It’s really important to know which questions you are asking and answering! isiZulu divides questions into three categories: what (-ni?); which or where (-phi?); and how many (-ki?). All three of these will be the last thing you hear in a rising question tone, following the more specific aspect of the question.
1. What? and its variations
a. Yini?
The most common form of ‘what?’ question is ‘Yini?’ This means: ‘What is it?’ or ‘What’s wrong?’
The answer is usually a noun, most correctly with a copulative formative (indicated in bold) added as in the following table:
| yini | it is what thing? |
| ngumuntu / umuntu | it’s a person / a person |
| yimali / imali | it’s money / money |
| ngubisi / lubisi / ubisi | it’s milk / milk |
| ngamanzi / amanzi | it’s water / water |
b. Ubani?
The second most common version of ‘what’ is ‘Ubani?’ or ‘Ngubani?’ This means: ‘What person is it?’ or ‘Who is it?’ Again, the answer can either be the person’s name on its own, or with ng– before it (nguMabhengwane / uMabhengwane).
c. …-ni?
The third most common version of ‘what’ is adding ‘…-ni?’ to the end of a verb-phrase (in italics), as you can see in the following table:
| ufunani? | you-look-for-what? |
| ubonani? | you-see-what? |
| nizophuzani? | you-all-will-drink-what? |
| sidleni? | we-did-eat-what? |
| bangakwenzani | they-can-do-what? |
d. …elani?
A variation of the previous question, this one translates directly to ‘for-what-reason?’ or ‘for-what-purpose’, as in the following table:
| izinkomo zihlalelani? | the-cows they-sit-for-what? why are the cows sitting? |
| abantu bayithengeleni? | the people they-it-bought-for-what? why did the people buy it? |
e. -njani?
This is a combination of the descriptive particle -nja or -nje and the question-bit -ni?. So it literally means ‘resembling what?’ or ‘like what?’, but is frequently a translation for ‘describe this?’, but have a look at the following table to understand it better:
| -njani? zinjani izinto? banjani abantwana? kunjani? | -resembling-what? / -like-what? how are things? how are the children? how’s it? |
| kanjani? uhamba kanjani? | in-manner-resembling-what? how are you going? |
f. Ngani?
This one is a combination of -nga- and -ni?, and unfortunately -nga- has two very common meanings that are very different. Have a look at the following table to see if it helps you understand:
| … ngani? ukhuluma ngani? bamfuna ngani? | … about-what? you-speak about-what? they-him-want about-what (what do they want him for?) |
| … ngani? uhamba ngani? ngihamba ngemoto. ubhala ngani? ngibhala ngepeni. | … using what? you-travel using what? I-travel using-car you-write using-what? I-write using-pen |
g. Nini?
This is the strangest one in the list, since it means ‘when?’ in English. It can be used on its own, but it is usually part of a verb phrase.
2. Which? and its variations
a. yiphi, muphi, baphi, ziphi etc.
These are all variations of ‘which thing?’ or ‘which things’, made to agree with the thing concerned. The following table will help (just remember that the word in brackets is standing in for any noun in the same noun class):
| muphi (umuntu)? | which person? |
| baphi (abantu)? | which people? |
| muphi (umuthi)? | which medicine? |
| miphi (imithi)? | which trees? |
| liphi (iphoyisa)? | which police officer? |
| maphi (amadoda)? | which men? |
| siphi (isandla)? | which hand? |
| ziphi (izicathulo)? | which shoes? |
| iphi (inja)? | which dog? |
| ziphi (izindaba)? | which stories? |
| luphi (ukhetho)? | which election? |
| buphi (utshwala)? | which alcohol? |
| kuphi (ukudla)? | which food? |
b. kuphi? and …-phi?
This question word is used to ask ‘where?’ something is or where something happens. It is actually asking ‘which place?’, in case you were wondering how it links to the previous section. As you can see, it is frequently put on the end of a verb that already has direction as part of its meaning. You can also add -elaphi? to any other verb if you want to know where that action happens. The table below refers:
| ukuphi? bakuphi? | where are you? where are they? |
| uyaphi? | you-got-to-where? where are you going to? |
| usebenzelaphi? | you-work-at-where? where do you work? |
3. How Many? and its variations
-ki is not as richly developed as the other question-bits. But it does occur in the following phrases:
| -ngaki? bangaki (abantu)? zingaki (izinto)? mangaki (amadoda)? | -how many? how many people are there? how many things are there? how many men are there? |
| kangaki usebenza kangaki ngeSonto? | how many times? how often? you-work how-often on-Sunday? |