Language/Rundi/Grammar/Gender

Rundi Grammar - Gender

Hi Rundi learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about gender in Rundi language. Like many other Bantu languages, Rundi has two genders: the masculine and the feminine. Understanding gender is an essential part of learning the Rundi language. It can be a bit tricky, but we will explain it in detail for you. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify the gender of a noun and use the appropriate article with it. Let's start!

Consider exploring these related pages after completing this lesson: Give your Opinion & Questions.

Masculine vs. Feminine

In Rundi, like in many other Bantu languages, the gender is usually not determined by the biological sex of the referred object, but rather by the noun class it belongs to. The masculine class is usually used to describe male people, animals or objects, but also some inanimate objects, while the feminine class is used to describe female people, animals, or objects, but also some inanimate objects. Note that in some cases, there is no logic as to why a certain noun belongs to a certain gender. Memorization and practice are the best ways to identify them.

Identifying the Gender

There are some patterns that can help you to identify the gender of a noun, but as said previously, some items cannot be predicted in Rundi. Let's see some of those patterns.

Prefix

Most nouns in the masculine class start with the prefix "I-" or "U-", while most nouns in the feminine class start with the prefix "A-" or "E-". To give you a few examples:

Rundi	Pronunciation	English
Intwari	/intʷaɾi/	warrior (Masculine)
Urukundo	/uɾukʊndo/	love (Masculine)
Umuhungu	/umuhʊŋɡu/	boy (Masculine)
Amashure	/amaʃuɾe/	blanket (Feminine)
Ejo	/eʒɔ/	tomorrow (Feminine)
Amasahane	/amasahane/	spider (Feminine)

Note that there might be exceptions to the aforementioned prefixes, so it's useful to look up dictionaries, ask native speakers, or listen to Rundi songs to develop a "feeling" of the language.

Suffix

Some words in Rundi contain gender-specific suffixes:

• Words ending with "-ane" tend to be feminine, like in "Imyaka myane" (years - feminine).
• Words ending with "-we" tend to be masculine, like in "Inyenyeri za Kera" (Kera's stars - masculine).
• Words ending with "-zo" or "-zo" tend to be feminine, such as "Imirima yazo" (her mountains - feminine).
• Words ending with "-ye" tend to be masculine, like in "Inzige ze Nkuba" (Nkuba's birds - masculine).

Again, there might be exceptions, so it's important to be exposed to the spoken and written language in order to improve your intuition.

Borrowed words

Rundi, like all languages, also has some borrowed words, usually from the French and Swahili languages. Those borrowings might not be uniform in gender classification, so it's important to know their Rundi equivalent to use the appropriate gender.

For instance, in French, "le téléphone" (the phone) is masculine, while "la voiture" (the car) is feminine. In Rundi, these words become "Itelefoni" (Masculine) and "Amoteri" (Feminine), respectively.

Also, words of Swahili origin tend to be feminine. In Swahili, genders are more extensive than Rundi, but borrowed words tend to keep the gender of the Swahili language. For instance, the word "safari" is feminine both in Swahili and Rundi.

Using the Appropriate Article

Once you know the gender of the noun, you need to use the appropriate article before it. The article "i" is used before nouns that belong to the masculine class, while the article "ya" is used before nouns that belong to the feminine class. Look at these examples:

• Inzira ("the road" in English) belongs to the feminine class, so it would be "Y'Inzira".
• Umugabo ("the man" in English) belongs to the masculine class, so it would be "Wa Mugabo".

Other articles that may accompany a few nouns include:

• Ku is used for the plural definite.
• Twi is used for any number of subject's for masculine.
• Di is used for plural definite for feminine nouns.
• Bari is used for any number of subjects for feminine nouns.

Dialogue

To help you see the concepts we discussed above in context, let's do a dialogue:

• Person 1: Wewe uzi neza, ukweli ntago usoma? (You are smart, do you not study?)
• Person 2: Oya, niramutse mpuzamahanga! (Oh yeah, I’m already an expert!)
• Person 1: Ahubwo zisome, umugabo w’Uburundi akwiye kudafata iminsi myinshi. (But read, men in Burundi usually have many wives.)
• Person 2: Yewe, vyakunzeva. (Yes, that's interesting.)

In this dialogue, you can see the use of the masculine noun "Umugabo" (man), accompanied by the article "Wa."

Conclusion

In conclusion, gender is an essential part of Rundi grammar. In this lesson, we learned about the two genders, how to identify them through prefixes, suffixes, borrowed words, and intuition, and how to use the appropriate article before the noun. To improve your Rundi Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions! Also, feel free to check other Rundi resources at Polyglot Club!

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➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Sources

• Rundi Grammar - Gender
• Kinyarwanda and Kirundi Comparative Grammar

Upon wrapping up this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Adjectives & Conditional Mood.

Other Lessons

• Give your Opinion
• Pronouns
• How to Use Have
• Adjectives
• Plurals
• How to Use Be
• Conditional Mood
• Negation
• Questions