iGrammar ncane (a little grammar)

Salibonani bangane (It is nice to see you/ hello friends). As always, if you are new, please read the siNdebele lessons from the bottom (scroll down) and work up to this, the newest post. As usual, the Ndebele words are in bold where possible and translated in brackets. After you have finished reading the blog posts at the bottom of this page, you can check out the other tabs at the top of the site such as the free Ndebele lessons. Lesson 4 is now out if you go to the lessons tab above or click here:

Sure, lamuhla sizakuxoxa izindaba eziGrammar (today we will chat about grammar). We hope you are enjoying learning Ndebele and you must feel free to ask questions at any stage in our journey.

Nouns

Plural nouns are often formed in Ndebele by using the prefixes:
o-
ama-
aba-
imi- and
izi-

for example:
ugogo/ ogogo - grandmother/ grandmothers
ilitshe/ amatshe - stone/ stones
umfana/ abafana - boy/ boys
umuzi/ imizi - homestead/ homesteads
indlu/ izindlu - house/ houses

Present tense

For grammar on verbs, see lessons 2 and 3 in the lessons tab. We just want to give you the present tense for 'to be' and 'to have' lamuhla. They are used as prefixes before nouns and verbs respectively.

to be:
ngingu - I am
ungu - you are
ungu - he/ she is
singo - we are
lingo - you are
bango - they are


to have:
ngile - I have
ule - you have
ule - he/she has
sile - we have
ule - you have
bale - they have

for example: ibizo lami ngingu... (my name, I am ...)
hawu, ulamandla babamkhulu! (wow, you have strength grandfather [father big]!)

Sure bangane, hamba kahle (sure friends, go well).