View source for Chewa language

{{Short description|Bantu language of Southern and East Africa}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Chewa
| nativename       = {{lang|ny|Chichewa}}
| altname          = 
| states           = [[Malawi]]
| region           = [[Southeast Africa]]
| ethnicity        = [[Chewa people|Chewa]]
| speakers         = 7 million
| date             = 2007
| ref              = ne2007
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Nyasa languages|Nyasa]]
| nation           =
* {{flag|Zimbabwe}}
| script           = [[Latin script]]<br />[[Mwangwego script]]<br />[[Chewa Braille]]
| iso1             = ny
| iso2             = nya
| iso3             = nya
| glotto           = nyan1308
| glottorefname    = Nyanja
| guthrie          = N.30 (N.31, N.121)
| lingua           = 99-AUS-xaa&nbsp;– xag
| notice           = IPA
| map              = Chewa_map.svg
| imagecaption     = Areas where Chewa is the spoken.
| mapcaption       = Areas where Chewa is the dominant language (purple). Solid green signifies a nation where Chewa is a national language, striped green signifies a nation where Chewa is a recognized minority language.
}}
{{Distinguish||text=[[Nyanja language|Nyanja]], a distinct language similar to Chewa}}{{Infobox ethnonym|Mchewa|[[Chewa people|Achewa]]|Chichewa| }}
'''Chewa''' ({{IPAc-en|pron|ˈ|tʃ|eɪ|w|ə}}; {{langx|label=[[endonym]]|nya|Chichewa}}) is a [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]] spoken in [[Malawi]] and a recognised minority in Eastern [[Zambia]] and Tete province of [[Mozambique]]. The prefix ''chi-'' in front of ''Chewa'' means "the language of" (the Chewa people). In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President [[Hastings Kamuzu Banda]], and is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today.<ref>Kishindo (2001), p.265.</ref> 

Chewa belongs to the same language group ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone N|Guthrie Zone N]]) as [[Tumbuka language|Tumbuka]], [[Sena language|Sena]]<ref>Kiso (2012), pp.21ff.</ref> and [[Nsenga language|Nsenga]]. Throughout the history of Malawi, only Chewa and [[Tumbuka language|Tumbuka]] were official languages of Malawi used by government officials and in school curricula, along with English. However, the Tumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, as it lost its status as one of Malawi's official languages in 1968 as a result of the president's "one nation, one language" policy. As a result, Tumbuka was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media.<ref>Kamwendo (2004), p.278.</ref> With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Tumbuka programmes were started again on the radio.<ref>See Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi (2006), pp.38–40 for a list of publications.</ref> {{TOC limit}}

== Distribution ==
Chewa is the most widely spoken language in [[Malawi]], spoken mostly in the Central and Southern Regions of the country.<ref>Mchombo (2006).</ref> It is also spoken in Eastern Province of [[Zambia]], as well as in [[Mozambique]], especially in the province of [[Niassa, Mozambique|Niassa]]. It was one of the 55 languages featured on the [[Voyager Golden Record|Voyager spacecraft]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/greetings.html |title=Voyager Greetings |access-date=2 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025195849/http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/greetings.html |archive-date=25 October 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== History ==
The Chewa were a branch of the [[Maravi]] people who lived in the Eastern Province of [[Zambia]] and in northern Mozambique as far south as the [[River Zambezi]] from the 16th century or earlier.<ref>Marwick (1963)</ref><ref>Newitt (1982).</ref>

The name "Chewa" (in the form ''Chévas'') was first recorded by [[António Gamitto]], who at the age of 26 in 1831 was appointed as second-in-command of an expedition from [[Tete, Mozambique|Tete]] to the court of King [[Kazembe]] in what became Zambia. His route took him through the country of King Undi west of the Dzalanyama mountains, across a corner of present-day Malawi and on into Zambia.<ref>Marwick (1964).</ref> Later he wrote an account including some ethnographic and linguistic notes and vocabularies. According to Gamitto, the Malawi or Maravi people (''Maraves'') were those ruled by King Undi south of the Chambwe stream (not far south of the present border between Mozambique and Zambia), while the Chewa lived north of the Chambwe.<ref>Marwick (1963), p.383.</ref>

Another, more extensive, list of 263 words and phrases of the language was made by the German missionary [[Sigismund Koelle]] who, working in [[Sierra Leone]] in West Africa, interviewed some 160 former slaves and recorded vocabularies in their languages. He published the results in a book called ''[[Polyglotta Africana]]'' in 1854. Among other slaves was one Mateke, who spoke what he calls "Maravi". Mateke's language is clearly an early form of Nyanja, but in a southern dialect. For example, the modern Chichewa phrase {{lang|ny|zaka ziwiri}} 'two years' was {{lang|ny|dzaka dziŵiri}} in Mateke's speech, whereas for Johannes Rebmann's informant Salimini, who came from the Lilongwe region, it was {{lang|ny|bzaka bziŵiri}}.<ref>Goodson (2011).</ref> The same dialect difference survives today in the word {{lang|ny|dzala}} or {{lang|ny|bzala}} '(to) plant'.<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 46.</ref>

Apart from the few words recorded by Gamitto and Koelle, the first extensive record of the Chewa language was made by [[Johannes Rebmann]] in his ''Dictionary of the Kiniassa Language'', published in 1877 but written in 1853–4. Rebmann was a missionary living near Mombasa in Kenya, and he obtained his information from a Malawian slave, known by the Swahili name Salimini, who had been captured in Malawi some ten years earlier.<ref>Rebman (1877), preface.</ref> Salimini, who came from a place called Mphande apparently in the Lilongwe region, also noted some differences between his own dialect, which he called {{lang|ny|Kikamtunda}}, the "language of the plateau", and the {{lang|ny|Kimaravi}} dialect spoken further south; for example, the Maravi gave the name {{lang|ny|[[Miombo|mombo]]}} to the tree which he himself called {{lang|ny|kamphoni}}.<ref>Rebmann (1877) s.v. M'ombo.</ref>

The first grammar, ''A Grammar of the Chinyanja language as spoken at Lake Nyasa with Chinyanja–English and English–Chinyanja vocabulary'', was written by Alexander Riddel in 1880. Further early grammars and vocabularies include ''A grammar of Chinyanja, a language spoken in British Central Africa, on and near the shores of Lake Nyasa'' by George Henry (1891) and M.E. Woodward's ''A vocabulary of English–Chinyanja and Chinyanja–English: as spoken at Likoma, Lake Nyasa'' (1895). The whole Bible was translated into the [[Likoma Island]] dialect of Nyanja by [[William Percival Johnson]] and published as {{lang|ny|Chikalakala choyera: ndicho Malangano ya Kale ndi Malangano ya Chapano}} in 1912.<ref>''The UMCA in Malawi'', p 126, James Tengatenga, 2010: "Two important pieces of work have been accomplished during these later years. First, the completion by Archdeacon Johnson of the Bible in Chinyanja, and secondly, the completed Chinyanja prayer book in 1908."</ref> Another Bible translation, known as the {{lang|ny|Buku Lopatulika ndilo Mau a Mulungu}}, was made in a more standard Central Region dialect about 1900–1922 by missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Mission and Church of Scotland with the help of some Malawians. This has recently (2016) been reissued in a revised and slightly modernised version.<ref>[http://biblesociety-malawi.org/index.php/2016/02/24/buku-lopatulika-has-been-revised/ Bible Society of Malawi newsletter, 24 February 2016] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215063607/http://biblesociety-malawi.org/index.php/2016/02/24/buku-lopatulika-has-been-revised/ |date=15 February 2020 }}.</ref>

Another early grammar, concentrating on the [[Kasungu]] dialect of the language, was [[Mark Hanna Watkins]]' ''A Grammar of Chichewa'' (1937). This book, the first grammar of any African language to be written by an American, was a work of cooperation between a young black PhD student and young student from Nyasaland studying in Chicago, [[Hastings Banda|Hastings Kamuzu Banda]], who in 1966 was to become the first President of the Republic of Malawi.<ref>Watkins (1937), p. 7.</ref><ref>Wade-Lewis (2005).</ref> This grammar is also remarkable in that it was the first to mark the tones of the words. Modern monographs on aspects of Chichewa grammar include [[Al Mtenje|Mtenje]] (1986), Kanerva (1990), Mchombo (2004) and [[Laura J. Downing|Downing]] & Mtenje (2017).

In recent years the language has changed considerably, and a dichotomy has grown between the traditional Chichewa of the villages and the language of city-dwellers.<ref>Batteen (2005).</ref>

== Phonology ==

===Vowels===

Chewa has five short vowel sounds: a, ɛ, i, ɔ, u; these are written ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. Long vowels are sometimes found, e.g. ''áákúlu'' 'big' (class 2), ''kufúula'' 'to shout'.<ref>Atkins (1950), p.201.</ref> When a word comes at the end of a phrase, its penultimate vowel tends to be lengthened,<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), pp. 228–9.</ref> except for non-Chewa names and words, such as {{lang|ny|Muthárika}} or {{lang|ny|ófesi}}, in which the penultimate vowel always remains short.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} The added 'u' or 'i' in borrowed words such as {{lang|ny|láputopu}} 'laptop' or {{lang|ny|íntaneti}} 'internet' tends to be very short.<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 95: "A high vowel is very short and not very vowel-like, so inserting one leads to minimal deviation from the pronunciation of the word in the source language."</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Chewa Vowels
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}, ({{IPA|iː}})
|
|{{IPA link|u}}, ({{IPA|uː}})
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}, ({{IPA|ɛː}})
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}, ({{IPA|ɔː}})
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}, ({{IPA|aː}})
|
|}

Vowels are generally lengthened in the penultimate syllable of a prosodic phrase.<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 12.</ref>

===Consonants===

Chewa consonants can be simple (directly preceding a vowel) or may be followed by ''w'' or ''y'':

*''b'', ''kh'', ''g'', ''f'', ''m'', ''s'' etc.
*''bw'', ''khw'', ''gw'', ''fw'', ''mw'', ''sw'' etc.
*''bz'', ''tch'', ''j'', ''fy'', ''ny'', ''sh'' etc.

In the orthography, the place of ''by'' is taken by the affricate ''bz'', the place of ''gy'' is taken by ''j'', and that of ''sy'' by ''sh''.

Voiced and aspirated consonants, as well as [f] and [s], can also be preceded by a [[homorganic consonants|homorganic]] nasal:
*''mb'', ''ngw'', ''nj'', ''mv'', ''nz'' etc.
*''mph'', {{transliteration|ny|nkhw}}, {{transliteration|ny|ntch}}, ''mf'', ''ns'' etc.

