Omce you’ve begun to make sense of new words, the next thing is to think about how to count and number things. Luckily, Mabhengwane’s got you covered!
When you’re counting things, you’ll see that the ‘left-hand-numbers’ above have a dash before them. That’s because they don’t exist as separate words.
a. How do I describe things using numbers?
Have a look at the following examples and you will see how the number-words (in bold) have to agree with the nouns, using the adjective concord (in italics):
| omunye umuntu | one person (‘another’ person) |
| abantu ababili | two people |
| omunye umsindo | another sound |
| imithi emithathu | three trees |
| elinye ilanga | one day |
| amadoda amathathu | three men |
| esinye isicathulo | another shoe |
| izitimela ezine | four trains |
| enye imoto | another car |
| izinja ezinhlanu | five dogs |
When you count things using any numbers above five, you will need to alter the nouns first (using a copulative formative, indicated in bold) and then use the relative concords (indicated in italics) as in the following examples:
| abantu abayisithupha | six people (people that-are-six) |
| imilenze eyisikhombisa | seven legs (legs that-are-seven) |
| amalanga ayisishiyagalombili | eight days (days that–are-eight) |
| izicathulo eziyisishiyagalolunye | nine shoes (shoes that–are-nine) |
| izindaba eziyishumi | ten stories (stories that–are-ten) |
b. How do I make full sentences using the numbers?
Have a look at the following examples and you will see how you now adapt the word you created before by removing the first vowel. The absence of that first vowel makes the phrase into a full sentence or statement. The only exception is for the ‘moon’ or ‘seasonal’ nouns, where the e- is simply replaced with an i- to make the phrase into a statement.
| munye umuntu | it is one person (‘another’ person) |
| abantu babili | there are two people |
| munye umsindo | it is another sound |
| imithi mithathu | there are three trees |
| linye ilanga | it is one day |
| amadoda mathathu | there are three men |
| sinye isicathulo | it is another shoe |
| izitimela zine | there are four trains |
| inye imoto | it is another car |
| izinja zinhlanu | there are five dogs |
When you make statements or sentences about things using any numbers above five, you replace the relative concord with a subject concord (in bold) as follows:
| abantu bayisithupha | there are six people |
| imilenze iyisikhombisa | there are seven legs |
| amalanga ayisishiyagalombili | there are eight days |
| izicathulo ziyisishiyagalolunye | there are nine shoes |
| izindaba ziyishumi | there are ten stories |
c. How do I talk about the days of the week?
The days of the week follow the left-hand numbers, although the names of Monday, Saturday and Sunday are different. A day in isiZulu is u(lu)suku, which has the concord Lwe- (meaning ‘day of’). You’ll see it in the following list:
d. How do I talk about Months of the Year?
The amaZulu used to use a lunar calendar for the year, and so had 13 moons or months in 1 solar year. The 13th month was abandoned when the western calendar was adopted. These names for months of the year are becoming increasingly popular, in place of the Western names.
Each of these names has a story behind it, or an association with a certain thing that usually happens at that time of the year.
If this is all a bit much to process, please let Mabhengwane know – sometimes a short lesson or a few exercises is all that’s required to get you thinking about numbers and time in a Zulu way!