-ema
adjective stem
- Literally
- “good”
- In conversation
- good; an adjective stem appearing in agreement forms such as mwema and njema.
Use an agreeing form such as mwema or njema rather than the bare stem in a phrase.
Forms
- mwema
- good · classes 1, 3, 11, and 13
- njema
- good · classes 9 and 10
- wema
- good; goodness · classes 2, 12, and 14
- jema
- good · class 5
- mema
- good · class 6
- chema
- good · class 7
- vyema
- good; well · class 8
- myema
- good · class 4
- kwema
- good · class 15
Origins
-ema means “good,” but Swahili rarely leaves the stem bare. It changes to keep company with the noun it describes, appearing in forms such as mwema, jema, chema, vyema, and njema. A nineteenth-century Swahili handbook already records this agreement family, and there is no evidence that -ema was borrowed. One small stem, many shapes, the same “good” running underneath.
Sources5
Haspelmath and Tadmor / Lexibank, World Loanword Database CLDF (2009), cldf/forms.csv row 48434.
Classifies -ema as an adjective and finds no evidence for borrowing, with a borrowed score of 0.0.
Kulikoyela Kahigi, Revisiting the Adjective in Kiswahili (Dar es Salaam: Kioo cha Lugha, 2008), 6, “Original adjectives,” 20–32.
Classifies -ema, “good,” among Swahili’s native inherited adjective stems.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (1903), 85, 309.
Records njema as an agreement form meaning “good.”
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (1884), 114, 127.
Records agreeing forms of -ema in noun phrases and glosses them as good.
University of Surrey, Morphological Complexity Database: Swahili (Guildford: University of Surrey), Inflectional morphology: Adjectives.
Lists noun-class agreement forms including mwema, wema, myema, jema, mema, chema, vyema, njema, and kwema.
Examples
Asubuhi njema.
Good morning.
Usiku mwema.
Good night.
Safari njema.
Have a good journey.
Siku njema.
Have a good day.
Habari njema.
Good news.
Yeye ni mtu mwema.
They are a good person.
Yeye ni mwalimu mwema.
They are a good teacher.
Hii ni njia njema.
This is a good way.
Umefanya kazi njema.
You have done good work.
