SUBJECTS
Every sentence includes a subject and a complete verb.
I. A. Subjects tell who or what the sentence is about.
Example: Freddy eats ndizi.
In this case the sentence is about Freddy.
B. Subjects do the action of the verb or they are.
In the example above, Freddy is doing the action of the verb eats. To find the subject, you can ask, “Who is doing the action of the verb?” or “Who is eating?” Is it the ndizi that is eating? No. Is it Freddy? Yes.
C. In English, the subject of the sentence usually comes before the verb.
D. The subject of a sentence is usually a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing.
Look at the list of nouns below and identify whether it is a person, place, or thing. (Answers are in italics)
Tanzania (place) | Airplane (thing) | Mwika (place) | Mama Mori (person) |
Happiness (thing) | Poems (things) | Imagination (thing) | Emotions (things) |
Tree (thing) | Mr. Mgasse (person) | Classroom 7 (place) | My home (place) |
The dog (thing) | Sky (thing) | Curtains (things) | Ndizi (thing) |
E. A pronoun can also be the subject of a sentence. A pronoun is a word that stands for, or represents, a noun. For example, we use “she” to stand for “Rehema.” We use “we” to stand for “Rehema, Wilhelm, and I.” Here is a list of the seven basic pronouns:
Subjective Pronoun | Kiswahili Pronoun |
I | Mimi |
*You | Wewe / ninyi |
He | Yeye mvulana |
She | Yeye msichana |
We | Sisi |
They | Wao |
It | ??? |
Pronouns that can be used as the subject of a sentence spell the acronym WISHITY: WE, I, SHE, HE, IT, THEY, YOU
*Note: “You” refers to one person or to more than one person.
For the following words, what English pronoun would you use?
ANSWERS
George | He |
The ball | *It |
The trees | **They |
Neema | She |
Neema and George | They |
Wenceslaus, Grace, and I | We |
*In English, “it” stands for anything that is not a person. It can stand for an object, an animal, a country, a place, an idea, or a thing.
**“They” is plural and stands for persons, places, or things. “They” can stand for all of the following:
Rehema and Juma (people)
The tree and the ball (things)
The birds (animals)
Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya (places)
Happiness and joy (emotions)
Exercise 1: What pronoun would you use for the sentences below?
a. I like bananas. (I is a pronoun)
b. The trees are swaying in the wind. (“swaying” is “-yumbaisha”) (they)
c. The rope is wet. (it)
d. Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda are forming the East African Union. (they)
e. Rajabu, Glory, and you are going to the market. (you)
f. My teacher and I are walking together. (we)
Exercise 2: Underline the subject of each of the following sentences. Remember that a subject is what or who the sentence is about. It does the action of the verb.
*Note to teachers: If students do not answer correctly the first time, ask them a “who” or “what” question. See “who/what” questions after each sentence.
1. Tanzania is my favorite country. (What is my favorite country? Tanzania)
2. It is my favorite country. (What is my favorite country? It)
3. Rehema went to school yesterday. (Who went to school? Rehema)
4. Imagination is more important than knowledge. (What is more important than knowledge? imagination)
5. Albert Einstein was a man with great knowledge. (Who was a man with great knowledge? Albert Einstein)
6. The bananas are not ripe. (What are not ripe? bananas)
7. The sky is beautiful at sunset. (What is beautiful at sunset? sky)
Exercise 3: In the spaces below, write a subject for each sentence. Then after it, write the correct pronoun.
SUBJECT PRONOUN
1. The ___________ took a very long time. ________
2. _____________ lied to his mother. _________
3. A strange _________ appeared on the road. __________
4. _____________ is one of my favorite activities. __________
5. ______________ looked at the teacher fearfully. _________
6. ____________ dances better than I do. __________
7. ____________ are speaking with the headmaster now. _________
8. ____________ almost fell out of the bus. ________
9. _____________ gave medicine to the patient. ________
10. _____________ threw the stones quickly. __________
Exercise 4: Write your own sentences, using the subjects and verbs below. Add more to the sentence after the verb. Note: You can match any subject with any verb.
For example: Mama Tumaini is putting food on the table. OR Mama Tumaini is working very hard.
SUBJECTS | VERBS |
The choir | is/are leaving |
Mama Tumaini | is/are coming |
The crazy man | is/are calling |
The workers | is/are putting |
My father | is/are looking |
The netball players | is/are singing |
The bride and groom (bibi harusi na bwana harusi) | is/are working |
The goats | is/are writing |
The housegirl | is/are talking |
The librarian | shout |
The farmer | play |
Note: For subjects that are singular (My father, Mama Tumaini, the housegirl, etc.), use “is”, as in “My father is leaving…” For subjects that are plural (the workers, the goats), use “are” as in “The goats are leaving the farm.”
Exercise 5: For each of the subjects in Exercise 4, write the correct pronoun.
F. Singular/Plural subjects: Subjects can be singular (one) or plural (more than one).
Exercise 6: In the following sentences, underline the subject and state whether it is singular or plural. Remember, in English, many nouns are made plural by adding –s on the end of a word. For example: bird – singular; birds – plural.
1. Joan d’Arc was a national heroine of France. (singular) (“Heroine” is the female form of “hero.”)
2. The armies of France and England were fighting at that time. (plural)
3. Historians believe Joan had a special ability to see events in the future. (plural)
4. Saints also appeared to Joan in dreams. (plural)
5. The voices of the saints told Joan to help King Charles VII of France. (plural)
6. They told her to chase away the English. (plural)
7. Joan asked the French military commander to escort her to see King Charles. (singular)
8. The commander laughed at her because she was only a girl aged 17 years. (singular)
9. The people of France were losing the war at that time. (plural)
10. King Charles allowed Joan to lead the French army. (singular)
Exercise 7: Translate into Kiswahili the sentences in Exercise 6.
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