Vowels

Chewa has five contrastive vowel phonemes: /a ɛ i ɔ u/, written ⟨a e i o u⟩. Long vowels also occur, as in áákúlu 'big' (class 2), kufúula 'to shout'.^[26] When a word comes at the end of a phrase, its penultimate vowel tends to be lengthened,^[27] except for non-Chewa names and words, such as Muthárika or ófesi, in which the penultimate vowel always remains short. The added 'u' or 'i' in borrowed words such as láputopu 'laptop' or íntaneti 'internet' tends to be silent or barely pronounced.^[28]

Consonants

Chewa consonants can be plain, labialised /Cʷ/, or palatalised (/Cʲ/). Labialised consonants are spelt as digraphs or (trigraphs) with a following ⟨w⟩, whereas palatalised segments are spelt with a ⟨y⟩:

• ba, kha, ga, fa, ma, sa etc.
• bwa, khwa, gwa, fwa, mwa, swa etc. for /bʷa/, /kʷʰa/, /gʷa/, /fʷa/, /mʷa/, etc.
• fya, nya, thya, dya etc. for /fʲa/, /nʲa/, /tʲʰa/, /ɗʲa/ etc.

Voiced and aspirated consonants, as well as [f] and [s], also occur as prenasalised segments:

• mba, ngwa, nja, mva, nza etc.
• mpha, nkhwa, ntcha, mfa, nsa etc.

The possible consonant combinations can thus be arranged on a table as follows:

The spelling used here is that introduced in 1973,^[29] which is the one generally in use in the Malawi at the present time, replacing the Chinyanja Orthography Rules of 1931.^[30]

Notes on the consonants

• In most words, Chewa b and d (when not prenasalised) are pronounced implosively, by sucking slightly.^[31] However, there is also a plosive b and d, mostly found in foreign words, such as bála 'bar', yôdúla 'expensive' (from Afrikaans duur) (in contrast to the implosive b and d in native words such as bála 'wound' and yôdúla 'which cuts').^[32] A plosive d is also found in kudínda 'to stamp (a document)' and mdidi 'confident step'.
• The affricate sounds bv and pf were formerly commonly heard but are now generally replaced by v and f, e.g. (b)vúto 'problem', (p)fúpa 'bone'. In the Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja dictionary produced by the University of Malawi, the spellings bv and pf are not used in any of the headwords, but bv is used two or three times in the definitions.
• The combination bz is described by Atkins as an "alveolar-labialised fricative".^[33] The combination sounds approximately as [bʒ] or [bʒʲ]. Similarly ps is pronounced approximately as [pʃ] or [pʃʲ].
• The sounds written ch, k, p and t are pronounced less forcibly than the English equivalents and generally without aspiration. Stevick notes that in relaxed speech, the first three are sometimes replaced with the voiced fricatives [ʒ], [ɣ] and [β], and t can be heard as a voiced flap.^[34] In the combination -ti (e.g. angáti? 'how many'), t may be lightly aspirated.
• h is also used in Chewa but mostly only in loanwords such as hotéra 'hotel', hátchi 'horse', mswahála 'monthly allowance given to chiefs'.
• j is described by Scotton and Orr as being pronounced "somewhat more forward in the mouth" than in English and as sounding "somewhere between an English d and j".^[35]
• l and r are the same phoneme,^[36] representing a retroflex tap [ɽ], approximately between [l] and [r]. According to the official spelling rules, the sound is written as 'r' after 'i' or 'e', otherwise 'l'. It is also written with 'l' after a prefix containing 'i', as in lilíme 'tongue'.^[37][38]
• m is syllabic [m̩] in words where it is derived from mu, e.g. m'balé 'relative' (3 syllables), mphunzitsi 'teacher' (4 syllables), anáḿpatsa 'he gave him' (5 syllables). However, in class 9 words, such as mphátso 'gift', mbale 'plate', or mfíti 'witch', and also in the class 1 word mphaká 'cat', the m is pronounced very short and does not form a separate syllable. In Southern Region dialects of Malawi, the syllabic m in words like mkángo 'lion' is pronounced in a homorganic manner, i.e. [ŋ̍.ká.ᵑɡo] (with three syllables), but in the Central Region, it is pronounced as it is written, i.e. [m̩.ká.ᵑɡo].^[39]
• n, in combinations such as nj, ntch, nkh etc., is assimilated to the following consonant, that is, it is pronounced [ɲ] or [ŋ] as appropriate. In words of class 9, such as njóka 'snake' or nduná 'minister' it is pronounced very short, as part of the following syllable. However, [n] can also be syllabic, when it is contracted from ndi 'it is' or ndí 'and', e.g. ń'kúpíta 'and to go'; also in the remote past continuous tense, e.g. ankápítá 'he used to go'. In some borrowed words such as bánki or íntaneti the combinations nk and nt with non-syllabic n can be found but not in native words.
• ng is pronounced [ŋɡ] as in 'finger' and ng’ is pronounced [ŋ] as in 'singer'. Both of these consonants can occur at the beginning of a word: ngoma 'kudu', ng'ombe 'cow or ox'.
• w in the combinations awu, ewu, iwu, owa, uwa (e.g. mawú 'voice', msewu 'road', liwú 'sound', lowa 'enter', duwa 'flower') although often written is generally not pronounced.^[40] Combinations such as gwo or mwo are not found; thus ngwábwino (short for ndi wábwino)^[41] 'he is good' but ngóípa (short for ndi wóípa) 'he is bad'; mwalá 'stone' but móto 'fire'.
• ŵ, a "closely lip-rounded [w] with the tongue in the close-i position",^[42] was formerly used in Central Region dialects but is now rarely heard, usually being replaced by 'w'. ("It is doubtful whether the majority of speakers have [β] in their phoneme inventory" (Kishindo).)^[43] The symbol 'ŵ' is generally omitted in current publications such as newspapers.^[44] In the dialects that use the sound, it is found only before a, i, and e, while before o and u it becomes [w].^[45] To some linguists (e.g. Watkins) it sounds similar to the Spanish [β].^[45]
• zy (as in zyoliká 'be upside down like a bat') can be pronounced [ʒ].^[46]

