Zulu grammar
Encyclopedia
Zulu
grammar
is typical for Bantu languages
, bearing all the hallmarks of this language family. These include agglutinativity
, a rich array of noun class
es, extensive inflection for person (both subject and object), tense and aspect and a subject–verb–object word order.
Each noun class has a well-defined grammatical role, as well as a more loosely defined semantic one. The grammatical number
of the noun, whether singular or plural, is determined by the prefix; thus, all noun classes can be organised into singular and plural pairs. For example, all nouns of Class 7 (prefix isi-, e.g. isigqoko (hat)) have plurals from Class 8 (prefix izi-, e.g. izigqoko (hats)).
Examples:
Classes 14 (ubu-) and 15 (uku-) form an exception to this rule, as they have no corresponding plural classes (if necessary, plurals of Class 14 are formed from class 6. nouns of Class 15 have no plural forms).
Furthermore, the class of the noun determines the forms of other parts of speech, i.e. verbs, adjectives, etc. - their prefixes are derived from those of the substantive classes, and will be in agreement with them.
Examples:
In terms of semantics, groups of similar nouns belong to similar noun classes. For example, names and surnames are only found in class 1a. Designations of persons which are derived from verbs (e.g. singer, from sing) are commonly in class 1, abstract concepts (e.g. beauty) in class 14, loanwords in classes 9 and 5, and nouns derived from the infinitives of verbs (e.g. eating, from eat) in class 15.
The following table gives an overview of Zulu noun class, arranged according to singular-plural pairs.
!class!!prefix!!singular!!translation!!plural!!translation
|-
!1, 2
|um(u)-1, aba-2, abe-3 || umuntu || person || abantu || persons
|-
!1a, 2a
|u-, o- || ubaba || father || obaba || fathers
|-
!3, 4
| um-/umu-1, imi-2 || umlenze || leg || imilenze || legs
|-
!5, 6
| i-, ama-/ame-4 || iqanda || egg || amaqanda || eggs
|-
!7, 8
| isi-/is-5, izi-/iz-5 || isicebi || rich person || izicebi || rich people
|-
! 9, 10
| in-, izin-/izim-6 || inja || dog || izinja || dogs
|-
! 11, 10
| u-, izin-/izim-6 || uphaphe || feather || izimphaphe || feathers
|-
!14
| ubu-, (ama-)7 || ubuhlalu || bead || colspan=2 | –
|-
!15
| uku- || ukukhanya || light || colspan=2 | –
|}
1 umu- replaces um- before monosyllabic stems, e.g. umuntu (person).
2 ab- and im- replace aba- and imi- respectively before stems beginning in a vowel, e.g. abongameli (president).
3 abe- occurs only in rare cases, e.g. in abeSuthu (the Sotho) or abeLungu (the Whites, the Europeans) where it has a collective, not plural meaning.
4 ame- occurs only in two instances, namely amehlo (eyes) the plural of iso (eye; originally: ihlo), and ameva (thorns) the plural of iva.
5 is- and iz- replace isi- and izi- respectively before stems beginning with a vowel, e.g. isandla/izandla (hand/hands).
6 The placeholder N in the prefixes iN- and iziN- for m, n or no letter at all, i.e. in classes 9 and 10 there are three different prefixes, though only one per noun stem. Examples:
iN- = i-: iMali (money)
iN- = im-: impela (truth)
iN- = in-: inhlanzi (fish)
7 Rare, see above.
Suffixes do not bear tone, but may shift the tone-bearing syllable of the stem. Monosyllabic (short) prefixes do not bear tone, but disyllabic (long) prefixes do.
The (high) tone may be on either syllable of the prefix, depending on the tone pattern of the stem: on the second syllable if the stressed syllable of the stem is low tone, and on the first if the stressed syllable is high tone:
The verb stem and the suffix are always present, but the other parts are optional, i.e. their presence depends on the function of the verb in the sentence.
, such as I or he. Unlike personal pronouns, however, Zulu subject prefix cannot stand alone, but must be attached to a verb. Zulu does possess a set of independent personal pronouns; however, these are only used to emphasise the subject to whom they refer.
