section_path: Grammar/Noun classes
section_name: Noun classes
paragraph_text: Noun classes
  
  Swahili nouns are separable into classes, which are roughly analogous to genders in other languages. In Swahili, prefixes mark groups of similar objects: ⟨ m- ⟩ marks single human beings (mtoto 'child'), ⟨ wa- ⟩ marks multiple humans (watoto 'children'), ⟨ u- ⟩ marks abstract nouns (utoto 'childhood'), and so on. And just as adjectives and pronouns must agree with the gender of nouns in some languages with grammatical gender, so in Swahili adjectives, pronouns and even verbs must agree with nouns. This is a characteristic feature of all the Bantu languages.