Tones

Like most other Bantu languages, Chewa is a tonal language; that is to say, the pitch of the syllables (high or low) plays an important role in it. Tone is used in various ways in the language. First of all, each word has its own tonal pattern, for example:^[47]

• munthu [mu.ⁿtʰu] 'person' (Low, Low)
• galú [ɡă.ɽú] 'dog' (Rising, High)
• mbúzi [ᵐbû.zi] 'goat' (Falling, Low)
• chímanga [t͡ʃí.ma.ᵑɡa] 'maize' (High, Low, Low)

Usually there is only one high tone in a word (generally on one of the last three syllables), or none. However, in compound words there can be more than one high tone, for example:

• chákúdyá [t͡ʃá.kú.ɗʲá] 'food' (High, High, High; derived from chá + kudyá, 'a thing of eating')

A second important use of tone is in the verb. Each tense of the verb has its own characteristic tonal pattern (negative tenses usually have a different pattern from positive ones).^[48] For example, the present habitual has high tones on the initial syllable and the penultimate, the other syllables being low:

• ndí-ma-thandíza 'I (usually) help'
• ndí-ma-píta 'I (usually) go'

The recent past continuous and present continuous, on the other hand, have a tone on the third syllable:

• ndi-ma-thándiza 'I was helping'
• ndi-ma-píta 'I was going'
• ndi-ku-thándiza 'I am helping'
• ndi-ku-píta 'I am going'

Tones can also indicate whether a verb is being used in a main clause or in a dependent clause such as a relative clause:^[49][50]

• sabatá yatha 'the week has ended'
• sabatá yátha 'the week which has ended (i.e. last week)'