An example with the subject prefix si- and the personal pronoun thina (both meaning we):
There is a unique subject prefix for each grammatical person
and each noun class.
The non-initial subject prefixes (SP-) are used when a further prefix is attached to the SP, for example in the negative of certain tenses.
or indirect object of a verb (formal Zulu does not distinguish between these two cases). Just like the subject prefixes, object prefixes cannot stand independently, but must be attached to a verb stem. Independent personal pronouns can be used in conjunction with object prefixes as well, serving, again, to shift the emphases of the sentences.
Examples with the OP -m- (him/her/it) and the personal pronoun yena (him/her/it):
There is a unique object prefix for each person and noun class.
:
The only exception to this is the common verb stem -z-, to come, whose singular and plural imperative forms are woza and wozani respectively.
Examples:
:
Examples:
Several sound changes occur, when two vowels occur together. These include:
Note: Furthermore, the suffixe -a will be found with verb stems which end in w, never -i; e.g.: uku-nga-w-a.
:
The form -ya- is found when:
Examples:
In the participial form, the subject prefixes (SP) u-, ba- and a- of the classes 1, 1a, 2, 2b and 6 become e-, be- and e- respectively (SPP). The participial form is used, among others:
Examples:
In the subjunctive, the subject prefix u- of classes 1 and 1a (SP) becomes a- (SPS). The subjunctive is used
Examples:
describes the recent, although what is meant by 'recent' depends on the speaker. In the colloquial language, the perfect is often preferred to the preterite.
Formation of the perfect:
The long form in -ile is found when the verb is the last word in the sentence or clause, otherwise the short form in -e is used, with the -e- accented.
Examples:
Formation of the stative:
Examples:
Note that the form verbs with certain endings, the ending -ile is not used. These are:
1 This is a unique case, namely the irregular passive -bulaw- from -bulal-.
is used to indicate the distant past, the past preceding the perfect, and as a narrative perfect.
Formation of the preterite:
In the affirmative, because of the merger of the SP with a following a in the spoken language, the following subject prefixes result for the preterite:
Examples:
The consecutive is used to describe a sequence of consecutive events in the preterite, and differs from it only in the negative.
Examples:
I:
The marker of the future tense is the prefix zo- in the affirmative and the corresponding zu- in the negative. The form is constructed from the auxiliary verb uku-za (or with the auxiliary uku-ya) and the infinitive of the verb. So, ngiza ukusiza (I am coming to help) = ngizosiza (I will help), or, alternatively ngiya ukusiza (I am going to help) = ngiyosiza (I will help) - English (as well as French and others) has had a similar development, whereby the verb to go has become the marker of the future tense. To form the negative, the auxiliary verb is negated and then merged with the following verb, thus angizi ukusiza = angizusiza.
In the case of monosyllabic verb stems, as well as those that begin with vowels, the prefix -ku- is added to the stem – this becomes -k- before o and -kw- in front of other vowels.
Examples:
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
is typical for Bantu languages
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
, bearing all the hallmarks of this language family. These include agglutinativity
Agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view...
, a rich array of noun class
Noun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
es, extensive inflection for person (both subject and object), tense and aspect and a subject–verb–object word order.
Nouns
The Zulu noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem, though the prefix can be analysed further. Using the prefixes, nouns can be grouped into noun classes, which are numbered consecutively, to ease comparison with other Bantu languages. So, for example, the nouns abafana (boys) and abangani (friends) belong to Class 2, characterised by the prefix aba-, whereas isibongo (surname) and isihlahla (tree) belong to Class 7, characterised by the prefix isi-.Each noun class has a well-defined grammatical role, as well as a more loosely defined semantic one. The grammatical number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
of the noun, whether singular or plural, is determined by the prefix; thus, all noun classes can be organised into singular and plural pairs. For example, all nouns of Class 7 (prefix isi-, e.g. isigqoko (hat)) have plurals from Class 8 (prefix izi-, e.g. izigqoko (hats)).
