Nouns

Noun Classes

Kinyarwanda has a number of different noun classes.

Sing./Pl.

u-mu-/a-ba-

u-mu-/i-mi-

i-(ri)-/a-ma-

i-ki- (i-gi-)/i-bi-

i-n-/i-n-

u-ru-/i-bi-

a-ka-/u-tu-

u-bu-/u-bu-

u-ku-/a-ma-

a-ha-/a-ha-

When proceeded by a demonstrative, a the first vowel prefix is dropped. (e.g. umu --> mu) The u-mu-/a-ba- group is used for words representing humans.