It is debated whether these are [[consonant cluster]]s {{IPA|/NC/, /Cy/ and /Cw/}}, or whether Chichewa has [[prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]], [[palatalized consonant|palatalized]] and [[labialized consonant|labialized]] consonants {{IPA|/ᴺC/, /Cʲ/, /Cʷ/}}. The most straightforward analysis is that they are clusters.<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017: 93)</ref> The consonant inventory under a cluster analysis is as follows:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Chewa consonants (cluster analysis)<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017: 42&ndash;43)</ref>
! colspan="2" | 
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Labiodental consonant|Labio-<br />dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br />alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|''m''<br />{{IPAslink|m}}
|
|''n''<br />{{IPAslink|n}}
|
|''ny''<br />{{IPAslink|ɲ}}
|''ng' ''<br />{{IPAslink|ŋ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!<small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small>
|''p''<br />{{IPAslink|p}}
|
|''t''<br />{{IPAslink|t}}
|
|
|''k''<br />{{IPAslink|k}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|''ph''<br />{{IPAslink|pʰ}}
|
|'' th''<br />{{IPAslink|tʰ}}
|
|
|''kh''<br />{{IPAslink|kʰ}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Implosive consonant|implosive]]</small>
|''b''<br />{{IPAslink|ɓ}}
|
|''d''<br />{{IPAslink|ɗ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|(''b'')<br />{{IPAslink|b}}
|
|(''d'')<br />{{IPAslink|d}}
|
|
|''g''<br />{{IPAslink|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small>
| 
|
|''ts''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡s}}
|''ch''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|
|
|
|''tch''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡ʃʰ}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| 
|
|''dz''<br />{{IPAslink|d͡z}}
|''j''<br />{{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| 
|''f''<br />{{IPAslink|f}}
|''s''<br />{{IPAslink|s}}
|''sh''<br />{{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|
|
|(''h'')<br />{{IPAslink|h}}
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|(''ŵ'')<br />{{IPAslink|β}}<ref>Sources are contradictory as to whether ''ŵ'' is a fricative or a semivowel.</ref>
|''v''<br />{{IPAslink|v}}
|''z''<br />{{IPAslink|z}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Semivowel]]
|''w''<br />{{IPAslink|w}}
|
|
|''y''<br />{{IPAslink|j}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[liquid consonant|Liquid]]
| 
|
| colspan="2" |''la/ra''<br />[{{IPA link|l}} ~ {{IPA link|𝼈}}]
|
|
|
|}

Consonants in parentheses are marginal or found mainly in loanwords. The lateral is an approximant {{IPA|[l]}} word-initially and a flap {{IPA|[𝼈]}} medially.{{fix|text=source that it's reflexive?}}

If the more complex syllable onsets are analyzed as single consonants, the inventory is as follows:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Chewa consonants (unitary analysis)
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="4" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="3" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="3" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]/[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!colspan="2" |{{small|plain}}
!{{small|[[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatal-ised]]}}
!{{small|[[Labialization|labial-ised]]}}
!{{small|plain}}
!{{small|[[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatal-ised]]}}
!{{small|[[Labialization|labial-ised]]}}
!{{small|plain}}
!{{small|[[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatal-ised]]}}
!{{small|[[Labialization|labial-ised]]}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|''m''<br />{{IPAslink|m}}||
|''my''<br />{{IPAslink|mʲ}}
|''mw''<br />{{IPAslink|mʷ}}
|''n''<br />{{IPAslink|n}}
|''ny''<br />{{IPAslink|ɲ}}
|
|''ng' ''<br />{{IPAslink|ŋ}}
|
|''ng'w'' <br />{{IPAslink|ŋʷ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="6" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!<small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small>
|''p''<br />{{IPAslink|p}}||
|''py''<br />{{IPAslink|pʲ}}
|''pw''<br />{{IPAslink|pʷ}}
|''t''<br />{{IPAslink|t}}
|''ty''<br />{{IPAslink|tʲ}}
|''tw''<br />{{IPAslink|tʷ}}
|''k''<br />{{IPAslink|k}}
|
|''kw''<br />{{IPAslink|kʷ}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|''ph''<br />{{IPAslink|pʰ}}||
|
|''phw''<br />{{IPAslink|pʷʰ}}
|''th''<br />{{IPAslink|tʰ}}
|''thy''<br />{{IPAslink|tʲʰ}}
|''thw''<br />{{IPAslink|tʷʰ}}
|''kh''<br />{{IPAslink|kʰ}}
|
|''khw''<br />{{IPAslink|kʷʰ}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|Pre-nasalized]]<br />[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|''mph''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵐpʰ}}||
|
|''mphw''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵐpʷʰ}}
|''nth''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿtʰ}}
|''nthy''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿtʲʰ}}
|''nthw''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿtʷʰ}}
|''nkh''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵑkʰ}}
|
|''nkhw''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵑkʷʰ}}
|
|-
!rowspan=2|<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|''b''<br />{{IPAslink|ɓ}}||
|
|''bw''<br />{{IPAslink|ɓʷ}}
|''d''<br />{{IPAslink|ɗ}}
|''dy''<br />{{IPAslink|ɗʲ}}
|''dw''<br />{{IPAslink|ɗʷ}}
|rowspan=2|''g''<br />{{IPAslink|ɡ}}
|rowspan=2|
|rowspan=2|''gw''<br />{{IPAslink|ɡʷ}}
|
|-
|(''b'')<br />{{IPAslink|b}}||
|
|
|(''d'')<br />{{IPAslink|d}}
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|Pre-nasalized]]<br />[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|''mb''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵐb}}||
|
|''mbw''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵐbʷ}}
|''nd''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿd}}
|''ndy''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿdʲ}}
|''ndw''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿdʷ}}
|''ng''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵑɡ}}
|
|''ngw''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵑɡʷ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="5" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>[[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]</small>
| ||
|
|
|''ts''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡s}}
|
|''tsw''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡sʷ}}
|
|''ch''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| ||
|''ps''<br />{{IPAslink|pʃʲ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|''tch''<br />{{IPAslink|t͡ʃʰ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|Pre-nasalized]]<br />[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| ||
|''mps''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵐpsʲ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|''ntch''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿt͡ʃʰ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| ||
|''bz''<br />{{IPAslink|bʒʲ}}
|
|''dz''<br />{{IPAslink|d͡z}}
|
|''(dzw)''<br />{{IPAslink|d͡zʷ}}
|
|''j''<br />{{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|Pre-nasalized]]<br />[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| ||
|''mbz''<br />{{IPAslink|ᵐbzʲ}}
|
|''(ndz)''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿd͡z}}
|
|
|
|''nj''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿd͡ʒ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| ||''f''<br />{{IPAslink|f}}
|''(fy)''<br />{{IPAslink|fʲ}}
|''fw''<br />{{IPAslink|fʷ}}
|''s''<br />{{IPAslink|s}}
|''sh''<br />{{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|''sw''<br />{{IPAslink|sʷ}}
|
|
|
|(''h'')<br />{{IPAslink|h}}
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|Pre-nasalized]]</small>
| ||''mf''<br />{{IPAslink|ᶬf}}
|
|
|''ns''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿs}}
|
|''nsw''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿsʷ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|(''ŵ'')<br />{{IPAslink|β}}||''v''<br />{{IPAslink|v}}
|''(vy)''<br />{{IPAslink|vʲ}}
|''vw''<br />{{IPAslink|vʷ}}
|''z''<br />{{IPAslink|z}}
|''(zy)''<br />{{IPAslink|zʲ~ʒ}}
|''zw''<br />{{IPAslink|zʷ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|Pre-nasalized]]<br />[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| ||''mv''<br />{{IPAslink|ᶬv}}
|
|
|''nz''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿz}}
|
|''nzw''<br />{{IPAslink|ⁿzʷ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral approximant]] ~ [[lateral flap|flap]]
| ||
|
|
|''l/r''<br />[{{IPA link|l}} ~ {{IPA link|𝼈}}]
|
|''lw/rw''<br />[{{IPA link|lʷ}} ~ {{IPA link|𝼈ʷ}}]
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| ''w''<br />{{IPAslink|w}}||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|''y''<br />{{IPAslink|j}}
|
|
|}

The spelling used here is that introduced in 1973,<ref>See Kishindo (2001), p.267.</ref> which is the one generally in use in the Malawi at the present time, replacing the ''Chinyanja Orthography Rules'' of 1931.<ref>Atkins (1950), p.200.</ref>

'''Notes on the consonants'''

