Chichewa Noun System Summary
Noun Class Prefix System
Class #	Name of class	Singular Starts with	Plural Starts with	Basic Verb Prefix (near future)	Perfect Verb or Qualifying Adj. Prefix	Qualifying Adjective Double Prefix*	Verbal Adjective  Prefix**	
1	Mu A	Mu-, M-, Mw-	A-	A-/A-	Wa-/A-	Wam-/Aa-	Wo-/O-	
2	Mu Mi	Mu-, M-, Mw-	Mi-	U-/I-	Wa-/Ya-	Wau-/Yai-	Wo-/Yo-	
3	Chi Zi	Chi-	Zi-	Chi-/Zi-	Cha-/Za-	Chachi-/Zazi-	Cho-/Zo-	
4	I Zi or N	N, Mph, Mb, Mv, I	no change	I-/Zi-	Ya-/Za-	Yai-/Zazi-	Yo-/Zo-	
5	Li Ma	others (b,d,l, k,g,t,etc.)	add Ma -‡	Li-/A-	La-/A-	Lali-/Aa-	Lo-/O-	
6	U Ma	U-	add Ma-	U-/A-	Wa-/A-	Wau-/Aa-	Wo-/O-	
7	Ka Ti	Ka-	Ti-	Ka-/Ti-	Ka-/Ta-	Kaka-/Tati-	Ko-/To-	
8	Ku	Ku-	no plural	Ku-	Kwa-	Kwaku-	Ko-	
9	Ku	Ku-	change the main noun	Ku-	Kwa-	Kwaku-	Ko-	
10	Pa	Pa-	change the main noun	Pa-	Pa-	Papa-	Po-	
11	Mu	Mu-	change the main noun	Mu-	Mwa-	Mwamu-	Mo-	

*Seven adjectives take the double prefix: -tali (tall, long), -fupi (short), -wisi (green, fresh), -kazi (female), -muna (male/ the 1st class form is commonly wamwamuna, an irregular form), -kulu (large, great), -ng'ono (small)
**This column is only for multiple-syllable verbs, single syllable verbs take the adjective prefix + ku to show partipial forms.  E.g. munthu wakuba, chinthu chakudya, but munthu wobadwa, chinthu chozama.
‡Often initial hard sounds in the root of words in this class are changed as well. (E.g. dzungu > maungu, diso > maso, phiri > mapiri. Learn each word individually.) 

This, That, These, Those

#	That (pointing)	This (pointing)	That (contracted)	This (contracted)	This (enveloping)	That
(previously mentioned)	
1	uyo/awo	uyu/awa	-yo/-wo	-yu/-wa	uno/ano	uja/aja	
2	uwo/iyo	uwu/iyi	-wo/-yo	-wu/-yi	uno/ino	uja/ija	
3	icho/izo	ichi/izi	-cho/-zo	-chi/-zi	chino/zino	chija/zija	
4	iyo/izo	iyi/izi	-yo/-zo	-yi/-zi	ino/zino	ija/zija	
5	ilo/awo	ili/awa	-lo/-wo	-li/-wa	lino/ano	lija/aja	
6	uwo/awo	uwu/awa	-wo/-wo	-wu/-wa	uno/ano	uja/aja	
7	ako/ito	aka/iti	-ko/-to	-ka/-ti	kano/tino	kaja/tija	
8	uko	uku	-ko	-ku	kuno	kuja	
9	uko	uku	-ko	-ku	kuno	kuja	
10	apo	apa	-po	-pa	pano	paja	
11	umo	umu	-mo	-mu	muno	muja	
*Stem  -ja,  the subject of a conversation, “the one you know which”.  Chinthu chija   the thing (you know which, we were just talking about it)