worked example in rule 8 below
mataristonesused as the worked example in rule 8 below
rialaman
malamenprinted with a footnote marker (*) — the page footnote reads 'Contracção de maala (a+a=a)', i.e. mala is a contraction of the expected regular form maala, with the doubled a vowel merging to one a
ribengurat
riiakieggPrinted with singular ri- prefix, not the ma- plural prefix the column heading implies. 'ovo' (egg) is semantically unrelated to 'rato' (rat) in this row's left cell, so this is NOT the plural of ribengu — it appears to be a separate class-IV singular vocabulary item placed under the plural column. The expected ma- plural 'maiaki' is used correctly later on this page (drill sentence 'Sumbenu maiaki anga mahonjo'). See uncertainties
rituiear
rihonjobananaPrinted with singular ri- prefix, not the ma- plural prefix the column heading implies. 'banana' is semantically unrelated to 'orelha' (ear) in this row's left cell, so this is NOT the plural of ritui — it appears to be a separate class-IV singular vocabulary item placed under the plural column. The expected ma- plural 'mahonjo' is used correctly later on this page (drill sentence 'Sumbenu maiaki anga mahonjo'). See uncertainties
Words for this lesson
jikashut
kuatacatch
jikulaopen
bunjikafold
takulathrow
nanapull
Worked examples
eme ngi muhatu
I(am) a woman
eme ngi
eie u muloji
thou (art) a wizard
eie u
muene mukongo
he (is) a hunter
muene
Exercises
Translate each sentence, using the pattern and the words above.
1Jikulenu o mabitu.
2Bunjika o malesu.
3Eie u mulambi, eme ngi m'bika, muene m'bundu.
4Kuatenu o mabengu.
5Beka mahonjo.
6Takulenu matari ni mixi.
7Jika o ribitu.
8Nanenu o matui.
9Sukulenu malonga.
10Sumbenu maiaki anga mahonjo.
11Kuata anga jiba o kimbungu.
12Baka o malesu ni malonga.
13Muene ribengu, eme ngi kimbungu.
Now meet the words
Browse every dictionary entry in the class this lesson explains.