*In most words, Chewa ''b'' and ''d'' (when not [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasalised]]) are pronounced [[Implosive consonant|implosively]], by sucking slightly.<ref>Scotton & Orr (1980), p.15; Atkins (1950), p.208.</ref> However, there is also a plosive ''b'' and ''d'', mostly found in foreign words, such as {{lang|ny|bála}} 'bar', {{lang|ny|yôdúla}} 'expensive' (from Afrikaans {{lang|af|duur}}) (in contrast to the implosive ''b'' and ''d'' in native words such as {{lang|ny|bála}} 'wound' and {{lang|ny|yôdúla}} 'which cuts').<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2018), p. 43.</ref> A plosive ''d'' is also found in {{lang|ny|kudínda}} 'to stamp (a document)' and {{lang|ny|mdidi}} 'confident step'.
*The affricate sounds ''bv'' and ''pf'' were formerly commonly heard but are now generally replaced by ''v'' and ''f'', e.g. {{lang|ny|(b)vúto}} 'problem', {{lang|ny|(p)fúpa}} 'bone'. In the {{lang|ny|Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja}} dictionary produced by the University of Malawi, the spellings ''bv'' and ''pf'' are not used in any of the headwords, but ''bv'' is used two or three times in the definitions.
*The combination ''bz'' is described by Atkins as an "alveolar-labialised fricative".<ref>Atkins (1950), p.208.</ref> The combination sounds approximately as {{IPA|[bʒ]}} or {{IPA|[bʒʲ]}}. Similarly ''ps'' is pronounced approximately as {{IPA|[pʃ]}} or {{IPA|[pʃʲ]}}.
*The sounds written ''ch'', ''k'', ''p'' and ''t'' are pronounced less forcibly than the English equivalents and generally without aspiration. Stevick notes that in relaxed speech, the first three are sometimes replaced with the voiced fricatives {{IPA|[ʒ]}}, {{IPA|[ɣ]}} and {{IPA|[β]}}, and ''t'' can be heard as a voiced flap.<ref>Stevick (1965), p.xii.</ref> In the combination ''-ti'' (e.g. {{lang|ny|angáti?}} 'how many'), ''t'' may be lightly aspirated.
*''h'' is also used in Chewa but mostly only in loanwords such as {{lang|ny|hotéra}} 'hotel', {{lang|ny|hátchi}} 'horse', {{lang|ny|mswahála}} 'monthly allowance given to chiefs'.
*''j'' is described by Scotton and Orr as being pronounced "somewhat more forward in the mouth" than in English and as sounding "somewhere between an English ''d'' and ''j''".<ref>Scotton & Orr (1980), p.18.</ref>
*''l'' and ''r'' are the same phoneme,<ref>Atkins (1950), p.207; Stevick et al. (1965), p.xii; Downing & Mtenje (2018), p. 43, quoting Price (1946).</ref> representing a retroflex tap {{IPA|[𝼈]}}, approximately between {{IPA|[l]}} and {{IPA|[r]}}. According to the official spelling rules, the sound is written as 'r' after 'i' or 'e', otherwise 'l'. It is also written with 'l' after a prefix containing 'i', as in {{lang|ny|lilíme}} 'tongue'.<ref>Kishindo (2001), p.268.</ref><ref>See also Chirwa (2008).</ref> 
*''m'' is syllabic {{IPA|[m̩]}} in words where it is derived from ''mu'', e.g. {{lang|ny|m'balé}} 'relative' (3 syllables), {{lang|ny|mphunzitsi}} 'teacher' (4 syllables), {{lang|ny|anáḿpatsa}} 'he gave him' (5 syllables). However, in class 9 words, such as {{lang|ny|mphátso}} 'gift', {{lang|ny|mbale}} 'plate', or {{lang|ny|mfíti}} 'witch', and also in the class 1 word {{lang|ny|mphaká}} 'cat', the ''m'' is pronounced very short and does not form a separate syllable. In Southern Region dialects of Malawi, the syllabic ''m'' in words like {{lang|ny|mkángo}} 'lion' is pronounced in a [[homorganic consonants|homorganic]] manner, i.e. {{IPA|[ŋ̍.ká.ᵑɡo]}} (with three syllables), but in the Central Region, it is pronounced as it is written, i.e. {{IPA|[m̩.ká.ᵑɡo]}}.<ref>Atkins (1950), p.209.</ref>
*''n'', in combinations such as ''nj'', {{transliteration|ny|ntch}}, ''nkh'' etc., is assimilated to the following consonant, that is, it is pronounced {{IPA|[ɲ]}} or {{IPA|[ŋ]}} as appropriate. In words of class 9, such as {{lang|ny|njóka}} 'snake' or {{lang|ny|nduná}} 'minister' it is pronounced very short, as part of the following syllable. However, [n] can also be syllabic, when it is contracted from ''ndi'' 'it is' or ''ndí'' 'and', e.g. {{lang|ny|ń'kúpíta}} 'and to go'; also in the remote past continuous tense, e.g. {{lang|ny|ankápítá}} 'he used to go'. In some borrowed words such as {{lang|ny|bánki}} or {{lang|ny|íntaneti}} the combinations ''nk'' and ''nt'' with non-syllabic ''n'' can be found but not in native words.
*''ng'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ŋɡ]}} as in 'finger' and ''ng’'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ŋ]}} as in 'singer'. Both of these consonants can occur at the beginning of a word: {{lang|ny|ngoma}} '[[kudu]]', {{lang|ny|ng'ombe}} 'cow or [[ox]]'.
*''w'' in the combinations ''awu'', ''ewu'', ''iwu'', ''owa'', ''uwa'' (e.g. {{lang|ny|mawú}} 'voice', {{lang|ny|msewu}} 'road', {{lang|ny|liwú}} 'sound', {{lang|ny|lowa}} 'enter', {{lang|ny|duwa}} 'flower') although often written is generally not pronounced.<ref>Atkins (1950), p.204.</ref> Combinations such as ''gwo'' or ''mwo'' are not found; thus {{lang|ny|ngwábwino}} (short for {{lang|ny|ndi wábwino}})<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 99.</ref> 'he is good' but {{lang|ny|ngóípa}} (short for {{lang|ny|ndi wóípa}}) 'he is bad'; {{lang|ny|mwalá}} 'stone' but {{lang|ny|móto}} 'fire'. 
*''ŵ'', a "closely lip-rounded {{IPA|[w]}} with the tongue in the close-i position",<ref>Atkins (1950), p.205.</ref> was formerly used in Central Region dialects but is now rarely heard, usually being replaced by 'w'. ("It is doubtful whether the majority of speakers have {{IPA|[β]}} in their phoneme inventory" (Kishindo).)<ref>Kishindo (2001), p.270.</ref> The symbol 'ŵ' is generally omitted in current publications such as newspapers.<ref>[https://mwnation.com/section/chichewa/ The Nation online news in Chichewa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124450/https://mwnation.com/section/chichewa/ |date=9 February 2019 }}; [https://zodiakmalawi.com/business-news/content/28-nkhani-m-chichewa Zodiak Radio online news in Chichewa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209134318/https://zodiakmalawi.com/business-news/content/28-nkhani-m-chichewa |date=9 February 2019 }}.</ref> In the dialects that use the sound, it is found only before a, i, and e, while before o and u it becomes {{IPA|[w]}}.<ref name=Watkins13>Watkins (1937), p.13.</ref> To some linguists (e.g. Watkins) it sounds similar to the Spanish {{IPA|[β]}}.<ref name=Watkins13 />
*''zy'' (as in {{lang|ny|zyoliká}} 'be upside down like a bat') can be pronounced {{IPA|[ʒ]}}.<ref>Mchombo (2004), p.10.</ref>

===Tones===
{{Main|Chichewa tones}}

Like most other Bantu languages, Chewa is a [[tone (linguistics)|tonal]] language; that is to say, the pitch of the syllables (high or low) plays an important role in it. Tone is used in various ways in the language. First of all, each word has its own tonal pattern, for example:<ref>Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja (2002).</ref>
*{{lang|ny|munthu}} {{IPA|[mu.ⁿtʰu]}} 'person' (Low, Low)
*{{lang|ny|gal'''ú'''}} {{IPA|[ɡă.𝼈ú]}} 'dog' (Rising, Mid)
*{{lang|ny|mb'''ú'''zi}} {{IPA|[ᵐbû.zi]}} 'goat' (Falling, Low)
*{{lang|ny|ch'''í'''manga}} {{IPA|[t͡ʃí.ma.ᵑɡa]}} 'maize' (High, Low, Low)

Usually there is only one high tone in a word (generally on one of the last three syllables), or none. However, in compound words there can be more than one high tone, for example:
*{{lang|ny|ch'''á'''kúdy'''á'''}} {{IPA|[t͡ʃá.kú.ɗʲá]}} 'food' (High, High, High; derived from {{lang|ny|chá}} + {{lang|ny|kudyá}}, 'a thing of eating')

A second important use of tone is in the verb. Each tense of the verb has its own characteristic tonal pattern (negative tenses usually have a different pattern from positive ones).<ref>Mtenje (1986), pp.195; 203–4; 244ff; Mtenje (1987), p.173.</ref> For example, the present habitual has high tones on the initial syllable and the penultimate, the other syllables being low:
*{{lang|ny|nd'''í'''-ma-thand'''í'''za}} 'I (usually) help'

The recent past continuous and present continuous, on the other hand, have a tone on the third syllable:
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ma-th'''á'''ndiza}} 'I was helping'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ku-th'''á'''ndiza}} 'I am helping'

Tones can also indicate whether a verb is being used in a [[independent clause|main clause]] or in a [[dependent clause]] such as a relative clause:<ref name="Stevick et al. 1965, p.147">Stevick et al. (1965), p.147.</ref><ref>Mchombo (2004), pp.17–18.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|sabatá yatha}} 'the week has ended'
*{{lang|ny|sabatá y'''á'''tha}} 'the week which has ended (i.e. last week)'

A third use of tones in Chewa is to show phrasing and sentence [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]]. For example, immediately before a pause in the middle of a sentence the speaker's voice tends to rise up; this rise is referred to as a [[boundary tone]].<ref>Kanerva (1990), p.147.</ref> Other intonational tones are sometimes heard, for example a rising or falling tone at the end of a yes-no question.<ref>Hullquist (1988), p.145.</ref><ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 263.</ref>

==Grammar==

===Noun classes===
Chewa nouns are divided for convenience into a number of classes, which are referred to by the Malawians themselves by names such as "Mu-A-",<ref>E.g. Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja.</ref> but by Bantu specialists by numbers such as "1/2", corresponding to the classes in other [[Bantu languages]]. Conventionally, they are grouped into pairs of singular and plural. However, irregular pairings are also possible, especially with loanwords; for example, {{lang|ny|bánki}} 'bank', which takes the concords of class 9 in the singular, has a plural {{lang|ny|mabánki}} (class 6).<ref>Paas (2015).</ref>

When assigning nouns to a particular class, initially the prefix of the noun is used. Where there is no prefix, or where the prefix is ambiguous, the concords (see below) are used as a guide to the noun class. For example, {{lang|ny|katúndu}} 'possessions' is put in class 1, since it takes the class 1 demonstrative {{lang|ny|uyu}} 'this'.<ref>Kunkeyani (2007), p.154.</ref>

Some nouns belong to one class only, e.g. {{lang|ny|tomáto}} '{{Not a typo|tomato(es)}}' (class 1), {{lang|ny|mowa}} 'beer' (class 3), {{lang|ny|malayá}} '{{Not a typo|shirt(s)}}' (class 6), {{lang|ny|udzudzú}} '{{Not a typo|mosquito(es)}}' (class 14), and do not change between singular and plural. Despite this, such words can still be counted if appropriate: {{lang|ny|tomáto muwíri}} 'two tomatoes', {{lang|ny|mowa uwíri}} 'two beers', {{lang|ny|malayá amódzi}} 'one shirt', {{lang|ny|udzudzú umódzi}} 'one mosquito'.<ref>Paas (2015) s.v.</ref>

Class 11 (Lu-) is not found in Chewa. Words like {{lang|ny|lumo}} 'razor' and {{lang|ny|lusó}} 'skill' are considered to belong to class 5/6 (Li-Ma-) and take the concords of that class.<ref>''Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja''.</ref>

