M-WA class

The M-WA class is the noun class for people, including the word for 'people':

mtu  -  watu   (person - people)

There are only two nouns in this class that are not people:

mnyama - wanyama  (animal)
mdudu   - wadudu     (insect)

A few M-WA nouns:

mtoto - watoto   (child)
mwanamke  - wanawake  (woman)
mwanamume - wanaume  (man)
msichana  - wasichana  (girl)
mvulana  -  wavulana  (boy)
mwana  - wana  (son/daughter)
mzee  -  wazee  (old man)
mzungu - wazungu (white person)

mwalimu  - walimu  (teacher)
mwanafunzi  - wanafunzi  (student)
mhandisi  - wahandisi  (engineer)
mkulima  - wakulima  (farmer)
mpishi  - wapishi  (cook)

Mwafrika  - Waafrika  (African)
Mtanzania - Watanzania  (Tanzanian)
Mwingereza - Waingereza  (English person)
Mkenya - Wakenya  (Kenyan)
Mganda - Waganda  (Ugandan)
Mfaransa  - Wafaransa  (French person)
Mjerumani - Wajerumani  (German)
Mholanzi  - Waholanzi  (Dutch person)
Marekani  - Wamerekani  (American)

And most other nationalities - you get the idea. The only unexpected one is
Mreno  - Wareno  (Portuguese person)

The reason it's called the M-WA class should be fairly obvious by now.  The same rule applies to adjectives describing the nouns.  The word nzuri is actually -zuri in its most basic form.  So instead of nzuri, words in this class are mzuri in the singular and wazuri in the plural.

Mwalimu mzuri (a good teacher)
Wakenya wazuri (beautiful Kenyans - or good Kenyans, depending on the context).

In the M-WA class the verb prefixes are a- (third person singular, i.e. he/she), and wa- (third person plural, i.e. they).  We've learnt these already, because we were using verbs to talk about people.

Mtoto anakwenda shuleni  (The child is going to school)
Waholanzi wanapenda chizi  (Dutch people like cheese)

A few useful M-WA class words:

huyu - yule        this - that                  Huyu ni mtoto wangu    This is my child
hawa  - wale      these - those             Hawa ni watoto wangu    These are my children
wengi                 many                        Watu wengi sana!     A lot of people
mwengine          other, another           Mtoto mwengine      Another child
wengine             other (plural)            Wazungu wengine   Other white people
wote                   all                             Wanafunzi wote wanasoma    All the students are reading

The most important letter for the M-WA class is W.  W is the prefix for the A of association and for possessives, for example:

mtoto wa jirani                 the neighbour's child
mwalimu wa Kiswahili     the Swahili teacher

mwalimu wake      his/her teacher
wadudu wangu      my insects

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NB.  There are many nouns for humans and animals that are not in the M-WA class.  They take the plural of whichever noun class they are in, e.g. the plural of mbwa (dog) is mbwa.  BUT they follow M-WA class agreements for other things:

Mbwa wa jirani anakuja       The neighbour's dog is coming
Mbwa mkali                          A fierce dog
Mbwa wakali                        Fierce dogs

To be

The verb "to be" in Swahili is very simple, since it isn't actually a verb at all (in grammatical terms, it's called a copula).  The only word you need is ni:

Mimi ni daktari          I am a doctor
Yeye ni Mtanzania     He/She is Tanzanian
Wao ni wanafunzi      They are students

The negative form (am not, is not) is equally simple: si.

Wewe si mwalimu     You are not a teacher
Sisi si Waingereza      We are not English
Mimi si pweza            I am not an octopus

Because these don't change form, you need to use personal pronouns (I, you, he, she etc.) to specify who or what you're talking about.  These are:

Mimi      I
Wewe    You
Yeye      He / She
Sisi        We
Nyinyi   You (plural)  [sometimes spelt 'ninyi']
Wao       They   [sounds like 'wow!']

Asking questions is easier than in English, because you don't even have to change the word order.

Wewe ni mwalimu?    Ndiyo, mimi ni mwalimu.
Are you a teacher?   Yes, I'm a teacher.

Nyinyi ni Wakenya?  Hapana, sisi si Wakenya. Sisi ni Wazanzibari.
Are you Kenyan?    No, we're not Kenyan.  We're Zanzibari.

Often the word je is used to alert the listener to the fact that a question is coming, but the meaning remains the same:

Je, yeye ni fundi*?          Is he a fundi?
Je, nyinyi ni wapishi?    Are you cooks?

* It's hard to translate the word 'fundi' into English.  A fundi could be a mechanic, a bicycle repairman, an electrician, a carpenter, a tailor, a plumber, or anyone with some kind of useful manual skill - usually either a craftsman or someone who can fix things.