Editing Chewa language (section)

===Concords===
Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs have to show [[Agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] with nouns in Chichewa. This is done by means of prefixes, for example:
*{{lang|ny|Uyu ndi mwaná wángá}} 'this is my child' (class 1)
*{{lang|ny|Awa ndi aná ángá}} 'these are my children' (class 2)
*{{lang|ny|Ichi ndi chímanga chánga}} 'this is my maize' (class 7)
*{{lang|ny|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 {{lang|ny|bambo}} 'father', even though it is singular, will take plural concords (e.g. {{lang|ny|bambo '''a'''nga akuyenda, ndiku'''wa'''ona}} 'my father is walking, I see him'); they note that to use the singular object-marker {{lang|ny|-mu-}} would be 'grossly impolite'.<ref>Corbett & Mtenje (1987), p. 10.</ref>

The various prefixes are shown on the table below:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Table of Chewa concords
|-
! 
! noun
! English
! this
! that
! pron
! subj
! object
! num
! rem
! of
! of+vb
! other
! adj
|-
! 1
| {{lang|ny|mwaná}}||''child''||{{lang|ny|uyu}}||{{lang|ny|uyo}}||{{lang|ny|yé-}}||{{lang|ny|a-}}||{{lang|ny|mú/ḿ-}}||{{lang|ny|m/(mu)-}}||{{lang|ny|uja}}||{{lang|ny|wá}}||{{lang|ny|wó-}}||{{lang|ny|wína}}||{{lang|ny|wám-}}
|-
! 2
| {{lang|ny|aná}}||''children''||{{lang|ny|awa}}||{{lang|ny|awo}}||{{lang|ny|ó-}}||{{lang|ny|a-}}||{{lang|ny|-á/wá-}}||{{lang|ny|a-}}||{{lang|ny|aja}}||{{lang|ny|á}}||{{lang|ny|ó-}}||{{lang|ny|éna}}||{{lang|ny|áa-}}
|-
! 3
| {{lang|ny|mutú}}||''head''||{{lang|ny|uwu}}||{{lang|ny|uwo}}||{{lang|ny|wó-}}||{{lang|ny|u-}}||{{lang|ny|-ú-}}||{{lang|ny|u-}}||{{lang|ny|uja}}||{{lang|ny|wá}}||{{lang|ny|wó-}}||{{lang|ny|wína}}||{{lang|ny|wau-}}
|-
! 4
| {{lang|ny|mitú}}||''heads''||{{lang|ny|iyi}}||{{lang|ny|iyo}}||{{lang|ny|yó-}}||{{lang|ny|i-}}||{{lang|ny|-í/yí-}}||{{lang|ny|i-}}||{{lang|ny|ija}}||{{lang|ny|yá}}||{{lang|ny|yó-}}||{{lang|ny|ína}}||{{lang|ny|yái-}}
|-
! 5
| {{lang|ny|díso}}||''eye''||{{lang|ny|ili}}||{{lang|ny|ilo}}||{{lang|ny|ló-}}||{{lang|ny|li-}}||{{lang|ny|-lí-}}||{{lang|ny|li-}}||{{lang|ny|lija}}||{{lang|ny|lá}}||{{lang|ny|ló-}}||{{lang|ny|lína}}||{{lang|ny|láli-}}
|-
! 6
| {{lang|ny|masó}}||''eyes''||{{lang|ny|awa}}||{{lang|ny|awo}}||{{lang|ny|ó-}}||{{lang|ny|a-}}||{{lang|ny|-wá-}}||{{lang|ny|a-}}||{{lang|ny|aja}}||{{lang|ny|á}}||{{lang|ny|ó-}}||{{lang|ny|éna}}||{{lang|ny|áa-}}
|-
! 7