*Mu-A- (1/2): {{lang|ny|munthu}} pl. {{lang|ny|anthu}} 'person'; {{lang|ny|mphunzitsi}} pl. {{lang|ny|aphunzitsi}} 'teacher'; {{lang|ny|mwaná}} pl. {{lang|ny|aná}} 'child'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(1a/2): {{lang|ny|galú}} pl. {{lang|ny|agalú}} 'dog'. Class 1a refers to nouns which have no {{lang|ny|m-}} prefix.<br />{{space}}{{space}}The plural {{lang|ny|a-}} is used only for humans and animals. It can also be used for respect, e.g. {{lang|ny|aphunzitsi áthu}} 'our teacher'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(1a/6): {{lang|ny|kíyi}} pl. {{lang|ny|makíyi}} 'key'; {{lang|ny|gúle}} pl. {{lang|ny|magúle}} 'dance'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(1a): {{lang|ny|tomáto}} '{{Not a typo|tomato(es)}}'; {{lang|ny|katúndu}} 'luggage, furniture'; {{lang|ny|feteréza}} 'fertilizer' (no pl.)
*Mu-Mi- (3/4): {{lang|ny|mudzi}} pl. {{lang|ny|midzi}} 'village'; {{lang|ny|mténgo}} pl. {{lang|ny|miténgo}} 'tree'; {{lang|ny|moyo}} pl. {{lang|ny|miyoyo}} 'life'; {{lang|ny|msika}} pl. {{lang|ny|misika}} 'village'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(3): {{lang|ny|mowa}} 'beer'; {{lang|ny|móto}} 'fire'; {{lang|ny|bowa}} '{{Not a typo|mushroom(s)}}' (no pl.)
*Li-Ma- (5/6): {{lang|ny|dzína}} pl. {{lang|ny|maína}} 'name'; {{lang|ny|vúto}} pl. {{lang|ny|mavúto}} 'problem'; {{lang|ny|khásu}} pl. {{lang|ny|makásu}} 'hoe'; {{lang|ny|díso}} pl. {{lang|ny|masó}} 'eye'<br />{{space}}{{space}}Often the first consonant is softened or omitted in the plural in this class.<br />{{space}}{{space}}(6): {{lang|ny|madzí}} 'water', {{lang|ny|mankhwála}} 'medicine', {{lang|ny|maló}} 'place' (no sg.)
*Chi-Zi- (7/8): {{lang|ny|chinthu}} pl. {{lang|ny|zinthu}} 'thing'; {{lang|ny|chaká}} pl. {{lang|ny|zaká}} 'year'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(7): {{lang|ny|chímanga}} 'maize'; {{lang|ny|chikóndi}} 'love' (no pl.)
*I-Zi- (9/10): {{lang|ny|nyumbá}} pl. {{lang|ny|nyumbá}} 'house'; {{lang|ny|mbúzi}} pl. {{lang|ny|mbúzi}} 'goat'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(10): {{lang|ny|ndevu}} 'beard'; {{lang|ny|ndíwo}} 'relish'; {{lang|ny|nzerú}} 'intelligence' (no sg.)<br />{{space}}{{space}}(9/6): {{lang|ny|bánki}} pl. {{lang|ny|mabánki}} 'bank'
*Ka-Ti- (12/13): {{lang|ny|kamwaná}} pl. {{lang|ny|tianá}} 'baby'; {{lang|ny|kanthu}} pl. {{lang|ny|tinthu}} 'small thing'<br />{{space}}{{space}}(12): {{lang|ny|kasamalidwe}} 'method of taking care'; {{lang|ny|kavinidwe}} 'way of dancing' (no pl.)<br />{{space}}{{space}}(13): {{lang|ny|tuló}} 'sleep' (no sg.)
*U-Ma- (14): {{lang|ny|usíku}} 'night time'; {{lang|ny|ulimi}} 'farming'; {{lang|ny|udzudzú}} '{{Not a typo|mosquito(es)}}' (no pl.)<br />{{space}}{{space}}(14/6): {{lang|ny|utá}} pl. {{lang|ny|mautá}} 'bow'

Infinitive class:
*Ku- (15): {{lang|ny|kuóna}} 'to see, seeing'

Locative classes:
*Pa- (16): {{lang|ny|pakamwa}} 'mouth'
*Ku- (17): {{lang|ny|kukhosi}} 'neck'
*Mu- (18): {{lang|ny|mkamwa}} 'inside the mouth'

===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.

===Examples of the use of concords===
In the examples below, the concords are illustrated mainly with nouns of classes 1 and 2.

====Demonstratives 'this' and 'that'====
*{{lang|ny|uyu ndaní?}} 'who is this?'; {{lang|ny|awa ndaní?}} 'who are these?' (or: 'who is this gentleman?' (respectful))
*{{lang|ny|mwaná uyu}} ({{lang|ny|mwanáyu}}) 'this child'; {{lang|ny|aná awa}} ({{lang|ny|anáwa}}) 'these children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná uyo}} ({{lang|ny|mwanáyo}}) 'that child'; {{lang|ny|aná awo}} ({{lang|ny|anáwo}}) 'those children'

The shortened forms are more common.

====Pronominal {{lang|ny|yé}}, {{lang|ny|(w)ó}} etc.====
Prefixed by a supporting vowel, or by {{lang|ny|ná}} 'with' or {{lang|ny|ndi}} 'it is', these make the pronouns 'he/she' and 'they':
*{{lang|ny|iyé}} 'he/she'; {{lang|ny|iwó}} 'they' (or 'he/she' (respectful))
*{{lang|ny|náye}} 'with him/her'; {{lang|ny|náwo}} 'with them' (or 'with him/her' (respectful))
*{{lang|ny|ndiyé}} 'it is he/she'; {{lang|ny|ndiwó}} 'it is they'

For classes other than classes 1 and 2, a demonstrative is used instead of a freestanding pronoun, for example in class 6 {{lang|ny|ichi}} or {{lang|ny|icho}}. But forms prefixed by {{lang|ny|ná-}} and {{lang|ny|ndi-}} such as {{lang|ny|nácho}} and {{lang|ny|ndichó}} are found.

===={{lang|ny|yénse}}, {{lang|ny|yékha}}, {{lang|ny|yémwe}}====
The three pronominal adjectives {{lang|ny|yénse}} 'all', {{lang|ny|yékha}} 'alone', {{lang|ny|yémwe}} 'that same' (or 'who') have the same pronominal concords {{lang|ny|yé-}} and {{lang|ny|(w)ó-}}, this time as prefixes:
*{{lang|ny|Maláwi yénse}} 'the whole of Malawi'
*{{lang|ny|aná ónse}} 'all the children'
*{{lang|ny|yékha}} 'on his/her own'
*{{lang|ny|ókha}} 'on their own'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná yemwéyo}} 'that same child'
*{{lang|ny|aná omwéwo}} 'those same children'

In classes 2 and 6, {{lang|ny|ó-}} often becomes {{lang|ny|wó-}} (e.g. {{lang|ny|wónse}} for {{lang|ny|ónse}} etc.).

The commonly used word {{lang|ny|álíyensé}} 'every' is compounded from the verb {{lang|ny|áli}} 'who is' and {{lang|ny|yénse}} 'all'. Both parts of the word have concords:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná álíyensé}} 'every child'
*{{lang|ny|aná awíri álíonsé}} 'every two children'
*{{lang|ny|nyumbá ílíyonsé}} 'every house' (class 4)
*{{lang|ny|chaká chílíchonsé}} 'every year' (class 7)

====Subject prefix====
As with other ''Bantu languages'', all Chewa verbs have a prefix which agrees with the subject of the verb. In modern Chewa, the class 2 prefix (formerly {{lang|ny|ŵa-}}) has become {{lang|ny|a-}}, identical with the prefix of class 1:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná ápita}} 'the child will go'; {{lang|ny|aná ápita}} 'the children will go'

The perfect tense ({{lang|ny|wapita}} 'he/she has gone', {{lang|ny|apita}} 'they have gone') has different subject prefixes from the other tenses (see below).

===={{lang|ny|améne}} 'who'====
The relative pronoun {{lang|ny|améne}} 'who' and demonstrative {{lang|ny|améneyo}} use the same prefixes as a verb:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná améne}} 'the child who'
*{{lang|ny|aná améne}} 'the children who'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná améneyo}} 'that child'
*{{lang|ny|aná aménewo}} 'those children'
*{{lang|ny|nyumbá iméneyo}} 'that house'
*{{lang|ny|nyumbá ziménezo}} 'those houses'

====Object infix====
The use of an object infix is not obligatory in Chewa (for example, {{lang|ny|ndagula}} means 'I have bought (them)'). If used, it comes immediately before the verb root, and agrees with the object:
*{{lang|ny|ndamúona}} 'I have seen him/her'; {{lang|ny|ndawáona}} 'I have seen them' (sometimes shortened to {{lang|ny|ndaáona}}).

The object infix of classes 16, 17, and 18 is usually replaced by a suffix: {{lang|ny|ndaonámo}} 'I have seen inside it'.

The same infix with verbs with the applicative suffix {{lang|ny|-ira}} represents the indirect object, e.g. {{lang|ny|ndamúlembera}} 'I have written to him'.

====Numeral concords====
Numeral concords are used with numbers {{lang|ny|-módzi}} 'one', {{lang|ny|-wíri}} 'two', {{lang|ny|-tátu}} 'three', {{lang|ny|-náyi}} 'four', {{lang|ny|-sanu}} 'five', and the words {{lang|ny|-ngáti?}} 'how many', {{lang|ny|-ngápo}} 'several':
*{{lang|ny|mwaná mmódzi}} 'one child'; {{lang|ny|aná awíri}} 'two children'; {{lang|ny|aná angáti?}} 'how many children?'

The class 1 prefix {{lang|ny|m-}} becomes {{lang|ny|mu-}} before {{lang|ny|-wiri}}: {{lang|ny|tomáto muwíri}} 'two tomatoes'.

The number {{lang|ny|khúmi}} 'ten' has no concord.

====Demonstratives {{lang|ny|uja}} and {{lang|ny|uno}}====
The demonstrative pronouns {{lang|ny|uja}} 'that one you know' and {{lang|ny|uno}} 'this one we are in' take the concords {{lang|ny|u-}} and {{lang|ny|a-}} in classes 1 and 2. For semantic reasons, class 1 {{lang|ny|uno}} is rare:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná uja}} 'that child (the one you know)'; {{lang|ny|aná aja}} 'those children' (those ones you know)
*{{lang|ny|mwezí uno}} 'this month (we are in)' (class 3); {{lang|ny|masíkú ano}} 'these days'; {{lang|ny|ku Maláwí kuno}} 'here in Malawi (where we are now)' (class 17).

====Perfect tense subject prefix====
The same concords {{lang|ny|w-}} (derived from {{lang|ny|u-}}) and {{lang|ny|a-}}, combined with the vowel {{lang|ny|a}}, make the subject prefix of the perfect tense. In the plural the two prefixes {{lang|ny|a-a-}} combine into a single vowel:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wapita}} 'the child has gone; {{lang|ny|aná apita}} 'the children have gone'

====Possessive concord====
The concords {{lang|ny|w-}} (derived from {{lang|ny|u-}}) and {{lang|ny|a-}} are also found in the word {{lang|ny|á}} 'of':
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wá Mphátso}} 'Mphatso's child'; {{lang|ny|aná á Mphátso}} 'Mphatso's children'

The same concords are used in possessive adjectives {{lang|ny|-ánga}} 'my', {{lang|ny|-áko}} 'your', {{lang|ny|-áke}} 'his/her/its/their', {{lang|ny|-áthu}} 'our', {{lang|ny|-ánu}} 'your (plural or respectful singular), {{lang|ny|-áwo}} 'their'/'his/her' (respectful):
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wángá}} 'my child'; {{lang|ny|aná ángá}} 'my children'

{{lang|ny|-áwo}} 'their' is used only of people ({{lang|ny|-áke}} is used for things).

