wa-

wa-

1. to put
2. to place

wa-

1. first person plural agent marker

• Swintha Danielsen, Tania Granadillo, Agreement in two Arawak languages, in The Typology of Semantic Alignment (edited by Mark Donohue, Søren Wichmann) (2008, →ISBN, page 398

wa-

1. creates nouns from some verbs.

   ‎wa- + ‎pȟóštaŋ (“to put something on one's head”) → ‎wapȟóštaŋ (“hat”)

2. creates agent nouns

   ‎wa- + ‎oyúspa (“to seize, grab, hold on to, arrest”) → ‎wawóyuspa (“policeman”)

• Most verbs that start with o contract the prefix wa- into wó-.

From Proto-Bantu *jʊ̀á-.

wa-

1. of; class 1 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gʊ́á-.

wa-

1. of; class 3 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gá-.

wa-

1. they; class 6 subject concord; form of a- used when another prefix precedes.
2. them; class 6 object concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gá-.

wa-

1. they; class 6 subject concord; form of a- used when another prefix precedes.
2. them; class 6 object concord.

From Proto-Bantu *jʊ̀á-.

wa-

1. of; class 1 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gʊ́á-.

wa-

1. of; class 3 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gá-.

wa-

1. they; class 6 subject concord; form of a- used when another prefix precedes.
2. them; class 6 object concord.

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

From Proto-Bantu *bà-.

wa- (singular m-)

1. wa class_(II) noun prefix and adjective agreement prefix, denoting plurals of m class_(I)

   watoto wazuri ― nice children

   ‎mtu (“person”) → ‎watu (“people”)

   ‎Mwingereza (“English person”) → ‎Waingereza (“English people”)

Some words are irregular:

‎mwizi (“thief”) → ‎wezi (“thieves”)

‎mwanamke (“woman”) → ‎wanawake (“women”)

‎-ingine (“other”) → ‎wengine

• Appendix:Swahili noun classes

From Proto-Bantu *bá-.

wa-

1. they, 3rd person plural (wa class_(II)) subject concord

   Antonym: hawa-

2. verb-initial form of -wa- (“them (3rd person plural (wa class_(II)) object concord) or you (2nd person plural object concord)”)

wa-

1. Contraction of u- + -a- (“2nd person singular, m class_(III), and u class_(XI) gnomic”).
2. Contraction of wa- + -a- (“3rd person plural (wa class_(II)) gnomic”).

From Proto-Bantu *gá-.

wa-

1. they; class 6 subject concord; form of a- used when another prefix precedes.
2. them; class 6 object concord.

From Proto-Bantu *jʊ̀á-.

wa-

1. of; class 1 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gʊ́á-.

wa-

1. of; class 3 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *jʊ̀á-.

wa-

1. of; class 1 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gʊ́á-.

wa-

1. of; class 3 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gá-.

wa-

1. they; class 6 subject concord; form of a- used when another prefix precedes.
2. them; class 6 object concord.

From Proto-Bantu *jʊ̀á-.

wa-

1. of; class 1 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gʊ́á-.

wa-

1. of; class 3 possessive concord.

From Proto-Bantu *gá-.

wá-

1. they; class 6 subject concord; form of a- used when another prefix precedes.
2. them; class 6 object concord.

• C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “wa-”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “wa-”