- Kabla: Before (kabla ya)
- Baada: After
- Mada: Topic
- Kwanza: First
- Pya: New (mada mpya, darasa jipya, mwalimu mpya)
- Mtu (one person); watu (people)
- Vipi? How? (Like ‘What do you think?’)
- Namba: Number
- Chagua: Choice
- Mti: Tree
They don’t say “mtu moja” (one person). Instead: Take the first letter of the noun and stick it with the number. Thus, Mtu mmoja is one person, and watu wawile = two people (not watu wambile).
This system works with all m/wa nouns.: mwalimu mmoja, walimu wawili. Stuff in bold is irregular. Everything after 5 is irregular.
- Mtu mmoja
- Watu wawili
- watu watatu
- Watu wanne
- Watu watano
- Watu NOT wasita, but watu sita
- Watu saba
- Watu wanane OR watu nane
- Watu tisa (hapana watu watisa)
- Watu kumi
Another group: m/mi, which works the same as above:
- Mti mmoja
- Miti miwili
- Miti mitatu
- Miti minne
- Miti mitano
- Miti sita
- Miti saba
- Miti nana
- Miti tisa
- Miti kumi