{{lang|ny|Wá}} 'of' can be combined with nouns or adverbs to make adjectives:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wánzérú}} 'an intelligent child'; {{lang|ny|aná ánzérú}} 'intelligent children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná ábwino}} a good child'; {{lang|ny|aná ábwino}} 'good children'

In the same way {{lang|ny|wá}} 'of' combines with the {{lang|ny|ku-}} of the infinitive to make verbal adjectives. {{lang|ny|Wá}} + {{lang|ny|ku-}} usually shortens to {{lang|ny|wó-}}, except where the verb root is monosyllabic:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wókóngola}} 'a beautiful child'; {{lang|ny|aná ókóngola}} 'beautiful children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wákúbá}} 'a thieving child'; {{lang|ny|aná ákúbá}} 'thieving children'

===={{lang|ny|-ína}} 'other' and {{lang|ny|-ení-éní}} 'real'====
The same {{lang|ny|w-}} and {{lang|ny|a-}} concords are found with the words {{lang|ny|-ína}} 'other' and {{lang|ny|-ení-éní}} 'real'. In combination with these words the plural concord {{lang|ny|a-}} is converted to {{lang|ny|e-}}:
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wína}} 'a certain child, another child'; {{lang|ny|aná éna}} 'certain children, other children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná weníwéní}} 'a real child'; {{lang|ny|aná eníéní}} 'real children'

====Double-prefix adjectives====
Certain adjectives ({{lang|ny|-kúlu}} 'big', {{lang|ny|-ng'óno}} 'small'; {{lang|ny|-(a)múna}} 'male', {{lang|ny|-kázi}} 'female'; {{lang|ny|-táli}} 'long', 'tall', {{lang|ny|-fúpi}} 'short'; {{lang|ny|-wisi}} 'fresh') have a double prefix, combining the possessive concord ({{lang|ny|wá-}}) and the number concord ({{lang|ny|m-}} or {{lang|ny|mw-}}):
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wáḿkúlu}} 'a big child'; {{lang|ny|aná áákúlu}} 'big children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wáḿng'óno}} 'a small child'; {{lang|ny|aná ááng'óno}} 'little children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wámwámúna}} 'a male child'; {{lang|ny|aná áámúna}} 'male children'
*{{lang|ny|mwaná wáḿkázi}} 'a female child'; {{lang|ny|aná áákázi}} 'female children'

===Historic changes===
Early dictionaries, such as those of [[Johannes Rebmann|Rebmann]], and of Scott and Hetherwick, show that formerly the number of concords was greater. The following changes have taken place:
*Class 2 formerly had the concord {{lang|ny|ŵa-}} (e.g. {{lang|ny|ŵanthu aŵa}} 'these people'), but this has now become {{lang|ny|a-}} for most speakers.
*Class 8, formerly using {{lang|ny|dzi-}} (Southern Region) or {{lang|ny|bzi/bvi/vi-}} (Central Region) (e.g. {{lang|ny|bzaká bziŵíri}} 'two years'),<ref>Scott & Hetherwick (1929), s.v. Ibsi; Rebmann (1877) s.v. Chiko, Psiwili/Pfiwili; Watkins (1937), p. 37.</ref> has now adopted the concords of class 10.
*Class 6, formerly with {{lang|ny|ya-}} concords (e.g. {{lang|ny|mazira aya}} 'these eggs'),<ref>Rebmann (1877) s.v. Aya, Mame, Mano, Yonse; cf Goodson (2011).</ref> now has the concords of class 2.
*Class 11 ({{lang|ny|lu-}}) had already been assimilated to class 5 even in the 19th century, although it still exists in some dialects of the neighbouring language [[Tumbuka language|Tumbuka]]. 
*Class 14, formerly with {{lang|ny|bu-}} concords (e.g. {{lang|ny|ufá bwángá}} 'my flour'),<ref>Rebmann (1877), s.v. Ufa; Watkins (1937), pp. 33–4.</ref> now has the same concords as class 3.
*Class 13 ({{lang|ny|ti-}}) had {{lang|ny|tu-}} in Rebmann's time (e.g. {{lang|ny|tumpeni utu}} 'these small knives'). This prefix still survives in words like {{lang|ny|tuló}} 'sleep'.

In addition, classes 4 and 9, and classes 15 and 17 have identical concords, so the total number of concord sets (singular and plural) is now twelve.

==Verbs==
{{further|Chichewa tenses}}

===Formation of tenses===
[[Grammatical tense|Tenses]] in Chichewa are differentiated in two ways, by their tense-marker (or tense-[[infix]]), and by their tonal pattern. Sometimes two tenses have the same tense-marker and differ in their tonal pattern alone. In the following examples, the tense-marker is underlined:<ref>Maxson (2011), pp.39ff, 77ff.</ref><ref>For tones, Mtenje (1986).</ref>
*{{lang|ny|ndi-<u>ku</u>-gúla}} 'I am buying'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-<u>ma</u>-gúla}} 'I usually buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-<u>ma</u>-gúla}} 'I was buying', 'I used to buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-<u>dzá</u>-gula}} 'I will buy (tomorrow or in future)'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-<u>ká</u>-gula}} 'I will buy (when I get there)'

One tense has no tense-marker:
*{{lang|ny|ndí-gula}} 'I will buy (soon)'

Tenses can be modified further by adding certain other infixes, called 'aspect-markers', after the tense-marker. These are {{lang|ny|-má-}} 'always, usually' {{lang|ny|-ká-}} 'go and', {{lang|ny|-dzá}} 'come and' or 'in future', and {{lang|ny|-ngo-}} 'only', 'just'. These infixes can also be used on their own, as tense-markers in their own right (compare the use of {{lang|ny|-ma-}} and {{lang|ny|-dza-}} in the list of tenses above). For example:
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ku-má-gúlá}} 'I am always buying'<ref>Maxson (2011), p.126.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ná-ká-gula}} 'I went and bought'<ref>Maxson (2011), p.115.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|ndí-má-ngo-gúla}} 'I just usually buy'<ref>Salaun, p.49.</ref>

Compound tenses, such as the following, are also found in Chichewa:<ref>Kiso (2012), p.107.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|nd-a-khala ndí-kú-gúla}} 'I have been buying'

===Subject-marker===
Chichewa verbs (with the exception of the [[imperative mood]] and [[infinitive]]) begin with a [[prefix]] agreeing grammatically with the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]].<ref>Maxson (2011), pp.19ff.</ref> This prefix is referred to by some grammarians as the 'subject-marker'.<ref>Hyman & Mtenje (1999a).</ref>
*{{lang|ny|(ife) <u>ti</u>-ku-píta}} 'we are going'
*{{lang|ny|mténgo <u>w</u>-a-gwa}} (for *{{lang|ny|<u>u</u>-a-gwa}}) 'the tree has fallen'<ref>Maxson (2011), p.52.</ref>

The subject-marker can be:
*Personal: {{lang|ny|ndi-}} 'I', {{lang|ny|u-}} 'you (singular)', {{lang|ny|a-}} 'he, she', {{lang|ny|ti-}} 'we', {{lang|ny|mu-}} 'you (plural or polite)', {{lang|ny|a-}} 'they'; 'he/she (respectful or polite). (In the perfect tense, the subject-marker for 'he, she' is {{lang|ny|w-}}: {{lang|ny|w-a-pita}} 'he has gone'.)<ref>Maxson (2011), p.36.</ref>
*Impersonal: {{lang|ny|a-}} (class 1, 2 or 6), {{lang|ny|u-}} (class 3 or 14), {{lang|ny|i-}} (class 4 or 9), {{lang|ny|li-}} (class 5), etc.
*Locative: {{lang|ny|ku-}}, {{lang|ny|pa-}}, {{lang|ny|mu-}}

An example of a locative subject-marker is:
*{{lang|ny|m'madzí <u>mu</u>li nsómba}} 'in the water there are fish'<ref>Salaun, p.16.</ref>

Both the 2nd and the 3rd person plural pronouns and subject-markers are used respectfully to refer to a single person:<ref>Maxson (2011), pp. 21, 23.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|mukupíta}} 'you are going' (plural or respectful)
*{{lang|ny|apita}} 'they have gone' or 'he/she has gone' (respectful)

Except in the perfect tense, the 3rd person subject marker when used of people is the same whether singular or plural. So in the present tense the 3rd person subject-marker is ''a-'':
*{{lang|ny|akupíta}} 'he/she is going'
*{{lang|ny|akupíta}} 'they are going', 'he/she is going' (respectful)

But in the perfect tense ''wa-'' (singular) contrasts with ''a-'' (plural or respectful):
*{{lang|ny|wapita}} 'he/she has gone'
*{{lang|ny|apita}} 'they have gone', 'he/she has gone' (respectful)

When the subject is a noun not in class 1, the appropriate class prefix is used even if referring to a person:
*{{lang|la|mfúmu <u>i</u>kupíta}} 'the chief is going' (class 9)
*{{lang|ny|tianá <u>ti</u>kupíta}} 'the babies are going' (class 13)

===Object-marker===
An object-marker can also optionally be added to the verb; if one is added it goes immediately before the verb-stem.<ref>Maxson (2011), pp.26ff.</ref> The 2nd person plural adds {{lang|ny|-ni}} after the verb:
*{{lang|ny|ndí-ma-<u>ku</u>-kónda}} 'I love you' ({{lang|ny|ndi}} = 'I', {{lang|ny|ku}} = 'you')
*{{lang|ny|ndí-ma-<u>ku</u>-kónda-<u>ni</u>}} 'I love you' (plural or formal)

The object-marker can be:
*Personal: {{lang|ny|-ndi-}} 'me', {{lang|ny|-ku-}} 'you', {{lang|ny|-mu-}} or {{lang|ny|-m'-}} 'him, her', {{lang|ny|-ti-}} 'us', {{lang|ny|-wa-}} or {{lang|ny|-a-}} 'them', 'him/her (polite)'.
*Impersonal: {{lang|ny|-mu-}} (class 1), {{lang|ny|-wa-}} (class 2), {{lang|ny|-u-}} (class 3 or 14), etc.
*Locative: e.g. {{lang|ny|m'nyumbá mu-ku-<u>mú</u>-dzíwa}} 'you know the inside of the house';<ref>Maxson (2011), p.64.</ref> but usually a locative suffix is used instead: {{lang|ny|nd-a-oná-<u>mo</u>}} 'I have seen inside it'
*Reflexive: {{lang|ny|-dzi-}} 'himself', 'herself', 'themselves', 'myself', etc.

When used with a toneless verb tense such as the perfect, the object-marker has a high tone, but in some tenses such as the present habitual, the tone is lost:<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), pp. 143, 162.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|nd-a-<u>m'''ú'''</u>-ona}} 'I have seen him'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-ma-<u>mu</u>-óna}} 'I usually see him'

With the imperative or subjunctive, the tone of the object-marker goes on the syllable following it, and the imperative ending changes to ''-e'':<ref>Downing & Mtenje (2017), pp. 142, 145.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|<u>ndi</u>-p'''á'''tse-ni mpungá}} 'could you give me some rice?'
*{{lang|ny|<u>ndi</u>-th'''á'''ndízé-ni!}} 'help me!'
*{{lang|ny|mu-<u>mu</u>-th'''á'''ndízé}} 'you should help him'

===Variety of tenses===
{{main|Chichewa tenses}}
Chewa has a large number of tenses, some of which differ in some respects from the tenses met with in European languages. The distinction between one tense and another is made partly by the use of infixes, such as {{lang|ny|-na-}} and {{lang|ny|-ku-}}, and partly by the intonation of the verb, since each tense has its own particular tonal pattern.