Examples:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| umuntu (person) | abantu (people) |
| ugogo (grandmother) | ogogo (grandmothers) |
| igama (name) | amagama (names) |
| inhlanzi (fish) | izinhlanzi (fish) |
Classes 14 (ubu-) and 15 (uku-) form an exception to this rule, as they have no corresponding plural classes (if necessary, plurals of Class 14 are formed from class 6. nouns of Class 15 have no plural forms).
Furthermore, the class of the noun determines the forms of other parts of speech, i.e. verbs, adjectives, etc. - their prefixes are derived from those of the substantive classes, and will be in agreement with them.
Examples:
- umfana omkhulu (large boy)
- isihlahla esikhulu (large tree)
In terms of semantics, groups of similar nouns belong to similar noun classes. For example, names and surnames are only found in class 1a. Designations of persons which are derived from verbs (e.g. singer, from sing) are commonly in class 1, abstract concepts (e.g. beauty) in class 14, loanwords in classes 9 and 5, and nouns derived from the infinitives of verbs (e.g. eating, from eat) in class 15.
The following table gives an overview of Zulu noun class, arranged according to singular-plural pairs.
-
- {| class=wikitable
!class!!prefix!!singular!!translation!!plural!!translation
|-
!1, 2
|um(u)-1, aba-2, abe-3 || umuntu || person || abantu || persons
|-
!1a, 2a
|u-, o- || ubaba || father || obaba || fathers
|-
!3, 4
| um-/umu-1, imi-2 || umlenze || leg || imilenze || legs
|-
!5, 6
| i-, ama-/ame-4 || iqanda || egg || amaqanda || eggs
|-
!7, 8
| isi-/is-5, izi-/iz-5 || isicebi || rich person || izicebi || rich people
|-
! 9, 10
| in-, izin-/izim-6 || inja || dog || izinja || dogs
|-
! 11, 10
| u-, izin-/izim-6 || uphaphe || feather || izimphaphe || feathers
|-
!14
| ubu-, (ama-)7 || ubuhlalu || bead || colspan=2 | –
|-
!15
| uku- || ukukhanya || light || colspan=2 | –
|}
1 umu- replaces um- before monosyllabic stems, e.g. umuntu (person).
2 ab- and im- replace aba- and imi- respectively before stems beginning in a vowel, e.g. abongameli (president).
3 abe- occurs only in rare cases, e.g. in abeSuthu (the Sotho) or abeLungu (the Whites, the Europeans) where it has a collective, not plural meaning.
4 ame- occurs only in two instances, namely amehlo (eyes) the plural of iso (eye; originally: ihlo), and ameva (thorns) the plural of iva.
5 is- and iz- replace isi- and izi- respectively before stems beginning with a vowel, e.g. isandla/izandla (hand/hands).
6 The placeholder N in the prefixes iN- and iziN- for m, n or no letter at all, i.e. in classes 9 and 10 there are three different prefixes, though only one per noun stem. Examples:
iN- = i-: iMali (money)
iN- = im-: impela (truth)
iN- = in-: inhlanzi (fish)
7 Rare, see above.
Tone classes
Zulu nouns fall into four principal tone classes: L (low / no tone), HL (= high on monosyllables, high-low on disyllables, and high on stressed syllable of longer words, followed by low), HHL (= high on disyllables; high on stressed and following syllable, followed by low, on longer words), and LHL (= low-high on disyllables; high on syllable after the stressed syllable in longer words).Suffixes do not bear tone, but may shift the tone-bearing syllable of the stem. Monosyllabic (short) prefixes do not bear tone, but disyllabic (long) prefixes do.
- Long abá-ntwana, short ba-ntwana 'children'; long ába-fána, short ba-fána 'boys'.
The (high) tone may be on either syllable of the prefix, depending on the tone pattern of the stem: on the second syllable if the stressed syllable of the stem is low tone, and on the first if the stressed syllable is high tone:
- LH on L: abá-ntu 'people'
- LH on LH: isí-khathí 'time'
- HL on HL: ába-fó 'fellows'
- HL on HHL: ín-ꜝkósí 'chief' (ꜝ is a downstep due to an elided L in the prefix)
Verbs
In contrast to the noun, the Zulu verb has a variable number of components, which are arranged in sequence according to a defined set of rules. Examples of these include:- a subject prefix (SP), which agrees with the subject of the sentence
- a temporal morpheme, which indicates the tenseGrammatical tenseA tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
of the verb - an object prefix (OP), which agrees with the object of the sentence
- the verb stem (VS), which carries the underlying meaning of the verb
- a suffix, which can signify various aspects of the verb (e.g. tense or modalityModality-Humanities:* In law: the basis of legal argumentation in United States constitutional law* In theology: Modality : the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations...
