njema
adjective
good; fine; pleasant.
Njema means ‘good’ in English. It is a form of -ema used with words such as safari (journey) and habari (news).
Forms
- -ema
- adjective stem · good
- njema
- form used with safari, habari
- mwema
- class 1 agreement form
- wema
- class 2 agreement form
Origins
Njema comes from the Swahili stem -ema, "good." Historical dictionaries record it as the form that sits with nouns like safari and habari.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903).
Documents the adjective stem -ema with the meaning good and its agreement behavior in Swahili.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884).
Documents Swahili adjective concord and the adjective stem -ema "good," supporting njema as an agreement form rather than a separate lexical stem.
Examples
Safari njema!
Have a good journey!
Nakutakia safari njema.
I wish you a good journey.
Hii ni habari njema.
This is good news.
Nina habari njema kwako.
I have good news for you.
Hali ya hewa ni njema leo.
The weather is good today.
Tumepata nafasi njema.
We got a good opportunity.
Ilikuwa safari njema sana.
It was a very good journey.
Hiyo ni ishara njema.
That is a good sign.
Nawatakia safari njema nyote.
I wish you all a good journey.
