Editing Kongo language (section)

=== Noun classes ===
Kikongo has a system of 18 noun classes in which nouns are classified according to noun prefixes. Most of the classes go in pairs (singular and plural) except for the locative and infinitive classes which do not admit plurals.<ref>[[Amélia Mingas|Amélia Arlete MINGAS]], ''ETUDE GRAMMATICALE DE L'IWOYO (ANGOLA)'', UNIVERSITE RENE DESCARTES PARIS - UFR DE LINGUISTIQUE GENERALE ET APPLIQUEE, 1994 (in French)</ref><ref>Luntadila Nlandu Inocente, '' Nominalisations en kìsìkongò (H16): Les substantifs predicatifs et les verbes-supports Vánga, Sála, Sá et Tá (faire)'', Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2015 (in French)</ref><ref>Elise Solange Bagamboula, ''Les classificateurs BU (CL. 14), GA (CL. 16), KU (CL. 17) et MU (CL. 18) dans l’expression de la localisation en kikongo (lari)'', Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), 2019 (in French)</ref><ref>Audrey Mariette TELE-PEMBA, ''Eléments pour une approche comparée des emprunts lexicaux du civili du Gabon, du Congo-Brazzaville et du Cabinda : proposition d’ un modèle de dictionnaire'', UNIVERSITE OMAR BONGO – Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines – Département des Sciences du Langage, Libreville, 2009 (in French)</ref><ref>R. P. L. DE CLERCQ, ''Grammaire du Kiyombe'' , Edition Goemaere – Bruxelles – Kinshasa, 1907 (in French)</ref><ref>Léon Dereau, ''COURS DE KIKONGO'', Maison d’éditions AD. WESMAEL-CHARLIER, Namur, 1955 (in French)</ref><ref>François Lumwamu, ''Sur les classes nominales et le nombre dans une langue bantu'', Cahiers d’Études africaines, 1970 (in French)</ref><ref>Joaquim Mbachi, CAMINHOS DA GRAMÁTICA IBINDA, Cabinda (Angola), 2013 (in Portuguese)</ref><ref>Robert Tinou, ''Abécédaire du kouilou zaab’ ku tub’ tchi vili'', L’HARMATTAN, 2015 (in French)</ref><ref>Filipe Camilo Miaca, ''Corpus lexical dos verbos em iwoyo e português, proposta de um dicionário bilingue de verbos em português e iwoyo'', Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2020 (in Portuguese)</ref><ref>Guy Noël Kouarata, ''DICTIONNAIRE BEEMBE–FRANÇAIS'', SIL-Congo, 2010 (in French)</ref><ref>Raharimanantsoa Ruth, ''Petit guide d’orthographe et de grammaire KUNYI (KUNI)'', SIL-Congo, 2022 (in French)</ref><ref>Emmanuel Ngizulu Nsemi, ''Longoka Kikongo'', Paari éditeur, 2025</ref><ref>JOSÉ LOURENÇO TAVARES, ''Gramática da língua do Congo (kikongo) (dialecto kisolongo)'', Composto e Impresso nas oficinas da Imprensa, Nacional de Angola, 1915 (in Portuguese)</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
!Classes!!Noun prefixes!! Characteristics!!Examples
|-
|'''1'''||'''mu-, n-'''||humans||''muntu/muuntu/mutu/muutu (person, human)''
|-
|'''2'''||'''ba-, wa-, a-'''||plural form of the class 1...||''bantu/baantu/batu/baatu/wantu/antu (people, humans,)''
|-
|'''3'''||'''mu-, n-'''||various: plants, inanimate...||''muti/nti (tree)'', ''nlangu (water)''
|-
|'''4'''||'''mi-, n-, i-'''||plural form of the class 3...||''miti/minti/inti (trees)'', ''milangu/minlangu (waters)''
|-
|'''5'''||'''di-, li-'''||various: body parts, vegetables...||''didezo/lideso/lidezu/didezu (bean)''
|-
|'''6'''||'''ma-'''|| various : liquids, plural form of the class 5...||''madezo/medeso/madeso/madezu (beans), maza/maamba/mamba/maampa/masi/masa (water)''
|-
|'''7'''||'''ki-, ci '''(tchi/tshi) '''-, tsi '''(ti) '''-, i-'''||various: language, inanimate...||''kikongo/cikongo/tsikongo/ikongo (kongo language), kikuku/cikuuku/tsikûku (kitchen)''
|-
|'''8'''||'''bi-''', '''i-''', '''yi-''', '''u-''' || plural form of the class 7...||''bikuku/bikuuku/bikûku (kitchens)''
|-
|'''9'''||'''Ø-, n-, m-, yi-, i-'''||various: animals, pets, artefacts...||''nzo/nso (house), ngulu (pig)''
|-
|'''10'''||'''Ø-, n-, m-, si-, zi-, tsi-'''||plural form of the classes 9, 11...||''si nzo/zi nzo/zinzo/tsi nso (houses), si ngulu/zi  ngulu/zingulu (pigs)''
|-
|'''11'''||'''lu-'''||various: animals, artefacts, sites, attitudes, qualities, feeling...||'' lulendo (pride), lupangu/lupaangu (plot of land)''
|-
|'''13'''||'''tu-'''||plural form of the classes 7 11...||''tupangu/tupaangu (plots of land)''
|-
|'''14'''||'''bu-, wu-'''||various: artefacts, sites, attitudes, qualities...||'' bumolo/bubolo (laziness)''
|-
|'''15'''||'''ku-, u-'''||infinitives||''kutuba/kutub'/utuba (to speak), kutanga/kutaangë/utanga (to read)''
|-
|'''15a'''||'''ku-'''||body parts... ||''kulu (foot), koko/kooko (hand)''
|-
|'''6'''||'''ma-'''||plural form of the class 15a... ||''malu (feet), moko/mooko (hands)''
|-
|'''4'''||'''mi-'''||plural form of the class  15a... ||''miooko/mioko(hands)''
|-
|'''16'''||'''va-, ga- (ha-), fa-'''||locatives (proximal, exact) ||''va nzo (near the house), fa (on, over), ga/ha (on), va (on)''
|-
|'''17'''||'''ku-'''||locatives (distal, approximate) ||''ku vata (in the village), kuna (over there)''
|-
|'''18'''||'''mu-'''||locatives (interior) ||''mu nzo (in the house)''
|-
|'''19'''||'''fi-, mua/mwa-'''|| diminutives ||''fi nzo (small house)'', ''fi nuni (nestling, fledgling, little bird)'', ''mua (or mwa) nuni (nestling, fledgling, little bird)''
|}

NB: Noun prefixes may or may not change from one Kikongo variant to another (e.g. class 7: the noun prefix ''ci''  is used in civili, iwoyo or ciladi (lari) and the noun prefix ''ki'' is used in kisikongo, kiyombe, kizombo, kimanianga,...).