You first met these things in the ‘Uyaphi?’ phrasebook section of the second module, but we only briefly looked at them – so here’s a more thorough explanation.
* In English, how do you show where something happens?
Generally speaking, the way you show where something is happening is by using one of the following words:
at, to, on, into, to, from, out of
These words are called prepositions, and they usually occur before nouns, as in the following prepositional phrases:
at home, from the shops, into the breach,
out of the frying pan, to the game reserve.
These phrases can’t stand on their own, and are usually accompanied by a verb phrase, such as
you are working at home
y’all brought it back from the shops
etc.
The verb contains the meaning of the sentence, and the prepositional phrase contains the direction or place in which the verb occurs.
* In isiZulu, how do you show where something happens?
IsiZulu needs to express exactly the same concept, and has the same elements to work with (an action, a direction, a thing), but there are some big differences:
* There are no prepositions in isiZulu
Apart from about 6 nouns used to show place, like ‘phansi’ and ‘phambili’, no prepositions exist in isiZulu. If you try looking up any of the words in the list above in an isiZulu dictionary, you will be disappointed.
* The specific direction/place of the action is part of the verb, not a separate word dealing with the noun.
If you think of the verbs as vectors (having magnitude/meaning and direction), it makes it easier to understand them.
* The noun is changed to show that the action is happening ‘relative to the noun’, with no precise implication about the direction of the action:
Yes, it does end with one of those sounds – Rule 4
In three parts of isiZulu, sound changes occur in the ends of words – in one verb form, and in two forms of the noun.
These sound changes will always involve one of the sounds listed on the previous page, and they follow a predictable path.
Here’s what happens with these sounds when you add the locative suffix:
Is the noun one of the exceptions?
As with all other languages, there are exceptions in isiZulu.
The following are words that only prefix the e-, without any suffix. They’re fairly common, so it’s a good idea to learn them.
This is a very complex concept in isiZulu, but it is not impossible to understand. Check in with Mabhengwane if you need more help to understand it.