Talking about yourself

In this lesson, we learn how to say where we stay, where we come from and whether we work or study. The conjugating of the verbs involved is also explained.

Ngihlala eThekwini

uNandi: Sawubona Philani!

uPhilani: Yebo sawubona Nandi!

uNandi: Unjani?

uPhilani: Ngisaphila, wena unjani?

uNandi: Nami ngikhona.

uPhilani: Wena uhlalaphi?

uNandi: Ngihlala eThekwini, uhlala kuphi?

uPhalani: Mina ngihlala eGoli.

Before explaining the dialogue fully, the verb -hlala with its pronoun prefixes is given. Mina, Wena, Yena, Nina, Thina, Bona are used for emphasis, just as we can say, "Me, I live in Durban" in English. This means that Zulu is a pro-drop language like Spanish, Greek, and many others.

Pronoun	isenzo	isiNgisi
Mina	ngiyahlala	I live
Wena	uyahlala	You live
Yena	uyahlala	He/She lives
Thina	siyahlala	We live
Nina	niyahlala	You(pl) live
Bona	bayahlala	They live

Every verb is used in this manner, so for instance -sebenza means work so 'Ngiyasebenza' means I work. It needs to be noted here that ya is added in between subject concord, the ngi part, and the verb stem. This is only done when there is no expressed object or adjunct. It should be noted that writing 'Yena ngiyahlala' in Zulu is the same as writing "He stay" in English. Leaving out the subject concord, for instance, 'Mina hlala', is the same as "Me, stay!" in English, where the second word is a command. If the pronoun is used it must always agree with the subject concord. One way to remember the names of the pronouns is to think of them as Aunts, Thina (Tina), Mina, Nina. Say "Mina ngi, Thina si, Nina ni" aloud to yourself a few times.

isiZulu	isiNgisi
Uhlalaphi?	Where do you stay?
Uhlala kuphi?	Where do you stay?
eThekwini	At/in/from Durban
eGoli	At/in/from Johannesburg

The above table introduces the -phi affix which means where. It cannot stand alone so it is either added to the end of the verb or ku- is prefixed to it. Words in Zulu beginning with 'e' mean at somewhere. A list of places in South Africa is provided below.

isiNgisi	Pretoria	Cape Town	Johannesburg	Durban	Pietermaritzburg	Ladysmith
isiZulu	iPitoli	iKapa	iGoli	iThekwini	uMgungundlovu	uMnambithi

In principle, if we want to create the name of a place that we do not know the actual name for, we can take the English word for it and add an 'i' to the beginning of it. So London would be iLondon. To turn this into the place of/at/in London we change the 'i' to an 'e'.

Ngiphuma eFlansi

Jean starts talking to an older man. So to show respect he uses Sanibona and plurals.

uJean: Sanibona baba.

uNjabulo: Yebo sawubona.

uJean: Ninjani?

uNjabulo: Ngikhona, wena unjani?

uJean: Ngisaphila.

uNjabulo:Igama lami uNjabulo. Ungubani?

uJean: NginguJean.

uNjabulo: Ngiyajabula ukukwazi.

uJean: Nami ngiyajabula ukukwazi.

uNjabulo: Uphuma kuphi?

uJean: Ngiphuma eFlansi. Niphumaphi?

uNjabulo: Ngiphuma eKapa

Here in this example eFlansi is once again a locative and means in France. We have also introduced how to ask someone's name. Ubani means who? Ungu- means you are. So Ungubani means you are who or Who are you?

Another way to ask someone's name is Igama lakho ngubani?.

In general, this is the best way to express where you come from. Below is a list of countries.

Amazwe


Umbuso Uhlanganisile	iNgilandi	isiKotilandi	iWayelshi	iShayina

iSpeyini	iFlansi	iJalimani	iTaliya	iRashiya

iMelika	iKhanada	iZilandi Elisha	i-Ostreliya	iNingizimu Afrika¹

iZimbabwe	iAngola	iButswana	iNamibhiya	iMekisiko

¹ uMzansi is also used it is a loan word from Xhosa.

Also note that depending on where you are it might be acceptable to say iFrance or iSpain. This is true of large cities. But it will always be correct to use the terms above.

Ngiyafunda/Ngiyasebenza

The above conversation continues.

uNjabulo: Wenza msebenzi muni?

uJean: Ngingumfundisi.

uNjabulo: Ngingudokotela.

Ngingudokotela

isiZulu	isiNgisi	isiZulu	isiNgisi
udokotela	doctor	unesi	nurse
umkhandi	repairman	uthisha	teacher
umfundi	learner/student	umama	mother
ugogo	grandmother	umkhulu	grandfather
ubaba	father	usisi	sister
umgane	friend	umpheki	cook
umzali	parent	usisi	sister
umfundisi	preacher	ubhuti	brother
udadewethu	my/our sister	umfowethu	my/our brother
umyeni	husband	umntwana	child
yebo	yes	cha	no

If we remember one of the ways to say our name, NginguPhilani means I am Philani. The same applies for saying you are a doctor or teacher.

uThabo: Ngingudokotela.

uNosipho: Hhayi mina ngingunesi!

uZodwa: Wena ungudokotela na?

uThabo: Yebo, ngingudokotela. Umyeni wakho ungumpheki?

uZodwa: Cha, yena ungumfundisi.

This above dialogue illustrates that the pronouns and concords apply here too with -ng-. The na at the end of Zodwa's first sentence turns it into a question. So the sentence means: 'Are you a doctor?'. 'Umyeni wakho ungumpheki?' uses tone to indicate the question. -kho means your and wa- is for agreement. So the sentence means: 'Is your husband a cook?'.

Note The words that are underlined need to be learned for the lesson and the exercises.

Summary

We say where we live - Ngihlala eHillbrow.
We can ask someone where they live - Wena uhlalaphi? or Uhlala kuphi?
We know words for various cities in South Africa - iGoli iKapa etc or eGoli.
We can form synthetic names for cities that we do not know the real name for - iLondon or iParis.
We can ask someone what they do - Wenza msebenzi muni?
We can say what we do - Ngingudokotela.
We have learn various nouns for certain professions - unesi, umpheki etc.

Next step

Try the Exercise or go the next Lesson 3. Or alternatively, go back to the Index.