1. Let’s look at colours first: isiZulu has an amazing range of colours, most of which form part of the tradition of naming Nguni cattle according to their characteristic markings. Here are some essential ones:
All of these words are derived from things that have the colours as one of their primary attributes (or by altering the basic colours in some way). You’ll see that these words have a dash in front of them – that’s because they are never seen on their own, and have to agree with the nouns they are describing.
a. How do I describe stuff using the colours?
Have a look at the following table and you will see how you can describe stuff using the relative concord (in bold)and the colour-words above:
| ubhatata obomvu | a red sweet potato |
| abantu abamhlophe | white people |
| umuthi onsundu | a brown tree |
| imithi eluhlaza | green trees |
| ihlo elibomvu | a red eye |
| amehlo amnyama | black eyes |
| isikhwama esimpofu | a yellowish-grey bag |
| izandla ezimhlophe | white hands |
| inja emhloshana | a pale grey dog |
| izinja ezimnyamana | dark grey dogs |
| ubisi olumhlophe | white milk |
| uboya obuwolintshi | orange fur |
| ukudla okuliphuzi | yellow food |
b. How do I make statements using the colours?
You replace the relative concord with the subject concord (in bold) as in the following table:
| ubhatata ubomvu | the sweet potato is red |
| abantu bamhlophe | the people are white |
| umuthi unsundu | the tree is brown |
| imithi iluhlaza | the trees are green |
| ihlo libomvu | the eye is red |
| amehlo amnyama | the eyes are black |
| isikhwama simpofu | the bag is yellowish-grey |
| izandla zimhlophe | the hands are white |
| inja imhloshana | the dog is pale-grey |
| izinja zimnyamana | the dogs are dark grey |
| ubisi lumhlophe | the milk is white |
| uboya buwolintshi | the fur is orange |
| ukudla kuliphuzi | the food is yellow |
2. Now let’s look at more basic description: isiZulu is a wonderfully descriptive language, often using sound-effects, metaphor and keen observation of human beings and the world around them to create pathos and humour – as well as to tell a story.
a. How do I describe things in terms of basic qualities?
Let’s look at essential qualities first. These are called iziphawulo, and there are only 4 pairs of them. They work the same way as the ‘left-hand-numbers’, but they are focused on quality rather than quantity.
You’ll see that they all have a dash before them. This means that they never occur on their own. They need to be made to agree with the noun they are describing. You show the agreement using an adjectival concord (in bold), as in the following table:
| umuntu omude | a tall person |
| abantu abafushane | short people |
| umuthi omkhulu | a big tree |
| imithi emincane | small trees |
| ilanga elihle | a good day |
| amalanga amabi | bad days |
| isangoma esisha | a new isangoma |
| izangoma ezindala | old izangoma |
| inja enhle | a good dog |
| izinja ezimbi | bad dogs |
| ubisi olusha | fresh milk |
| ubuso obukhulu | a big face |
| ukudla okuncane | a little bit of food |
b. How do I make statements about things using the basic qualities?
You take the phrase you made for description, and you remove the first vowel. The only exception is that you change the first sound of the ‘moon’ nouns to an i- instead of an e-. Have a look at the following table to see how it works.
| umuntu mude | person is tall |
| abantu bafushane | people are short |
| umuthi mkhulu | tree is big |
| imithi mincane | trees are small |
| ilanga lihle | day is good |
| amalanga mabi | days are bad |
| isangoma sisha | isangoma is new |
| izangoma zindala | izangoma are old |
| inja inhle | dog is good |
| izinja zimbi | dogs are bad |
| ubisi lusha | milk is fresh |
| ubuso bukhulu | face is big |
| ukudla kuncane | food is a little |
3. Now we’re going to try more advanced description. For this, you’re going to be using the same rules as for colours! Here’s a list of some common descriptive words, as well as a table showing a few examples of them in use.
And here’s a table to show how these are used:
| kulula / akulula kunzima / akunzima | it’s easy / it’s not easy it’s difficult / it’s not difficult |
| injani? inje | what’s it like? it’s like this |
| izingubo zimanzi | the clothes are wet |
| abantu abaqotho abantu baqotho | honest people people are honest |
| umfula ubanzi umfula obanzi | the river is wide the wide river |
| isiZulu silukhuni! cha, asilukhuni | isiZulu is difficult! no, it’s not difficult |
| ufuna okungakanani? ngifuna okungaka angifuni okungako | what size do you want? I want something as big as this I don’t want something as big as that |
| la madoda aqatha! | these men are strong! |
In summary – there are many different ways to describe things in isiZulu, but broadly speaking you either have the 8 binary opposites or the more specific colours, texts and qualities. Remember that the words never occur by themselves, and must always agree with the thing they are describing.