LESSON 73

Father and Mother

Vocabulary

data - my, our father	so - your (s. and pl.) father
se - his, her, their father	mama - my, our mother
nyoko - your (s. & pl.) mother	nyina - his, her, their, mother
kworoherwa (hewe) - to get better

146. You will note that there are three words for “father” and three for “moher”, depending on whose father or mother it is. The possessives are not often used with these words. Data in itself means “my father” (or, “our father”); nyoko alone means “your mother”, etc. Do not say data wanjye or mama wanjye. Data wacu is my, our paternal uncle, and mama wacu is my, our maternal aunt.

In the Lord’s prayer we say “Data wa twese”- Father of Us all, because to say Data wacu would be “my uncle” not “our father”.

147. These words have first class agreements, even though they do not have the regular noun prefxes. To make any of these forms plural the prefix ba is used, but not attached, but still no possessive is used. e.g. Ba so - your fathers; ba nyina - their mothers.

Exercises:

I. Translate into English:

: 1. Mama ararwaye cyane; tuzamujyana kwa muganga. 2. Nyina wa Rebeka yakoze cyane mu murima we. 3. Nyoko arorohewe ubu? Aratangiye kworoherwa buhoro, nyamara ntafi te imbaraga nyinshi. 4. Se wa Yosefu yaramufashije cyane; yamwuhaye inka n’ibindi bintu byinshi. 5. Data afite urugo rwiza, nyamara azajya ahandi vuba. 6. So yatashye ryari? Yatashye mu kwezi gushize ku itariki ya cumi n’icyenda. 7. Abigishwa bazahamagara ba se ngo baze ku ishuri ku munsi mukuru. 8. Ba nyina b’abakobwa babigisha guhinga no guteka. 9. Nyoko ariho? Oya, yapfuye mu mwaka ushize. 10. So na nyoko bari imuhira? Oya, bagiye gusura data wacu.

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

: 1. Where is your father? He died long ago. 2. John’s mother came here day before yesterday, but I didn’t see her. 3. We saw your mother in church yesterday. 4. My father is waiting for us; let’s hurry. 5. Call Peter’s father; I want to give him work. 6. Our fathers work hard in order to give (that they may give) us food and clothing. 7. I want to go tell my mother that the doctor is here. 8. My father in heaven (ijuru) loves us all and wants to save us. 9. The children’s mother is cooking their food. 10. Tell your father that the workmen have finished molding (to mold) the bricks.