A third use of tones in Chewa is to show phrasing and sentence intonation. For example, immediately before a pause in the middle of a sentence the speaker's voice tends to rise up; this rise is referred to as a boundary tone.^[51] Other intonational tones are sometimes heard, for example a rising or falling tone at the end of a yes–no question.^[52][53]

Noun classes

Chewa nouns are divided for convenience into a number of classes, which are referred to by the Malawians themselves by names such as "Mu-A-",^[54] but by Bantu specialists by numbers such as "1/2", corresponding to the classes in other Bantu languages. Conventionally, they are grouped into pairs of singular and plural. However, irregular pairings are also possible, especially with loanwords; for example, bánki 'bank', which takes the concords of class 9 in the singular, has a plural mabánki (class 6).^[55]

When assigning nouns to a particular class, initially the prefix of the noun is used. Where there is no prefix, or where the prefix is ambiguous, the concords (see below) are used as a guide to the noun class. For example, katúndu 'possessions' is put in class 1, since it takes the class 1 demonstrative uyu 'this'.^[56]

Some nouns belong to one class only, e.g. tomáto 'tomato(es)' (class 1), mowa 'beer' (class 3), malayá 'shirt(s)' (class 6), udzudzú 'mosquito(es)' (class 14), and do not change between singular and plural. Despite this, such words can still be counted if appropriate: tomáto muwíri 'two tomatoes', mowa uwíri 'two beers', malayá amódzi 'one shirt', udzudzú umódzi 'one mosquito'.^[57]

Class 11 (Lu-) is not found in Chewa. Words like lumo 'razor' and lusó 'skill' are considered to belong to class 5/6 (Li-Ma-) and take the concords of that class.^[58]

• Mu-A- (1/2): munthu pl. anthu 'person'; mphunzitsi pl. aphunzitsi 'teacher'; mwaná pl. aná 'child'
    (1a/2): galú pl. agalú 'dog'. Class 1a refers to nouns which have no m- prefix.
    The plural a- is used only for humans and animals. It can also be used for respect, e.g. aphunzitsi áthu 'our teacher'
    (1a/6): kíyi pl. makíyi 'key'; gúle pl. magúle 'dance'
    (1a): tomáto 'tomato(es)'; katúndu 'luggage, furniture'; feteréza 'fertilizer' (no pl.)
• Mu-Mi- (3/4): mudzi pl. midzi 'village'; mténgo pl. miténgo 'tree'; moyo pl. miyoyo 'life'; msika pl. misika 'village'
    (3): mowa 'beer'; móto 'fire'; bowa 'mushroom(s)' (no pl.)
• Li-Ma- (5/6): dzína pl. maína 'name'; vúto pl. mavúto 'problem'; khásu pl. makásu 'hoe'; díso pl. masó 'eye'
    Often the first consonant is softened or omitted in the plural in this class.
    (6): madzí 'water', mankhwála 'medicine', maló 'place' (no sg.)
• Chi-Zi- (7/8): chinthu pl. zinthu 'thing'; chaká pl. zaká 'year'
    (7): chímanga 'maize'; chikóndi 'love' (no pl.)
• I-Zi- (9/10): nyumbá pl. nyumbá 'house'; mbúzi pl. mbúzi 'goat'
    (10): ndevu 'beard'; ndíwo 'relish'; nzerú 'intelligence' (no sg.)
    (9/6): bánki pl. mabánki 'bank'
• Ka-Ti- (12/13): kamwaná pl. tianá 'baby'; kanthu pl. tinthu 'small thing'
    (12): kasamalidwe 'method of taking care'; kavinidwe 'way of dancing' (no pl.)
    (13): tuló 'sleep' (no sg.)
• U-Ma- (14): usíku 'night time'; ulimi 'farming'; udzudzú 'mosquito(es)' (no pl.)
    (14/6): utá pl. mautá 'bow'

Infinitive class:

• Ku- (15): kuóna 'to see, seeing'

Locative classes:

