On this page you will find some of the basics of isiZulu grammar – so if you are just starting out (or you need a refresher), you’re in the right place. It can be a bit overwhelming, so if you need to book some time with Mabhengwane to chat, please get in touch and we can discuss any or all of this!
The four parts of this page are:
a. How do you say ‘have’ in isiZulu?
b. How do I know who is doing what in a sentence?
c. How do I talk about people doing things?
d. How do I change a ‘yes’ sentence to a ‘no’ sentence?
a. How do you say ‘have’ in isiZulu?
In English, we add things together using the word ‘AND’. It’s a conjunction, meaning that it links two parts of speech, phrases or clauses together. There are some specific rules about using it, but generally it’s easy – if you want to add ‘bread’ to ‘cheese’ on a shopping-list, you say ‘bread AND cheese’.
In isiZulu, the thing that works the same way as this example is the formative NA-. As you can see, from the dash following the two letters, this word doesn’t exist by itself. What you can also see is that it ends with an -A-, a vowel. Every single noun in isiZulu begins with a vowel, and the A of NA needs to join with those vowels. This results in three different sounds occurring commonly. The following examples will show this more clearly:
The three sounds, then, are A, E and O.
You may be wondering where the combination of A+E is. You will never have to use that combination in isiZulu – not with na-, or with nga-, or with any of the other formatives.
So when you hear a word starting with ne- it means that the noun stem starts with an i-.
As well as being used to show that two things are being added together in a list, the NA- construction is used in the following way:
isiZulu doesn’t have a verb like English’s “to have”. This is the construction it uses to say that.
b. How do I know who is doing what in a sentence?
isiZulu has things called ‘concords’. The isiZulu term for them makes more sense than the English – izivumelwano means ‘what shows agreement between two things’. They are the bits you hear when someone’s speaking good isiZulu – the repetition of sounds that shows exactly who or what is the thing is the subject of the conversation.
If this sounds complex, don’t worry. There’s a cheat-sheet below, and we will be covering this in much more detail in the second module.
These little syllables are used to link nouns to verbs. They show who is doing the action, through the repetition of the sound associated with the class to which the noun belongs.
Add them to the beginning of verbs to make simple sentences. Listen out for them and follow conversations. Get to know them well – they pop up everywhere.
Footnote 1: There is always a workaround in languages, and one of these in isiZulu is to use ku- as a Subject Concord if you’re not sure about the subject, or when referring to an indefinite time or place.
c. How do I talk about people doing things?
d. How do I change a ‘yes’ sentence to a ‘no’ sentence?
In isiZulu, there is no separate word like the word ‘not’ in English.
Instead, all isiZulu verbs can be either positive or negative:
The easiest thing to spot (or hear) is the way that an isiZulu verb begins or ends.
If it begins with an a- and it’s a verb, then that verb is negative (rather than positive).
If that verb is in the present tense (like the one above), then there will also be the -i sound at the end of it, to tell you that the action isn’t happening.
Below are examples for all of the noun classes or combinations you are likely to see in the present tense.
