Grammatically, pronouns are like signposts – they refer to a noun, but don’t use the meaning-part of that noun to do so. In isiZulu, all pronouns refer to the noun class prefixes. In order to understand this section, you need to understand Noun Classes first. If you’re okay with those, then keep reading.
Pronouns are called izabizwana. A single pronoun is called isabizwana. The following are the most commonly examined izabizwana:
- isabizwana soqobo: absolute pronoun
- isabizwana sokukhomba: demonstrative pronoun
- isabizwana senani: quantiative pronoun
- isabizwana sobumnini: possessive pronoun
You will find them here in that order, although you can find the possessive pronoun in the last section of the page Possession Explained.
isabizwana soqobo: absolute pronoun
These are pronouns that mean ‘it’ or ‘they’ in almost all instances, except for the human ones. The absolute pronoun stands in for the noun, whether it is a subject or an object in the sentence.
As with all things related to the noun classes, there are 13 for the nouns, and an additional 4 for the humans. So there are 17 in total.
The following table shows what isabizwana soqobo looks like for these 17 different instances.
| noun example | prefix | subject concord | isabizwana soqobo |
| ngi- | mina | ||
| u- | wena | ||
| umuntu | umu- | u- | yena |
| si- | thina | ||
| ni- | nina | ||
| abantu | aba- | ba- | bona |
| umuthi | umu- | u- | wona |
| imithi | imi- | i- | yona |
| ilanga | ili- | li- | lona |
| amanzi | ama- | a- | wona |
| isitsha | isi- | si- | sona |
| izitsha | izi- | zi- | zona |
| inja | in- | i- | yona |
| izinja | izin- | zi- | zona |
| uthando | ulu- | lu- | lona |
| ubuso | ubu- | bu- | bona |
| ukudla | uku- | ku- | khona |
Your teacher will try to catch you out with any noun in the umu- (human), ili-, ulu- and uku- noun classes, because they are irregular. You can beat them!
isabizwana sokukhomba: demonstrative pronoun
These are pronouns that mean ‘this thing’, ‘that thing’ or ‘that thing over there’. As with the absolute pronoun, these words can stand in for any noun being used in a sentence – but they can also be used together with the noun in the following pattern:
umuntu: lo muntu / abantu: laba bantu
As you can see, the first vowel of the noun disappears.
There are three different demonstrative pronouns per prefix. So there are 39 forms that these pronouns can take (although some of them are the same).
The following table shows how these look for the 13 prefixes of the 8 noun classes.
| noun example | prefix | eduze this | buqamama that | kude that over there |
| umuntu | umu- | lo | lowo | lowaya |
| abantu | aba- | laba | labo | labaya |
| umuthi | umu- | lo | lowo | lowaya |
| imithi | imi- | le | leyo | leya |
| ilanga | ili- | leli | lelo | leliya |
| amanzi | ama- | lawa | lawo | lawaya |
| isitsha | isi- | lesi | leso | lesiya |
| izitsha | izi- | lezi | lezo | leziya |
| inja | in- | le | leyo | leya |
| izinja | izin- | lezi | lezo | leziya |
| uthando | ulu- | lolu | lolo | loluya |
| ubuso | ubu- | lobu | lobo | lobuya |
| ukudla | uku- | lokhu | lokho | lokhuya |
isabizwana senani: quantitative pronoun
These are pronouns denoting one of three things: ‘both’, ‘only’ and ‘all’. They can stand in for the noun, or they can follow or precede it in a sentence.
Have a look at the following table to see what they look like for the different prefixes and noun classes:
| noun example | prefix | -dwa only | -nke all, every | -*bili both |
| umuntu | umu- | yedwa | wonke | / |
| abantu | aba- | bodwa | bonke | bobabili |
| umuthi | umu- | wodwa | wonke | / |
| imithi | imi- | yodwa | yonke | yoyimbili |
| ilanga | ili- | lodwa | lonke | / |
| amanzi | ama- | odwa | onke | womabili |
| isitsha | isi- | sodwa | sonke | / |
| izitsha | izi- | zodwa | zonke | zozimbili |
| inja | in- | yodwa | yonke | / |
| izinja | izin- | zodwa | zonke | zozimbili |
| uthando | ulu- | lodwa | lonke | / |
| ubuso | ubu- | bodwa | bonke | / |
| ukudla | uku- | kodwa | konke | / |
These pronouns require some getting used to. Word order matters quite a lot, so see what you can make out from how it is used when you hear or read it.