• Pa- (16): pakamwa 'mouth'
• Ku- (17): kukhosi 'neck'
• Mu- (18): mkamwa 'inside the mouth'

Concords

Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs have to show agreement with nouns in Chichewa. This is done by means of prefixes, for example:

• Uyu ndi mwaná wángá 'this is my child' (class 1)
• Awa ndi aná ángá 'these are my children' (class 2)
• Ichi ndi chímanga chánga 'this is my maize' (class 7)
• Iyi ndi nyumbá yángá 'this is my house' (class 9)

Class 2 (the plural of class 1) is often used for respect when referring to elders. According to Corbett and Mtenje, a word like bambo 'father', even though it is singular, will take plural concords (e.g. bambo anga akuyenda, ndikuwaona 'my father is walking, I see him'); they note that to use the singular object-marker -mu- would be 'grossly impolite'.^[59]

The various prefixes are shown on the table below:

There are 17 different noun classes, but because some of them share concords there are in fact only 12 distinct sets of prefixes.

Examples of the use of concords

In the examples below, the concords are illustrated mainly with nouns of classes 1 and 2.

Historic changes

Early dictionaries, such as those of Rebmann, and of Scott and Hetherwick, show that formerly the number of concords was greater. The following changes have taken place:

• Class 2 formerly had the concord ŵa- (e.g. ŵanthu aŵa 'these people'), but this has now become a- for most speakers.
• Class 8, formerly using dzi- (Southern Region) or bzi/bvi/vi- (Central Region) (e.g. bzaká bziŵíri 'two years'),^[60] has now adopted the concords of class 10.
• Class 6, formerly with ya- concords (e.g. mazira aya 'these eggs'),^[61] now has the concords of class 2.
• Class 11 (lu-) had already been assimilated to class 5 even in the 19th century, although it still exists in some dialects of the neighbouring language Tumbuka.
• Class 14, formerly with bu- concords (e.g. ufá bwángá 'my flour'),^[62] now has the same concords as class 3.
• Class 13 (ti-) had tu- in Rebmann's time (e.g. tumpeni utu 'these small knives'). This prefix still survives in words like tuló 'sleep'.

In addition, classes 4 and 9, and classes 15 and 17 have identical concords, so the total number of concord sets (singular and plural) is now twelve.

Formation of tenses

Tenses in Chichewa are differentiated in two ways, by their tense-marker (a tense–aspect–mood prefix), and by their tonal pattern. Sometimes two tenses have the same tense-marker and differ in their tonal pattern alone. In the following examples, the tense-marker is underlined:^[63][64]

• ndi-ku-gúla 'I am buying'
• ndí-ma-gúla 'I usually buy'
• ndi-ma-gúla 'I was buying', 'I used to buy'
• ndí-dzá-gula 'I will buy (tomorrow or in future)'
• ndí-ká-gula 'I will buy (when I get there)'

One tense has no tense-marker:

• ndí-gula 'I will buy (soon)'

Tenses can be modified further by adding certain other prefixes, called 'aspect-markers', after the tense-marker. These are -má- 'always, usually' -ká- 'go and', -dzá 'come and' or 'in future', and -ngo- 'only', 'just'. These prefixes can also be used on their own, as tense-markers in their own right (compare the use of -ma- and -dza- in the list of tenses above). For example:

• ndi-ku-má-gúlá 'I am always buying'^[65]
• ndi-ná-ká-gula 'I went and bought'^[66]
• ndí-má-ngo-gúla 'I just usually buy'^[67]

Compound tenses, such as the following, are also found in Chichewa:^[68]

• nd-a-khala ndí-kú-gúla 'I have been buying'

Subject-marker

Chichewa verbs (with the exception of the imperative mood and infinitive) begin with a prefix agreeing grammatically with the subject.^[69] This prefix is referred to by some grammarians as the 'subject-marker'.^[70]

• (ife) ti-ku-píta 'we are going'
• mténgo w-a-gwa (for *u-a-gwa) 'the tree has fallen'^[71]