)
The verb stem and the suffix are always present, but the other parts are optional, i.e. their presence depends on the function of the verb in the sentence.
Simple verb stems
Simple verb stems are ones to which no suffixes are attached that would alter the basic meaning of the verb. Examples include:| -w- | to fall |
| -dl- | to eat |
| -enz- | to make, to do |
| -nqamul- | to break [something] |
| -os- | to cook, to roast |
| -siz- | to help |
Complex verb stems
Complex verb stems are derived from simple verb stems by attaching various suffixes, thus changing the meaning. Thus, we can take the stem -enz (to make, to do) and apply a few common suffixes to get different shades of meaning. E.g.:| -enz- | to make, to do |
| -enzan- | to do something together |
| -enzek- | to be doable i.e. possible |
| -enzel- | to do something for someone |
| -enzis- | to bring someone for doing something |
| -enziw- | to be made, to be done |
Subject prefixes
In Zulu, a subject prefix corresponds to the subjective case of English personal pronounsEnglish personal pronouns
The personal pronouns in the English language can have various forms according to gender, number, person, and case. Modern English is a language with very little noun or adjective inflection, to the point where some authors describe it as analytic, but the Modern English system of personal pronouns...
, such as I or he. Unlike personal pronouns, however, Zulu subject prefix cannot stand alone, but must be attached to a verb. Zulu does possess a set of independent personal pronouns; however, these are only used to emphasise the subject to whom they refer.
An example with the subject prefix si- and the personal pronoun thina (both meaning we):
| Sihamba manje. | We are going now. |
| Thina sihamba manje. | We are going now. |
There is a unique subject prefix for each grammatical person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
and each noun class.
|
|
|
The non-initial subject prefixes (SP-) are used when a further prefix is attached to the SP, for example in the negative of certain tenses.
Object prefixes
In Zulu, the object prefix is used to designate the direct objectDirect
Direct may refer to:* Direct current, a direct flow of electricity* Direct examination, the in-trial questioning of a witness by the party who has called him or her to testify...
or indirect object of a verb (formal Zulu does not distinguish between these two cases). Just like the subject prefixes, object prefixes cannot stand independently, but must be attached to a verb stem. Independent personal pronouns can be used in conjunction with object prefixes as well, serving, again, to shift the emphases of the sentences.
Examples with the OP -m- (him/her/it) and the personal pronoun yena (him/her/it):
| Ngiyambona. | I see him. |
| Ngimnika isipho. | I give her a gift. |
| Ngimbona yena. | I see him. |
There is a unique object prefix for each person and noun class.
| Object prefixes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | -ngi- | -si- |
| 2nd | -ku- | -ni- |
| Classe | Singular | Plural |
| 1/2 | -m- | -ba- |
| 1a/2b | -m- | -ba- |
| 3/4 | -wu- | -yi- |
| 5/6 | -li- | -wa- |
| 7/8 | -si- | -zi- |
| 9/10 | -yi- | -zi- |
| 11/10 | -lu- | -zi- |
| 14 | -bu- | |
| 15 | -ku- | |
The imperative
Formation of the imperativeImperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
:
| without object | with object | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular: | (yi) - VS - a | OP - VS - e |
| Plural: | (yi) - VS - ani | OP - VS - eni |
The only exception to this is the common verb stem -z-, to come, whose singular and plural imperative forms are woza and wozani respectively.