====Near vs. remote====
There are five time-frames (remote past, near past, present, [[near future (grammar)|near future]], and remote future). The distinction between near and remote tenses is not exact. The remote tenses are not used of events of today or last night, but the near tenses can sometimes be used of events of earlier or later than today:
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ná-gula}} 'I bought (yesterday or some days ago)' (''remote perfect'')
*{{lang|ny|nd-a-gula}} 'I have bought (today)' (''perfect'')
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ku-gúla}} 'I am buying (now)' (''present'')
*{{lang|ny|ndí-gula}} 'I'll buy (today)' (''near future'')
*{{lang|ny|ndi-dzá-gula}} 'I'll buy (tomorrow or later)' (''remote future'')

====Perfect vs. past====
Another distinction is between perfect and past.<ref>Watkins (1937), pp. 55–6.</ref><ref>Maxson (2011), p. 77.</ref> The two perfect tenses imply that the event described had an outcome which still obtains now. The two past tenses usually imply that the result of the action has been reversed in some way:

Recent time (today):

*{{lang|ny|nd-a-gula}} 'I have bought it' (and still have it) (''Perfect'')
*{{lang|ny|ndi-na-gúla}} 'I bought it (but no longer have it)' (''Recent Past'')

Remote time (yesterday or earlier):

*{{lang|ny|ndi-ná-gula}} or {{lang|ny|ndi-dá-gula}} 'I bought it' (and still have it) (''Remote Perfect'')
*{{lang|ny|ndí-ná-a-gúla}} or {{lang|ny|ndí-dá-a-gúla}} 'I bought it (but no longer have it)' (''Remote Past'')

When used in narrating a series of events, however, these implications are somewhat relaxed: the Remote Perfect is used for narrating earlier events, and the Recent Past for narrating events of today.<ref>Kiso (2012), pp. 110–111.</ref>

====Perfective vs. imperfective====
Another important distinction in Chewa is between perfective and imperfective aspect. Imperfective tenses are used for situations, events which occur regularly, or events which are temporarily in progress:

*{{lang|ny|ndi-nká-gúlá}} 'I used to buy', 'I was buying (a long time ago)'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ma-gúla}} 'I was buying (today)', 'I used to buy (a long time ago)'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-zi-dza-gúla}} 'I will be buying (regularly)'

In the present tense only, there is a further distinction between habitual and progressive:

*{{lang|ny|ndí-ma-gúla}} 'I buy (regularly)'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ku-gúla}} 'I am buying (currently)'

====Other tenses====
One future tense not found in European languages is the {{lang|ny|-ká-}} future, which 'might presuppose an unspoken conditional clause':<ref>Maxson (2011), p. 116.</ref>

*{{lang|ny|ndí-ká-gula}} 'I will buy' (if I go there, or when I get there)

There are also various [[subjunctive]] and potential mood tenses, such as:

*{{lang|ny|ndi-gulé}} 'I should buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-<u>zí</u>-gúlá}} 'I should be buying'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-<u>dzá</u>-gúlé}} 'I should buy (in future)'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-<u>nga</u>-gule}} 'I can buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-<u>kadá</u>-gula}} 'I would have bought'

===Negative tenses===
Negative tenses, if they are main verbs, are made with the prefix {{lang|ny|sí-}}. They differ in intonation from the positive tenses.<ref>Mtenje (1986), p. 244ff.</ref> The negative of the {{lang|ny|-ná-}} tense has the ending {{lang|ny|-e}} instead of {{lang|ny|-a}}:
*{{lang|ny|sí-ndí-gula}} 'I don't buy'
*{{lang|ny|sí-ndi-na-gúle}} 'I didn't buy'

Tenses which mean 'will not' or 'have not yet' have a single tone on the penultimate syllable:
*{{lang|ny|si-ndi-dza-gúla}} 'I won't buy'
*{{lang|ny|si-ndi-na-gúle}} 'I haven't bought (it) yet'

Infinitives, participial verbs, and the subjunctive make their negative with {{lang|ny|-sa-}}, which is added after the subject-prefix instead of before it. They similarly have a single tone on the penultimate syllable:
*{{lang|ny|ndi-sa-gúle}} 'I should not buy'<ref>Stevick et al. (1965), p.222.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|ku-sa-gúla}} 'not to buy'

===Dependent clause tenses===
The tenses used in certain kinds of dependent clauses (such as relative clauses and some types of temporal clauses) differ from those used in main clauses. Dependent verbs often have a tone on the first syllable. Sometimes this change of tone alone is sufficient to show that the verb is being used in a dependent clause.<ref>Mchombo (2004), pp. 17–18.</ref><ref name="Stevick et al. 1965, p.147"/> Compare for example:
*{{lang|ny|a-ku-gúla}} 'he is buying'
*{{lang|ny|á-kú-gúla}} 'when he is buying' or 'who is buying'

Other commonly used dependent tenses are the following:
*{{lang|ny|ndí-tá-gúla}} 'after I bought/buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-sa-na-gúle}} 'before I bought/buy'

There is also a series of tenses using a toneless {{lang|ny|-ka-}} meaning 'when' of 'if', for example:<ref>Salaun, p.70</ref><ref>Kanerva (1990), p.24.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ka-gula}} 'when/if I buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ka-dzá-gula}} 'if in future I buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndi-ka-má-gúlá}} 'whenever I buy'
*{{lang|ny|ndí-ka-da-gúla}} 'if I had bought'

===Verb extensions===
After the verb stem one or more extensions may be added. The extensions modify the meaning of the verb, for example:
*{{lang|ny|gul-a}} 'buy'
*{{lang|ny|gul-'''ir'''-a}} 'buy for' or 'buy with' (''applicative'')
*{{lang|ny|gul-'''ir'''-'''an'''-a}} 'buy for one another' (''applicative + reciprocal'')
*{{lang|ny|gul-'''ik'''-á}} 'get bought', 'be for sale' (''stative'')
*{{lang|ny|gul-'''its'''-a}} 'cause to get bought, i.e. sell' (''causative'')
*{{lang|ny|gul-'''its'''-'''idw'''-a}} 'be sold (by someone)' (''causative + passive'')

The extensions {{lang|ny|-ul-/-ol-}} and its intransitive form {{lang|ny|-uk-/-ok-}} are called 'reversive'. They give meanings such as 'open', 'undo', 'unstick', 'uncover':
*{{lang|ny|tseg-'''ul'''-a}} 'open (something)'
*{{lang|ny|tseg-'''uk'''-á}} 'become open'
*{{lang|ny|thy-'''ol'''-a}} 'break something off'
*{{lang|ny|thy-'''ok'''-á}} 'get broken off'
*{{lang|ny|mas-'''ul'''-a}} 'undo, loosen'
*{{lang|ny|mas-'''uk'''-á}} 'become loose, relaxed'

Most extensions, apart from the reciprocal {{lang|ny|-an-}} 'one another', have two possible forms, e.g. {{lang|ny|-ir-/-er-}}, {{lang|ny|-idw-/-edw-}}, {{lang|ny|-its-/-ets-}}, {{lang|ny|-iz-/-ez-}}, {{lang|ny|-ul-/-ol-}}, {{lang|ny|-uk-/-ok-}}. The forms with {{lang|ny|i}} and {{lang|ny|u}} are used when the verb stem has {{lang|ny|a}}, {{lang|ny|i}}, or {{lang|ny|u}}. ''u'' can also follow ''e'':
*{{lang|ny|k'''a'''n-'''ik'''-á}} 'fail to happen'
*{{lang|ny|ph'''i'''k-'''ir'''-a}} 'cook for someone'
*{{lang|ny|g'''u'''l-'''its'''-a}} 'sell'
*{{lang|ny|s'''u'''ngun-'''ul'''-a}} 'melt (transitive)'
*{{lang|ny|ts'''e'''g-'''ul'''-a}} 'open'

The forms with {{lang|ny|e}} are used if the verb stem is monosyllabic or has an {{lang|ny|e}} or {{lang|ny|o}} in it:<ref>Salaun, p.78.</ref>
*{{lang|ny|dy-'''er'''-a}} 'eat with'
*{{lang|ny|bw'''e'''r-'''ez'''-a}} 'repeat'
*{{lang|ny|ch'''o'''k-'''er'''-a}} 'come from'

Extensions with ''o'' are used only with a monosyllabic stem or one with ''o'':
*{{lang|ny|thy-'''ok'''-á}} 'get broken off' 
*{{lang|ny|t'''o'''n-'''ol'''-a}} 'remove grains of corn from the cob'

The extension {{lang|ny|-its-, -ets-}} with a low tone is causative, but when it has a high tone it is intensive. The high tone is heard on the final syllable of the verb:
*{{lang|ny|yang'an-'''its'''-'''its'''-á}} 'look carefully'
*{{lang|ny|yes-'''ets'''-á}} 'try hard'

The applicative {{lang|ny|-ir-, -er-}} can also sometimes be intensive, in which case it has a high tone:
*{{lang|ny|pit-'''ir'''-'''ir'''-á}} 'carry on, keep going'

Verbs with {{lang|ny|-ik-, -ek-, -uk-, -ok-}} when they have a stative or intransitive meaning also usually have a high tone:
*{{lang|ny|chit-'''ik'''-á}} 'happen'
*{{lang|ny|sungun-'''uk'''-á}} 'melt (intransitive), get melted'

However, there are some low-toned exceptions such as {{lang|ny|on-'''ek'''-a}} 'seem' or {{lang|ny|nyam-'''uk'''-a}} 'set off'.<ref>Hyman & Mtenje (1999b).</ref>

==Oral literature==
In 1907, [[Robert Sutherland Rattray]], who learned the Chinyanja language with the help of [[Alexander Hetherwick]] (author of [https://archive.org/details/practicalmanualo00heth ''A Practical Manual of the Nyanja language'']), published [https://archive.org/details/somefolklorestor00ratt_0/ ''Some Folklore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja''], a collection of texts in the Chinyanja language,<ref>Rattray, R. S.  (1907). ''[https://archive.org/details/somefolklorestor00ratt_0/page/16/mode/2up?view=theater Some Folklore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja.]'' The Chinyanja texts begin on p. 17.</ref> accompanied by English translations, reflecting the language heard in what was then Central Angoniland in the [[British Central Africa Protectorate]], now [[Malawi]]. 
The texts include cultural and historical narratives, along with folktales, including several stories about ''Kamba'', the trickster tortoise, and ''Kalulu'', the trickster rabbit (hare). These are some of the riddles:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/somefolklorestor00ratt_0/page/71/mode/1up?view=theater Rattray 1907], pp. 71-73 (English, pp. 153-156).</ref>
*"''Kantu kosanyamulika 'i? Chitunzilunzi.''" "A little thing, yet that cannot be lifted. A shadow." (#7)
*"''Ndamanga nyumba ndi mzati umodzi, n'chiani? Boa.''" "I built a hut with only one post to prop up the roof. What is that? A mushroom." (#11)
*"''Nyumba yopanda komo. Dzira.''" "A hut without a doorway. An egg." (#19)
*"''Mtengo adula lero, m'mawa mwache yuamba kupuka. Tsitsi.''" "A tree which you cut down today, and the next it begins to sprout. Hair." (#23)
*"''Kungatarikitsa, lero lomwe ukafika, n'chiani? Mtima.''" "However far away it be, this very day this thing reaches there. Memories." (#24)
*"''Pita uku, nanenso, ndipite uko, tikomane. Mkuzi.''" "You go in this direction, I go in that, and we must meet. Belt." (#25)
At the end of the riddle section, Rattray includes a version of the conundrum about the man who must cross a river with a goat, a leopard, and some maize, a traditional African form of the [[river-crossing puzzle]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/somefolklorestor00ratt_0/page/73/mode/1up?view=theater Rattray 1907], p. 73 (English p. 156).</ref>