The subject-marker can be:

• Personal: ndi- 'I', u- 'you (singular)', a- 'he, she', ti- 'we', mu- 'you (plural or polite)', a- 'they'; 'he/she (respectful or polite). (In the perfect tense, the subject-marker for 'he, she' is w-: w-a-pita 'he has gone'.)^[72]
• Impersonal: a- (class 1, 2 or 6), u- (class 3 or 14), i- (class 4 or 9), li- (class 5), etc.
• Locative: ku-, pa-, mu-

An example of a locative subject-marker is:

• m'madzí muli nsómba 'in the water there are fish'^[73]

Both the 2nd and the 3rd person plural pronouns and subject-markers are used respectfully to refer to a single person:^[74]

• mukupíta 'you are going' (plural or respectful)
• apita 'they have gone' or 'he/she has gone' (respectful)

Except in the perfect tense, the 3rd person subject marker when used of people is the same whether singular or plural. So in the present tense the 3rd person subject-marker is a-:

• akupíta 'he/she is going'
• akupíta 'they are going', 'he/she is going' (respectful)

But in the perfect tense wa- (singular) contrasts with a- (plural or respectful):

• wapita 'he/she has gone'
• apita 'they have gone', 'he/she has gone' (respectful)

When the subject is a noun not in class 1, the appropriate class prefix is used even if referring to a person:

• mfúmu ikupíta 'the chief is going' (class 9)
• tianá tikupíta 'the babies are going' (class 13)

Object-marker

An object-marker can also optionally be added to the verb; if one is added it goes immediately before the verb-stem.^[75] The 2nd person plural adds -ni after the verb:

• ndí-ma-ku-kónda 'I love you' (ndi = 'I', ku = 'you')
• ndí-ma-ku-kónda-ni 'I love you' (plural or formal)

The object-marker can be:

• Personal: -ndi- 'me', -ku- 'you', -mu- or -m'- 'him, her', -ti- 'us', -wa- or -a- 'them', 'him/her (polite)'.
• Impersonal: -mu- (class 1), -wa- (class 2), -u- (class 3 or 14), etc.
• Locative: e.g. m'nyumbá mu-ku-mú-dzíwa 'you know the inside of the house';^[76] but usually a locative suffix is used instead: nd-a-oná-mo 'I have seen inside it'
• Reflexive: -dzi- 'himself', 'herself', 'themselves', 'myself', etc.

When used with a toneless verb tense such as the perfect, the object-marker has a high tone, but in some tenses such as the present habitual, the tone is lost:^[77]

• nd-a-mú-ona 'I have seen him'
• ndí-ma-mu-óna 'I usually see him'

With the imperative or subjunctive, the tone of the object-marker goes on the syllable following it, and the imperative ending changes to -e:^[78]

• ndi-pátse-ni mpungá 'could you give me some rice?'
• ndi-thándízé-ni! 'help me!'
• mu-mu-thándízé 'you should help him'

Variety of tenses

Chewa has a large number of tenses, some of which differ in some respects from the tenses met with in European languages. The distinction between one tense and another is made partly by the use of prefixes, such as -na- and -ku-, and partly by the intonation of the verb, since each tense has its own particular tonal pattern.

Negative tenses

Negative tenses, if they are main verbs, are made with the prefix sí-. They differ in intonation from the positive tenses.^[83] The negative of the -ná- tense has the ending -e instead of -a:

• sí-ndí-gula 'I don't buy'
• sí-ndi-na-gúle 'I didn't buy'

Tenses which mean 'will not' or 'have not yet' have a single tone on the penultimate syllable:

• si-ndi-dza-gúla 'I won't buy'
• si-ndi-na-gúle 'I haven't bought (it) yet'

Infinitives, participial verbs, and the subjunctive make their negative with -sa-, which is added after the subject-prefix instead of before it. They similarly have a single tone on the penultimate syllable:

• ndi-sa-gúle 'I should not buy'^[84]
• ku-sa-gúla 'not to buy'

