Languages: Bantu

Bantu languages are spoken as a first language in sub Saharan Africa by nearly a third of the continent's total population. Many second language speakers of Swahili are native speakers of another Bantu language, or of a Nilotic or Cushitic language.

Bantu nouns usually consist of a stem preceded by a prefix that changes according to number. Nouns are grouped into categories (genders) on the basis of these prefixes. All or almost all the words in a Bantu sentence are usually marked by a prefix indicating the category to which the noun used as subject of the sentence belongs. Suffixes are also used, especially in the formation of verb stems and verb forms.