==Literature==
{{main|List of Chichewa-language authors}}

===Story-writers and playwrights===
The following have written published stories, novels, or plays in the Chewa language:
*[[William Chafulumira]]<ref>[https://dacb.org/stories/malawi/chafulumira-william/ "Chafulumira, William"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731124003/https://dacb.org/stories/malawi/chafulumira-william/ |date=31 July 2018 }}. ''Dictionary of African Christian Biography''.</ref>
*[[Samuel Josia Ntara]] or Nthala<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no96061711/ |title=WorldCat list of Ntara's publications |access-date=31 July 2018 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731123821/http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no96061711/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[John Gwengwe]]<ref>[https://mwnation.com/whither-vernacular-fiction/ "Whither Vernacular Fiction?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731125433/https://mwnation.com/whither-vernacular-fiction/ |date=31 July 2018 }}. The Nation newspaper 26 May 2017.</ref>
*[[E.J. Chadza]]
*[[Lula Pensulo]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/@lula_pensulo|title=Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine|website=archive.org}}</ref>
*[[Steve Chimombo]]
*[[Whyghtone Kamthunzi]]
*[[Francis Moto]]
*[[Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers]]
*[[Willie Zingani]]
*[[Barnaba Zingani]]
*[[Jolly Maxwell Ntaba]]<ref>[https://mwnation.com/jolly-maxwell-ntaba/ "Jolly Maxwell Ntaba"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731124018/https://mwnation.com/jolly-maxwell-ntaba/ |date=31 July 2018 }}. The Nation newspaper 4 April 2014</ref>

===Poets===
*[[Jack Mapanje]]
*[[E.J. Chadza]]
*[[Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga]]
*[[Innocent Masina Nkhonyo]]

== Town Nyanja (Zambia) ==
{{see also|Nyanja language}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Town Nyanja
|states=Zambia
|region =[[Lusaka]]
|speakers=?
|date=
|ref=
|familycolor=Creole
|family=[[Nyanja language|Nyanja]]-based
|iso3=none
|glotto=none
|guthrie=none
}}

An urban variety of Nyanja, sometimes called Town Nyanja, is the lingua franca of the Zambian capital [[Lusaka]] and is widely spoken as a second language throughout Zambia. This is a distinctive Nyanja dialect with some features of [[Nsenga language|Nsenga]], although the language also incorporates large numbers of English-derived words, as well as showing influence from other Zambian languages such as [[Bemba language|Bemba]]. Town Nyanja has no official status, and the presence of large numbers of loanwords and colloquial expressions has given rise to the misconception that it is an unstructured mixture of languages or a form of slang.
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Chabota speaking Nyanja.webm|right|thumb|Zambian Town Nyanja.]]
The fact that the standard Nyanja used in schools differs dramatically from the variety actually spoken in Lusaka has been identified as a barrier to the acquisition of literacy among Zambian children.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=E|title=Investigating bilingual literacy: Evidence from Malawi and Zambia (Education Research Paper No. 24)|year=1998|publisher=Department for International Development}}</ref>

The concords in Town Nyanja differ from those in Chichewa described above. For example, classes 5 and 6 both have the concord ''ya-'' instead of ''la-'' and ''a-''; class 8 has ''va-'' instead of ''za-''; and 13 has ''twa-'' instead of ''ta-''.<ref>Gray, Lubasi, & Bwalya (2013), p. 11</ref> In addition, the subject and object marker for "I" is ''ni-'' rather than ''ndi-'', and that for "they" is ''βa-'' (spelled "ba-") rather than ''a-''.<ref>Gray, Lubasi & Bwalya (2013) p. 16.</ref>{{clear}}