Examples:
| without object | with object | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
| -dl- | Yidla! Eat! |
Yidlani! Eat! |
Yidle (inhlanzi)! Eat it (the fish)! |
Yidleni (inhlanzi)! Eat it (the fish; inhlanzi: cl. 9; OP: -yi-)! |
| -enz- | Yenza! Do |
Yenzani! Do! |
Kwenze! Do this! |
Kwenzeni! Do this! |
| -siz- | Siza! Help! |
Sizani! Help! |
Msize! Help him! |
Msizeni! Help him! |
The infinitive
Formation of the infinitiveInfinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
:
- Aff.: uku - (OP) - VS - a
- Neg.: uku - nga - (OP) - VS - i
Examples:
| Verb stem | Infinitive | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| -w- | ukuwa | to fall |
| ukungawi | not to fall (cf. note) | |
| -dl- | ukudla | to eat |
| ukungadli | not to eat | |
| ukuyidla | to eat it (e.g. inhlanzi, the fish; OP: -yi-) | |
| ukungayidli | not to eat it | |
| -enz- | ukwenza | to do |
| ukungenzi | not to do | |
| -os- | ukosa | to roast |
| ukungosi | not to roast |
Several sound changes occur, when two vowels occur together. These include:
| -nga- | → | -ng- | before vowels |
| uku- | → | uk- | before o |
| uku- | → | ukw- | before other vowels - this sound change occurs automatically in speech. |
Note: Furthermore, the suffixe -a will be found with verb stems which end in w, never -i; e.g.: uku-nga-w-a.
The present
Formation of the present tensePresent
Present is a time that is neither past nor future.Present may also refer to:- Time and timing :* Present tense, the grammatical tense of a verb* Before Present, radiocarbon dates relative to AD 1950* Presenting, a medical term* Presenteeism...
:
- Aff.: SP - (ya) - (OP) - VS - a
- Neg.: a - SP- - (OP) - VS - i
The form -ya- is found when:
- the verb is the last word in the sentence
- the verb contains an object prefix, and the object follows the verb
- the speaker wants to emphasise the factuality of the statement.
Examples:
| Uyahamba. | He is going. |
| Uhamba ekuseni. | He is going in the morning. |
| Akahambi. | He is not going. |
| Uyangisiza. | He is helping me. |
| Ungisiza namhlanje. | He is helping me today. |
| Akangisizi. | He isn't helping me. |
| Usiza uyise. Uyamsiza uyise. |
He is helping his father. |
The participial form
Formation of the participle:- Aff.: SPP - (OP) - VS - a
- Neg.: SPP - nga - (OP) - VS - i
In the participial form, the subject prefixes (SP) u-, ba- and a- of the classes 1, 1a, 2, 2b and 6 become e-, be- and e- respectively (SPP). The participial form is used, among others:
- to indicate simultaneity
- in subordinate clauses with certain conjunctionsConjunctionsConjunctions, is a biannual American literary journal based at Bard College. It was founded in 1981 and is currently edited by Bradford Morrow....
. - with certain auxiliary verbs.
Examples:
| Ukhuluma edla. | He talks while he eats (Eating, he talks). |
| Ngambona engasebenzi. | I saw that he was not working |
The subjunctive
Formation of the subjunctive:- Aff.: SPS - (OP) - VS - e
- Neg.: SPS - nga - (OP) - VS - i
In the subjunctive, the subject prefix u- of classes 1 and 1a (SP) becomes a- (SPS). The subjunctive is used
- in wishes and polite requests
- in sequences of requests
- with certain auxiliary verbs
Examples:
| Ngamtshela ahambe. | I told him he should go. |
| Woza lapha uzame futhi! | Come here and try it again! |
| Umane ahleke. | He only laughs. |
The perfect
The perfectPerfect
Perfection is a philosophical concept.Perfect may also refer to:- Music :* Perfect interval, a type of interval used in music* Perfect * Perfect , a band from Poland* "Perfect" , 1988 single...
describes the recent, although what is meant by 'recent' depends on the speaker. In the colloquial language, the perfect is often preferred to the preterite.
Formation of the perfect:
- Aff.: SP - (OP) - VS - e/ile
- Neg.: a - SP- - (OP) - VS - anga
The long form in -ile is found when the verb is the last word in the sentence or clause, otherwise the short form in -e is used, with the -e- accented.
