The Verb
The Basic Sentence
 
Introduction
 
Now that you have an understanding of the noun and verb, we can begin to put the two together and say something useful. If you remeber me saying earlier that the noun is the most important part of the sentence- you will see why just now.
 
Lesson 3
 
The word order for the Zulu sentence is exactly the same as in English. That is:
 
Subject + Verb + Object
 
The meaning a sentence is based on word order. So always subject first and then the verb second and then the object last.
Now, let us work. Please read these sentences.
Umfana ubona ikati.
USipho uthenga isinkwa.
Abantwana badlala ibhola.
Abafundi bafunda amabhuku.
Isigebengu sithatha imali.
Izigebengu zibulala uThabo.
 
In the above sentences we have the subject, followed by the verb and finalised by the object. But, there is an odd word between the object and subject. It looks a bit like the prefix of the subject- but not entirely.
This is called a subject concord. Get used to this word. It shows that the verb 'agrees' with subject. There are 15 different subject concords that a verb can take. These will vary according what the subject is.
 
The subject concord is determined by the subject’s prefix. This means that if the subject begins with 'isi-' then the subject concord will be 'si-'.

 

How to determine the subject Concorde

As said before, the subject concord is determined by the subjects prefix. Let’s go over each one:

Class and Prefix

Subject Concord

Example

1

um-/umu-

u-

Umfana ubona ikati

1a

u-

u-

Umama udla isinkwa.

2

aba-

ba-

Abantu bahlala ekhaya.

2a

o-

ba-

Obaba bafunda izindaba.

3

um-/umu-

u-

Umhlobo badlala ibhola.

4

imi-

i-

Imihlobo ibhema insangu.

5

ili-/i-

li-

Ilikati libamba igundane.

6

ama-

a-

Amasela abulala abantu.

7

isi-/isa-

si-

Isandla sibhala imisho.

8

izi-/iza-

zi-

Izibane zikhanyisa ikamelo.

9

in-/im-

i-

Inja iguguda amathambo.

10

izin-izim-

zi-

Izimpisi zihlasela ibhubhesi.

11

ulu-

lu-

Ufudu ludla utshani.

Cl. 12 and 13 not used in Modern Zulu

14

uku-

ku-

Ukudla kumnandi kakhulu

15

ubu-

bu-

Ububi buzala ububi.

For those that want a more detailed description, the below information is optional.
 
Umntwana uthanda ikati.
The child likes the cat.
um-/umu-
Umfana udlala ibhola.
The boy plays soccer.
Umfazi uthanda indoda.
The woman likes the man.
In this class, because it has an ‘m’- we drop the second syllable: ‘mu’.
So it becomes: ‘u-‘
 
Ubaba udla isinkwa.
Father eats bread.
UMandla ufuna amaswidi.
Mandla wants candy.
u-
In this class the prefix is just ‘u-‘.
 
Abafundi bafunda isiZulu.
The students learn Zulu.
Abadlali badlala ibhola.
The players play soccer.
aba-

In this class we drop the first ‘a’ so that the concord is ‘ba-‘.
 
Omakhelwane bacula iculo.
The neighbours sing a song.
Omama bapheka ukudla.
The mothers cook food.
ba-
In this class the prefix is just ‘ba-‘.
 
Umhlobo ubhala incwadi.
The boy writes a letter.
Umuhlwa udla uluthi.
The termite eats the stick.
um-/umu-
In this class, because it has an ‘m’- we drop the second syllable: ‘mu’.
So it becomes: ‘u-‘
 
Imihlobo idlala ibhola.
The friends play soccer.
Imihlwa idla imithi.
The termites eat sticks.
imi-
In this class, because it has an ‘m’- we drop the second syllable: ‘mi’.
So it becomes: ‘i-‘
 
Ibhubesi libulala izimpala.
The lion kills the impala.
Isifo siguyisa uJake.
The disease sickens Jake.
ili-/I-
In this class, we drop the first ‘i’ of ‘ili-’ so that it becomes ‘li-‘.
 
Amahhashi alanda abagibeli.
The horses carry the riders.
Amakati azonda izinja.
Cats hate dogs.
ama-
In this class, because there is an ‘m’ in it we drop everything but first syllable. So the concord becomes 'a’.
 
Isigebengu sibulala umuntu.
The criminal kills the person.
Isigijimi sithatha umbiko.
The messenger takes the message.
Isibankwa sidla imihlwa.
The lizard eats termites.
isi-
In this class we drop the first ‘i’ of ‘isi-‘ so the concord becomes ‘si-‘.
 
Izandla zibhala umbhalo
The hands write writing.
Izibonela zisizela abafundi.
The examples help the students.
izi-
In this class we drop the first ‘i’ so that the concord becomes ‘zi-‘.
 
Ukuzibulala kudabukisa umndeni
The suicide upset the family.
uku-
Ukuhumusha kusiza abafundi.
The translation helps the students.
 
In this class we drop the first ‘u’ so that the concord becomes ‘ku-‘.
 
Ubuhle bukhanga izinsizwa.
Beauty attracts young men.
ubu-
Ububi bucasusa izinsizwa.
Ugliness repels young men.
In this class we drop the first ‘u’ so that the concord becomes ‘bu-‘.
This is the end of the lesson. With enough practice one will easily learn the different concords and the ways of their use. It is suggested that one reads various Zulu material on the internet for some practice.

 
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