| {{lang|ny|chaká}}||''year''||{{lang|ny|ichi}}||{{lang|ny|icho}}||{{lang|ny|chó-}}||{{lang|ny|chi-}}||{{lang|ny|-chí-}}||{{lang|ny|chi-}}||{{lang|ny|chija}}||{{lang|ny|chá}}||{{lang|ny|chó-}}||{{lang|ny|chína}}||{{lang|ny|cháchi-}}
|-
! 8
| {{lang|ny|zaká}}||''years''||{{lang|ny|izi}}||{{lang|ny|izo}}||z{{lang|ny|ó-}}||{{lang|ny|zi-}}||{{lang|ny|-zí-}}||{{lang|ny|zi-}}||{{lang|ny|zija}}||{{lang|ny|zá}}||{{lang|ny|zó-}}||{{lang|ny|zína}}||{{lang|ny|zázi-}}
|-
! 9
| {{lang|ny|nyumbá}}||''house''||{{lang|ny|iyi}}||{{lang|ny|iyo}}||{{lang|ny|yó-}}||{{lang|ny|i-}}||{{lang|ny|-í/yí-}}||{{lang|ny|i-}}||{{lang|ny|ija}}||{{lang|ny|yá}}||{{lang|ny|yó-}}||{{lang|ny|ína}}||{{lang|ny|yái-}}
|-
! 10
| {{lang|ny|nyumbá}}||''houses''||{{lang|ny|izi}}||{{lang|ny|izo}}||{{lang|ny|zó-}}||{{lang|ny|zi-}}||{{lang|ny|-zí-}}||{{lang|ny|zi-}}||{{lang|ny|zija}}||{{lang|ny|zá}}||{{lang|ny|zó-}}||{{lang|ny|zína}}||{{lang|ny|zázi-}}
|-
! 12
| {{lang|ny|kamwaná}}||''baby''||{{lang|ny|aka}}||{{lang|ny|ako}}||{{lang|ny|kó-}}||{{lang|ny|ka-}}||{{lang|ny|-ká-}}||{{lang|ny|ka-}}||{{lang|ny|kaja}}||{{lang|ny|ká}}||{{lang|ny|kó-}}||{{lang|ny|kéna}}||{{lang|ny|káka-}}
|-
! 13
| {{lang|ny|tianá}}||''babies''||{{lang|ny|iti}}||{{lang|ny|ito}}||{{lang|ny|tó-}}||{{lang|ny|ti-}}||{{lang|ny|-tí-}}||{{lang|ny|ti-}}||{{lang|ny|tija}}||{{lang|ny|tá}}||{{lang|ny|tó-}}||{{lang|ny|tína}}||{{lang|ny|táti-}}
|-
! 14
| {{lang|ny|utá}}||''bow''||{{lang|ny|uwu}}||{{lang|ny|uwo}}||{{lang|ny|wó-}}||{{lang|ny|u-}}||{{lang|ny|-ú-}}||{{lang|ny|u-}}||{{lang|ny|uja}}||{{lang|ny|wá}}||{{lang|ny|wó-}}||{{lang|ny|wína}}||{{lang|ny|wáu-}}
|-
! 15
| {{lang|ny|kugúla}}||''buying''||{{lang|ny|uku}}||{{lang|ny|uko}}||{{lang|ny|kó-}}||{{lang|ny|ku-}}||{{lang|ny|-kú-}}||{{lang|ny|ku-}}||{{lang|ny|kuja}}||{{lang|ny|kwá}}||{{lang|ny|kó-}}||{{lang|ny|kwína}}||{{lang|ny|kwáku-}}
|-
! 16
| {{lang|ny|pansí}}||''underneath''||{{lang|ny|apa}}||{{lang|ny|apo}}||{{lang|ny|pó-}}||{{lang|ny|pa-}}||{{lang|ny|-po}}||{{lang|ny|pa-}}||{{lang|ny|paja}}||{{lang|ny|pá}}||{{lang|ny|pó-}}||{{lang|ny|péna}}||{{lang|ny|pápa-}}
|-
! 17
| {{lang|ny|kutsogoló}}||''in front''||{{lang|ny|uku}}||{{lang|ny|uko}}||{{lang|ny|kó-}}||{{lang|ny|ku-}}||{{lang|ny|-ko}}||{{lang|ny|ku-}}||{{lang|ny|kuja}}||{{lang|ny|kwá}}||{{lang|ny|kó-}}||{{lang|ny|kwína}}||{{lang|ny|kwáku-}}
|-
! 18
| {{lang|ny|mkatí}}||''inside''||{{lang|ny|umu}}||{{lang|ny|umo}}||{{lang|ny|mó-}}||{{lang|ny|m/mu-}}||{{lang|ny|-mo}}||{{lang|ny|m/mu-}}||{{lang|ny|muja}}||{{lang|ny|mwá}}||{{lang|ny|mó-}}||{{lang|ny|mwína}}||{{lang|ny|mwám'-}}
|}

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