== Sample phrases ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Chewa (Malawi and [[Mashonaland]] (Zimbabwe))<ref>Paas (2016).</ref>!! Town Nyanja (Lusaka)<ref>Phrases from Gray et al. (2013).</ref>
|-
| How are you? || {{lang|ny|Muli bwanji?}} || {{lang|ny|Muli bwanji?}}
|-
| I'm fine || {{lang|ny|Ndili bwino}} || {{lang|ny|Nili bwino}} / {{lang|ny|Nili mushe}}
|-
| Thank you || {{lang|ny|Zikomo}} || {{lang|ny|Zikomo}}
|-
| Yes || {{lang|ny|Inde}} || {{lang|ny|Ee}}
|-
| No || {{lang|ny|Iyayi}} / {{lang|ny|Ayi}} || {{lang|ny|Iyayi}}
|-
| What's your name? || {{lang|ny|Dzina lanu ndani?}}<ref>Maxson (2011), p. 112.</ref> || {{lang|ny|Zina yanu ndimwe bandani?}}
|-
| My name is... || {{lang|ny|Dzina langa ndine...}} || {{lang|ny|Zina yanga ndine...}}
|-
| How many children do you have? || {{lang|ny|Muli ndi ana angati?}} || {{lang|ny|Muli na bana bangati?}} (⟨b⟩ {{IPA|[ŵ]}})
|-
| I have two children || {{lang|ny|Ndili ndi ana awiri}} || {{lang|ny|Nili na bana babili}}
|-
| I want... || {{lang|ny|Ndikufuna...}} || {{lang|ny|Nifuna...}}
|-
| Food || {{lang|ny|Chakudya}} || {{lang|ny|Vakudya}}
|-
| Water || {{lang|ny|Madzi}} || {{lang|ny|Manzi}}
|-
| How much is it? || {{lang|ny|Ndi zingati?}} || {{lang|ny|Ni zingati?}}
|-
| See you tomorrow || {{lang|ny|Tionana mawa}} || {{lang|ny|Tizaonana mailo}}
|-
|I love you || {{lang|ny|Ndimakukonda}} || {{lang|ny|Nikukonda}}
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Atkins |first=Guy |date=July 1950 |title=Suggestions for an Amended Spelling and Word Division of Nyanja |journal=Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=200–218 |doi=10.2307/1156786 |jstor=1156786}}
* {{cite report |url=http://vanhise.lss.wisc.edu/ling/files/ling_old_web/lso/wpl/6/batteen.pdf |title=Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English code-switching |last=Batteen |first=Christopher |year=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090819/http://vanhise.lss.wisc.edu/ling/files/ling_old_web/lso/wpl/6/batteen.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016}}
* {{cite conference |last=Bickmore |first=Lee |year=2021 |title=Town Nyanja Verbal Tonology |url=https://lin.ufl.edu/files/ACAL-51-52-ho-Nyanja-Bickmore.pdf |conference=Annual Conference on African Linguistics 51-52 |location=University of Florida |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401024322/https://lin.ufl.edu/files/ACAL-51-52-ho-Nyanja-Bickmore.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2022}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Chirwa |first=Marion N. |title=Trill maintenance and replacement in Chichewa : a study on newsreaders' speech from three radio stations in Malawi |degree=MA |publisher=University of Cape Town |year=2008 |hdl=11427/10191}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Corbett |first1=Greville G. |last2=Mtenje |first2=Alfred D. |year=1987 |title=Gender Agreement in Chichewa |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277806727 |url-status=live |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.32473/sal.v18i1.107479 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101001001/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Greville_Corbett/publication/277806727_Gender_agreement_in_Chichewa/links/57feb09008aeaf819a5c3349.pdf |archive-date=1 January 2017}}
* {{cite book |last1=Downing |first1=Laura J. |title=The Phonology of Chichewa |last2=Mtenje |first2=Al D. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780198724742 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198724742.001.0001}}
* {{cite book |last=Goodson |first=Andrew |title=Johannes Rebmann: A Servant of God in Africa before the Rise of Western Colonialism |year=2015 |editor-last=Paas |editor-first=Steven |pages=239–250 |chapter=Appendix I: Salimini's Chichewa |orig-year=2011 |chapter-url=http://www.chichewadictionary.org/media/Goodson-Saliminis_Chichewa_2011-05-11.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809115104/http://www.chichewadictionary.org/media/Goodson-Saliminis_Chichewa_2011-05-11.pdf |archive-date=9 August 2018}}
*{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=Andrew |title=Town Nyanja: a learner's guide to Zambia's emerging national language |last2=Lubasi |first2=Brighton |last3=Bwalya |first3=Phallen |year=2013}}
*{{cite book |last1=Hetherwick |first1=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWsVAAAAYAAJ |title=A Practical Manual of the Nyanja Language |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |year=1907 |edition=2nd |access-date=25 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521143758/https://books.google.com/books?id=mWsVAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=21 May 2024 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Henry |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjY-AAAAYAAJ |title=A grammar of Chinyanja, a language spoken in British Central Africa, on and near the shores of Lake Nyasa |publisher=G. & W. Fraser |year=1904 |edition=2nd |location=Aberdeen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521143707/https://books.google.com/books?id=xjY-AAAAYAAJ |archive-date=21 May 2024 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Hullquist |first=C. G. |title=Simply Chichewa |publisher=Malamulo Pub. House |year=1988 |location=Makwasa, Malaŵi |lccn=91980803 |ol=1698904M}}
* {{cite conference |last1=Hyman |first1=Larry M. |last2=Mchombo |first2=Sam |year=1992 |title=Morphotactic Constraints in the Chichewa Verb Stem |url=http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/BLS/article/viewFile/1579/1354 |pages=350–364 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805181927/http://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/BLS/article/viewFile/1579/1354 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |book-title=Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on The Place of Morphology in a Grammar |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hyman |first1=Larry M. |title=The Prosody-Morphology Interface |last2=Mtenje |first2=Al D. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999a |editor-last=Kager |editor-first=René |pages=90–133 |chapter=Prosodic Morphology and tone: the case of Chichewa |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511627729.005 |isbn=978-0-521-62108-3 |editor-last2=van der Hulst |editor-first2=Harry |editor-link2=Harry van der Hulst |editor-last3=Zonneveld |editor-first3=Wim}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hyman |first1=Larry M. |last2=Mtenje |first2=Al D. |year=1999b |title=Non-Etymological High Tones in the Chichewa Verb |journal=Malilime: The Malawian Journal of Linguistics |volume=1}}
* {{cite book |last=Katsonga-Woodward |first=Heather |title=Chichewa 101 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4801-1205-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Kanerva |first=Jonni M. |title=Focus and Phrasing in Chichewa Phonology |publisher=Garland |year=1990 |isbn=0824018893 |location=New York}}
* {{cite journal |last=Kishindo |first=Pascal |year=2001 |title=Authority in Language: The Role of the Chichewa Board (1972–1995) in Prescription and Standardization of Chichewa |journal=Journal of Asian and African Studies |volume=62 |pages=261–283 |doi=10.15026/20144 |hdl=10108/20144}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Kiso |first=Andrea |title=Tense and Aspect in Chichewa, Citumbuka, and Cisena |degree=PhD |publisher=Stockholm University |url=http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:546594/FULLTEXT01.pdf |isbn=978-91-7447-542-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413225410/http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:546594/FULLTEXT01.pdf |archive-date=13 April 2021 |year=2012 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last=Kunkeyani |first=Thokozani |year=2007 |title=Semantic Classification and Chichewa Derived Nouns |url=https://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-15/file37805.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=15 |pages=151–157 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809032355/https://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume-15/file37805.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-09}}
* {{cite book |last1=Laws |first1=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/anenglishnyanja00lawsgoog |title=An English–Nyanja dictionary of the Nyanja language spoken in British Central Africa |publisher=James Thin |year=1894 |access-date=25 August 2012}}
* {{cite book |last=Lehmann |first=Dorothea |title=An outline of Cinyanja Grammar |publisher=Bookworld |year=1977 |isbn=978-9982-24-015-4 |location=Lusaka, Zambia}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Mapanje |first=John Alfred Clement |title=On the Interpretation of Aspect and Tense in Chiyao, Chichewa, and English |degree=PhD |publisher=University College London |url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1381825/1/388806.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190119/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1381825/1/388806.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |year=1983 |url-status=live |author-link=Jack Mapanje}}
* {{cite journal |last=Marwick |first=M. G. |year=1963 |title=History and Tradition in East Central Africa Through the Eyes of the Northern Rhodesian Cheŵa |journal=Journal of African History |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=375–390 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700004308 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Marwick |first=M. G. |date=January 1964 |title=An Ethnographic Classic Brought to Light |journal=Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=46–56 |doi=10.2307/1157361 |jstor=1157361}}
* {{cite book |last=Maxson |first=Nathaniel |title=Chicheŵa for English Speakers: A New and Simplifed Approach |year=2011 |publisher=N. Maxson |isbn=978-99908-979-0-6}}{{self-published source|date=September 2025}}
* {{cite book |last=Mchombo |first=Sam A. |title=The Syntax of Chichewa |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-57378-8 |series=Cambridge Syntax Guides |location=[[Cambridge]] |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511486302}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |year=2006 |title=Nyanja |encyclopedia=The Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |publisher=Elsevier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&dq=Mchombo+nyanja&pg=PA791 |last=Mchombo |first=S. |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Keith |pages=791–794 |isbn=978-0-08-087775-4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521143725/https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA791&lpg=PA791&dq=Mchombo+nyanja&source=bl&ots=SRivCbxFVc&sig=A5y7WrpJQN_NA0Vc4IeZrWyZhdI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwignaWd-b3VAhUjB8AKHbIhDw0Q6AEIPjAD#v=onepage&q=Mchombo%20nyanja&f=false |archive-date=21 May 2024 |editor-first2=Sarah |editor-last2=Ogilvie}}
* {{cite book |author=Missionários da Companhia de Jesus |title=Dicionário Cinyanja–Português |publisher=Junta de Investigaçôes do Ultramar |year=1963 |lang=pt, ny}}
* {{cite book |title=Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja/Chichewa: The first Chinyanja/Chichewa monolingual dictionary |publisher=Dzuka Pub. Co. |year=2000 |isbn=9990817812 |location=Blantyre, Malawi}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Mtenje |first=Al D. |title=Issues in the Non-Linear Phonology of Chichewa |degree=PhD |publisher=University College London |url=http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mtenje_thesis_web_p1-184.pdf |pages=1–166 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083351/http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mtenje_thesis_web_p1-184.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |year=1986a |volume=1}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Mtenje |first=Al D. |title=Issues in the Non-Linear Phonology of Chichewa |degree=PhD |publisher=University College London |url=http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mtenje_thesis_web_p184-end.pdf |pages=167–358 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092107/http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Mtenje_thesis_web_p184-end.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |year=1986b |volume=2}}
* {{cite journal |last=Mtenje |first=Al D. |year=1987 |title=Tone Shift Principles in the Chichewa Verb: A Case for a Tone Lexicon |journal=Lingua |volume=72 |pages=169–207 |doi=10.1016/0024-3841(87)90033-7 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Newitt |first=M. D. D. |year=1982 |title=The Early History of the Maravi |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=145–162 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700020508 |jstor=182054}}
* {{cite book |last=Paas |first=Steven |url=https://translate.chichewadictionary.org/ |title=Oxford Chichewa Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-041659-1 |edition=5th |location=Cape Town}}
* {{cite book |last=Rebman |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionarykinia02socigoog |title=A Dictionary of the Kiniassa Language |publisher=Gregg |year=1968 |orig-year=1877, Church Missionary Society}}
*{{cite book |last1=Riddel |first1=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8ExAQAAMAAJ |title=A Grammar of the Chinyanja Language as Spoken at Lake Nyassa: With Chinyanja–English and English–Chinyanja Vocabularies |publisher=J. Maclaren & Son |year=1880 |location=Edinburgh |access-date=25 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521143752/https://books.google.com/books?id=h8ExAQAAMAAJ |archive-date=21 May 2024 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Salaun |first=N. |title=Chicheŵa Intensive Course |publisher=Likuni Press |year=1993 |isbn=9990822190 |edition=3rd |location=Lilongwe}}
* {{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=David Clement |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnyan0000scot/ |title=Dictionary of the Nyanja Language |last2=Hetherwick |first2=Alexander |publisher=Lutterworth Press |year=1929 |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last1=Scotton |first1=Carol Myers |title=Learning Chichewa |last2=Orr |first2=Gregory John |publisher=Peace Corps |year=1980a |series=Peace Corps Language Handbook Series |volume=1 |location=Washington, DC |id={{eric|ED206157}}}}{{snd}}For recordings, see External links below.
* {{cite book |last1=Scotton |first1=Carol Myers |title=Learning Chichewa |last2=Orr |first2=Gregory John |publisher=Peace Corps |year=1980b |series=Peace Corps Language Handbook Series |volume=2 |location=Washington, DC |id={{eric|ED206158}}}}{{snd}}For recordings, see External links below.
* {{cite journal |last=Simango |first=Silvester Ron |year=2000 |title='My Madam is Fine': The Adaptation of English loanwords in Chichewa |url=http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/021/0487/jmmd0210487.pdf |journal=Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development |volume=12 |issue=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910035724/http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/021/0487/jmmd0210487.pdf |archive-date=2008-09-10}}
* {{cite book |url=https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/Chinyanja/Fsi-ChinyanjaBasicCourse-StudentText.pdf |title=Chinyanja Basic Course |publisher=Foreign Service Institute |year=1965 |editor-last1=Stevick |editor-first1=Earl |editor-link1=Earl Stevick |location=Washington, DC |editor-last2=Hollander |editor-first2=Linda |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307012900/https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/Chinyanja/Fsi-ChinyanjaBasicCourse-StudentText.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-07}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wade-Lewis |first=Margaret |year=2005 |title=Mark Hanna Watkins |journal=Histories of Anthropology Annual |volume=1 |pages=181–218 |doi=10.1353/haa.0.0001}}
* {{cite journal |last=Watkins |first=Mark Hanna |year=1937 |title=A Grammar of Chichewa: A Bantu Language of British Central Africa |journal=Language |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=5–158 |doi=10.2307/522167 |jstor=522167}}
* {{cite book |last=Woodward |first=M. E. |url=https://archive.org/details/avocabularyengl00rgoog |title=A vocabulary of English–Chinyanja and Chinyanja–English as spoken at Likoma, Lake Nyasa |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |year=1895}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{InterWiki|code=ny}}
{{Wikivoyage|Nyanja phrasebook|Nyanja|a phrasebook}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7efmEDocov0 President Lazarus Chakwera speaking in Chichewa] (1 April 2020).
* Tola Akindipe, George Kondowe, [http://chichewa.mofeko.com/ Learn Chichewa on Mofeko]
* [http://translate.chichewadictionary.org/ Online English–Chichewa Dictionary]
* [http://ny.kasahorow.org/app/d My First Chewa Dictionary] kasahorow
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chichewa.php Chichewa at Omniglot]
* [http://sasrc.com/chichewa/ English / Chichewa (Nyanja) Online Dictionary] 
* [https://archive.org/details/bukulopatulikand00murr {{lang|ny|Buku Lopatulika}} Bible, 1922 version digitalized]
* [https://www.bible.com/bible/1068/gen.1.bl92 Complete Bible ({{lang|ny|Buku Lopatulika}}, 1922, revised 1936) in Nyanja, chapter by chapter]
* [https://www.bible.com/versions/1708-blpb2014-chichewa-buku-lopatulika-bible-2014 Buku Lopatulika Bible, 2014 version]
* [https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_nya_gen-3 Johnson's 1912 translation of Genesis 1–3 into the Likoma dialect, in various formats]
* [http://mammana.org/bcp/chinyanja/ Johnson's translation of the Book of Common Prayer in the Likoma dialect (1909)].
* [http://islamhouse.com/ar/books/727529/ Holy Quran in Chichewa]
* [http://www.iu.edu/~celtie/chichewa_archive.html Recordings of pages of Scotton & Orr's ''Learning Chichewa''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011142213/http://www.iu.edu/~celtie/chichewa_archive.html |date=11 October 2017 }}
* Willie T. Zingani, [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/557edb36e4b0c3993dee95d1/t/5730f244c2ea515cf2bfdb9b/1462825565916/Zingane,+Idzani+Muone+.pdf {{lang|ny|Idzani muone}} "Come and see"] Chichewa book in pdf form.
* Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers, [https://archive.org/details/agoloso-presents-nkhokwe-ya-zininga-za-m-chichewa ]. Agoloso Presents – Nkhokwe ya Zining'a za m'Chichewa.pdf.
* Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers, [https://archive.org/details/agoloso-presents-mikuluwiko-ya-patsokwe ]. Agoloso Presents – Mikuluwiko ya Patsokwe.pdf.
* [http://www.language-archives.org/language/nya OLAC resources in and about the Nyanja language]
*[http://liveonlineradio.net/zodiak-radio Zodiak Radio live radio in English and Chichewa]
*[https://www.academia.edu/36910998/Chichewa-Chinyanja_Notebook M.V.B. Mangoche ''A Visitor's Notebook of Chichewa''] Elementary phrasebook.
*[http://listen.bible.is/NYJBLV/Matt/1/N Complete recording of {{lang|ny|Buku Loyera}} New Testament]{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (without text)

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