mofimu -enye

the morpheme -enye

-enye is a morpheme, or grammatical root, that functions adjectivally to indicate “having possession of,” i.e., that some noun is “in possession of” something. That something being possessed could be either a physical, solid, concrete object (e.g., a store, a house, a car, etc.) or it could be an abstract, intangible, nonphysical element (e.g., an emotional state -- anger, sadness, joy, etc., or a personality trait, etc. ).

The entity doing the possessing can be a human, an animal, a non-animate concrete noun, or even abstract, invisible noun, e.g., anger or nervousness.

The morpheme -enye is a very useful, highly productive grammatical element in Kiswahili. Make friends with it today!

mwenye duka > shop owner; shop keeper

mwenye nyumba > house owner; owner of the house

mwenye mali > person in possession of the goods; owner of the goods

1. mtu mwenye maneno mengi > a very talkative, gabby person

2. watu wenye afya > healthy people

3. mji wenye watu wengi > a very populous city

4. miji yenye watu wachache > cities with low populations

5. gari lenye milango miwili > a two door car

6. magazeti yenye picha > picture magazines

7. kitabu chenye kurasa nyingi > a book with a lot of pages, i.e., a big book

8. viti vyenye miguu mitatu > three legged chairs

9. bastola yenye risasi sita > a six shooter pistol

10. nyumba zenye ghorofa tatu > a four storied building [US]; a three storied building [elsewhere]

11. uso wenye makovu mengi > a face with a lot of scars

Created by Mwalimu Mtembezi, 2004