Possessives in Luganda

In Luganda the possessive particle is placed right after the noun and has to be adjusted in order to correspond to the class and number of the possessed.

  • The possessive prefix for ekitabo would be different then omuyembe.

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

omu → w

omu → gw

en → y

aba → b

emi → gy

en → z

Class 4

Class 5

Class 6

eki → ky

eri → ly

aka → k

ebi → by

ama → g

obu → bw

Class 7

Class 9

Class 10

olu → lw

oku → kw

otu → tw

en → z

ama → g

Possessive Conjugations

My

-ange

Our

-affe

Your

-o

Your

-ammwe

His/Her

-e

Theirs

-aabwe

  • Omulenzi ono muganda wange -. This boy (is) my brother

The independent possessive allows us to replace nouns with an altered form of possessives.

  • My shoes are nice, but yours are not → Engatto zange nungi, naye ezizo si nungi.

Rules

My

Stays the same, just add the first letter of the noun to the possessive.

Omuntu → Owange

Our

Stays the same, just add the first letter of the noun to the possessive.

Omuntu → Owaffe

Your

Add the noun prefix to the front of the conjugated possessive in respect to its tense (singular/plural)

Your

Add first letter of noun to front

His/Her

Add the noun prefix to the front of the conjugated possessive.

Their

Add first letter of noun to front

  • Exceptions ( only applies to the singular second & third persons)

    • if their is an m in the noun prefix, change it to g.

    • For the en prefixes ( Class 3 and plural of class 6)

      • add E

      • then put the letter of the possessive prefix ( Y for singular Z for plural)

      • add i to the end

The irregular possessive ‘My Place’

When refering to somebody’s house, AMAKA, or country of residence, this noun has no set prefix, so when we are using possessives we use the prefix Ew-.

  • Ewange - My place

  • Ewo - Your place

  • Ewe - His/her place

  • Ewaffe - Our place

  • Ewammwe - Your place (p)

  • Ewaabwe - Their place

The impersonal possessive

The English ‘OF’ can be expressed using the possessive prefixes and adding ‘-a’ on the end.

  • classes 1 through 4

    Omuntu

    wa

    Abantu

    ba

    Omutima

    gwa

    Emitima

    gya

    Engatto

    ya

    Engatto (p)

    za

    Ekitabo

    kya

    Ebitabo

    bya

  • classes 5 through 10 (excluding 8)

    Erinnya

    lya

    Amazzi

    ga

    Akaana

    ka

    Obwana

    bwa

    Olulimi

    lwa

    Enlimi

    za

    Okutu

    kwa

    Amatu

    ga

    Otulo

    twa'

    If a word, usually a noun, is added to the ‘of’ particle, you remove the a and replace it with an apostrophe.

    • Omwana w’omusajja → the child of the man

    • Erinnya ly’akaana. → the name of the baby

With & And

You can add the word Ne (with/and) to a possessive ending by dropping the e, therefore making ‘with (poss) or and (poss)

  • Nange → with me/and I

  • Nawe → With you/and you

  • Naye → with him/ and he

  • Naffe → with us/ and we

  • Nammwe → with you/ and you

  • Nabbo → with them/ and them

Possessives with Family & Friends

  • these words have special conjugations, but share similar features. For example, all of the plural forms with start with ‘Ba’

  • COMPANIONS (Munn- & Bann-)

  • Special way of saying “My Father” (Kit- and Bakit-)

  • Special way of saying “My Mother” (Mm/Nyok/Nyin/Ny- and Bamm/Banyok/Bannyin/Bany-)

  • Special way of saying “My Siblings” (Similar to mother, Mwann and Bann)

  • Special way of saying “My Husband” (Ba/Bb- and Baba/Babb)

  • Special way of saying “My Grandparents” (Jjajja and Bajjajja-)