Zulu rules

commands
1. Ordinary verbs
  1. eg. Linda! - Wait!
2. When speaking to one person or people
  1. Drop the first vowel of the person/s being addressed
    1. eg. Ngena mfundi! - Enter Student!
  2. In plural the verb suffixes a -ni
    1. eg. Ngenani bafundi! - Enter Students!
3. Monosyllabic verbs
  1. prefix a yi-
    1. eg. Yidla Bafundi! - Eat Students!
4. Negatives
  1. Negative consists of musa and uku- to the verb
    1. Plural: the musa takes the -ni suffix
      1. eg. Musani ukudlala ibhola, bantwana! - Don't play soccer, children!
    2. eg. Musa ukudlala ibhola, mtwana! - Don't play soccer, child!
    3. If the verb starts with a, e, i, u the verb must take an ukw- prefix
    4. If the verb starts with o the verb must take an uk- prefix
Subject links
1. Prefixes
questions
1. Who = -bani
2. How= -njani
3. What= -ni
4. For what/Why = -elani
5. Where = -phi/kuphi
6. With who = nobani
7. When = nini
8. hey = na
9. by means of what/about what = ngani
infinitive
1. the verb prefixes uku-
  1. if the verb starts with an a/e the uku changes to ukw-
  2. if the verb starts with an o the uku changes to uk-
locatives
1. City or Town
  1. if the location ends with a ...... it takes a .......
    1. a = -eni
    2. e = -eni
    3. i = -ini
    4. o = -weni
    5. u = -wini
  2. the initial vowel becomes an e
2. place / property = a kwa- prefix in front of the place / property
3. personal noun = a k- prefix in front of the personal noun
4. to or from a personal noun: a k- prefix gets added
5. group 11 and 14 prefix an o-
Na and Nga
1. Na = and/ with/ even/ too/ also and can be used to show possession
  1. Na + a = Na; Na + e = Ne; Na + i = Ne; Na + o = No; Na + u = No
  2. Possession = Subject link + Na + Thing possessed
2. Nga = with or by means of / modes of transport (by) / time reference (at/ on/ in) / about and can (only used with verbs)
3. Nga + a = Nga; Nga + e = Nge; Nga + i = Nge; Nga + o = Ngo; Nga + u = Ngo
Possessives
1. Special cases
  1. ulu- + a- = lw-
  2. a + u = w-
  3. a + i = y-
  4. a + a = a-
2. personal pronouns
  1. Noun class prefix + a + -mi (my)/ -kho (your)/ -khe (his/hers)
Object links
1. Uya + object link + verb
2. Exceptions
  1. Weak links: U = -m-/-mu-; u = -wu-; i = -yi-; a = -wa-
Negatives
1. The verb takes an a- prefix
  1. Present = -i
  2. Future = -a
  3. Past = -anga
2. if the verb has a vowel at the start the verbs vowel take presidence
3. for the umu/um and u classes the prefix is aka-
4. a + u = awu for class 3
Tenses
1. Past
  1. verb takes -e (object after verb) or -ile (no object after verb) as a suffix
2. Present
  1. ya- is used when there is no object in the sentence
3. Future
  1. verb link + zo + verb stem
  2. when there is no subject= -zok- / -zoku-
Polite requests
1. requesting an object
  1. Ngicela ..... object
2. requesting to do something yourself
  1. Ngicela ..... uku- + verb
3. requesting that someone else do something
  1. Ngicela ..... u-/ni- + verb + -e
4. Negative
  1. Singular= U + nga + verb + i
  2. Plural= Ni + nga + verb + i

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Zulu rules

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	Created by Jethro Broughton about 9 years ago