Examples:
| Sihambile. | We went. |
| Sihambe izolo. | We went yesterday. |
| Asihambanga. | We did not go. |
| Asimbonanga. | We have not seen him/her. |
The stative
A range of Zulu verbs indicate a change of state or a process, which tends towards some final goal (cf. inchoative verbs). To indicate that this final state has been achieved, the stative verb, which is related to the perfect, is used.Formation of the stative:
- Aff.: SP - VS - ile
- Neg.: a - SP- - VS - ile
Examples:
| Uyafa. | He is dying. |
| Ufile. | He is dead. |
| Ngiyalamba. | I am becoming hungry. |
| Ngilambile. | I am hungry. |
| Siyabuya. | We are turning back. |
| Sibuyile. | We have returned. |
Note that the form verbs with certain endings, the ending -ile is not used. These are:
| Verb stem | Stative |
|---|---|
| -al-, -el- | -ele |
| -an-, -en- | -ene |
| -am-, -em- | -eme |
| -ath-, -eth- | -ethe |
| -as-, -es- | -ese |
| -aw-1 | -ewe |
1 This is a unique case, namely the irregular passive -bulaw- from -bulal-.
The preterite
The preteritePreterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
is used to indicate the distant past, the past preceding the perfect, and as a narrative perfect.
Formation of the preterite:
- Aff.: SP + a - (OP) - VS - a
- Neg.: a - SP- - (OP) - VS - anga (cf. the perfect)
In the affirmative, because of the merger of the SP with a following a in the spoken language, the following subject prefixes result for the preterite:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | nga- | sa- |
| 2. | wa- | na- |
| Class | Singular | Plural |
| 1/2 | wa- | ba- |
| 1a/2b | wa- | ba- |
| 3/4 | wa- | ya- |
| 5/6 | la- | a- |
| 7/8 | sa- | za- |
| 9/10 | ya- | za- |
| 11/10 | lwa- | za- |
| 14 | ba- | |
| 15 | kwa- | |
Examples:
| Sahamba. | We went. |
| Asihambanga. | We did not go. |
| Asimbonanga. | We did not see him/her. |
The consecutive
Formation of the consecutive:- Aff.: SP + a - (OP) - VS - a
- Neg.: SP + a - nga - (OP) - VS - a
The consecutive is used to describe a sequence of consecutive events in the preterite, and differs from it only in the negative.
Examples:
| Wavuka wagqoka wahamba. | He woke up, dressed, and went out. |
| Wabaleka wangabheka emuva. | He ran away and did not look back. |
The future I
Formation of the future tenseFuture
The future is the indefinite time period after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently exists and will exist is temporary and will come...
I:
- Aff.: SP - zo - (OP) - (ku) - VS - a
- Neg.: a - SP- - zu - (ku)- (OP) - VS - a
The marker of the future tense is the prefix zo- in the affirmative and the corresponding zu- in the negative. The form is constructed from the auxiliary verb uku-za (or with the auxiliary uku-ya) and the infinitive of the verb. So, ngiza ukusiza (I am coming to help) = ngizosiza (I will help), or, alternatively ngiya ukusiza (I am going to help) = ngiyosiza (I will help) - English (as well as French and others) has had a similar development, whereby the verb to go has become the marker of the future tense. To form the negative, the auxiliary verb is negated and then merged with the following verb, thus angizi ukusiza = angizusiza.
In the case of monosyllabic verb stems, as well as those that begin with vowels, the prefix -ku- is added to the stem – this becomes -k- before o and -kw- in front of other vowels.
Examples:
| Ngizokuza. | I will come. |
| Angizukuza. | I will not come. |
| Ngizokwakha. | I will build |
| Angizukwakha. | I will not build. |
| Ngizomsiza. | I will help him. |
| Angizumsiza. | I will not help him. |
Other tenses
Other forms, such as the pluperfect, the future II, the progressive forms or the conjunctive forms are somewhat complicated. They are formed with single or double uses of the auxiliary verb -ba-, to be, but in practical usage are abbreviated further.External links
- Analytical English-Zulu Zulu-English dictionary at Isizulu.net