Dependent clause tenses

The tenses used in certain kinds of dependent clauses (such as relative clauses and some types of temporal clauses) differ from those used in main clauses. Dependent verbs often have a tone on the first syllable. Sometimes this change of tone alone is sufficient to show that the verb is being used in a dependent clause.^[85][49] Compare for example:

• a-ku-gúla 'he is buying'
• á-kú-gúla 'when he is buying' or 'who is buying'

Other commonly used dependent tenses are the following:

• ndí-tá-gúla 'after I bought/buy'
• ndí-sa-na-gúle 'before I bought/buy'

There is also a series of tenses using a toneless -ka- meaning 'when' of 'if', for example:^[86][87]

• ndi-ka-gula 'when/if I buy'
• ndi-ka-dzá-gula 'if in future I buy'
• ndi-ka-má-gúlá 'whenever I buy'
• ndí-ka-da-gúla 'if I had bought'

Verb extensions

After the verb stem one or more extensions may be added. The extensions modify the meaning of the verb, for example:

• gul-a 'buy'
• gul-ir-a 'buy for' or 'buy with' (applicative)
• gul-ir-an-a 'buy for one another' (applicative + reciprocal)
• gul-ik-á 'get bought', 'be for sale' (stative)
• gul-its-a 'cause to get bought, i.e. sell' (causative)
• gul-its-idw-a 'be sold (by someone)' (causative + passive)

The extensions -ul-/-ol- and its intransitive form -uk-/-ok- are called 'reversive'. They give meanings such as 'open', 'undo', 'unstick', 'uncover':

• tseg-ul-a 'open (something)'
• tseg-uk-á 'become open'
• thy-ol-a 'break something off'
• thy-ok-á 'get broken off'
• mas-ul-a 'undo, loosen'
• mas-uk-á 'become loose, relaxed'

Most extensions, apart from the reciprocal -an- 'one another', have two possible forms, e.g. -ir-/-er-, -idw-/-edw-, -its-/-ets-, -iz-/-ez-, -ul-/-ol-, -uk-/-ok-. The forms with i and u are used when the verb stem has a, i, or u. u can also follow e:

• kan-ik-á 'fail to happen'
• phik-ir-a 'cook for someone'
• gul-its-a 'sell'
• sungun-ul-a 'melt (transitive)'
• tseg-ul-a 'open'

The forms with e are used if the verb stem is monosyllabic or has an e or o in it:^[88]

• dy-er-a 'eat with'
• bwer-ez-a 'repeat'
• chok-er-a 'come from'

Extensions with o are used only with a monosyllabic stem or one with o:

• thy-ok-á 'get broken off'
• ton-ol-a 'remove grains of corn from the cob'

The extension -its-, -ets- with a low tone is causative, but when it has a high tone it is intensive. The high tone is heard on the final syllable of the verb:

• yang'an-its-its-á 'look carefully'
• yes-ets-á 'try hard'

The applicative -ir-, -er- can also sometimes be intensive, in which case it has a high tone:

• pit-ir-ir-á 'carry on, keep going'

Verbs with -ik-, -ek-, -uk-, -ok- when they have a stative or intransitive meaning also usually have a high tone:

• chit-ik-á 'happen'
• sungun-uk-á 'melt (intransitive), get melted'

However, there are some low-toned exceptions such as on-ek-a 'seem' or nyam-uk-a 'set off'.^[89]

Story-writers and playwrights

The following have written published stories, novels, or plays in the Chewa language:

• William Chafulumira^[90]
• Samuel Josia Ntara or Nthala^[91]
• John Gwengwe^[92]
• E.J. Chadza
• Steve Chimombo
• Whyghtone Kamthunzi
• Francis Moto
• Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers
• Willie Zingani
• Barnaba Zingani
• Jolly Maxwell Ntaba^[93]

Poets

• Jack Mapanje
• E.J. Chadza
• Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga
• Innocent Masina Nkhonyo