Phonology

One of the most distinctive features of Zulu is the use of click consonants. This feature is shared
with several other languages of Southern Africa, but is almost entirely confined to this region.
There are three basic clicks in Zulu:

c - dental (comparable to a sucking of teeth)

q - alveolar (comparable to a bottle top 'pop')

x - lateral (comparable to a click one may do for a walking horse)

These can have several variants such as being voiced, Aspiration (phonetics) or nasalisation so
that there are a total of about 15 different click sounds in Zulu. The same sounds occur in Xhosa,
where they are used more frequently than in Zulu.
Vowels are long when they are the stressed syllable.
Tonal

Like the great majority of other Bantu and African languages, Zulu is Tonal Languages|tonal;
that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said with
a rising or falling or high or low intonation. Yet, as in nearly all other such languages, it is
conventionally written without any indication of tone. As a rough rule of thumb, drop the voice
on the next-to-last syllable of each word, and lengthen that syllable as well.
Image:Zuludistrib.gif|thumb|300px|right|Provinces of South Africa in which Zulu is spoken as a
home language by a significant proportion of the population
Grammar
Some of the main grammatical features of Zulu are:

Constituent word order is Subject Verb Object.

Morphologically, it is an agglutinative language.

As in other Bantu languages, Zulu nouns are classified into fifteen noun class|
morphological classes (or grammatical gender|genders), with different prefixes for
singular and plural. Various parts of speech that qualify a noun must agree with the noun
according to its gender. These agreements usually reflect part of the original class that it
is agreeing with. An example of this is the use of the class 'aba-':
Bonke abantu abaqatha basepulazini bayagawula.

All the strong people of the farm are felling (trees).

Here, the various agreement that qualify the word 'abantu' (people) can be seen in effect.

Its verbal system shows a combination of temporal and aspectual categories in their finite
paradigm. Typically verbs have two stems, one for Present-Indefinite and another for
Perfect. Different prefixes can be attached to these verbal stems to specify subject
agreement and various degrees of past or future tense. For example, in the word
uyathanda ("he loves"), the Present stem of the verb is -thanda, the prefix u- expresses
third-person singular subject and -ya- is a filler used in short sentences.
Suffixes are also put into common use to show the causative or reciprocal forms of a verb
stem.

Most property words (words which are encoded as adjectives in English) are represented
by things called relatives, such is the sentence umuntu ubomvu ("the person is red"), the
word ubomvu (root -bomvu) behaves similarly to a verb and uses the agreement prefix u-,
but there are subtle differences, for example, it does not use the infix -ya-.

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 (youth) and abangane (friend) belong to Class 2, characterised by the prefix
aba-, whereas isibongo (surname) and isihahla (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 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-) have plurals from Class 8 (prefix izi-).
Examples:
Singular
umuntu (person)
ugogo (grandmother)
igama (name)
inhlanzi (fish)

Plural
abantu (people)
ogogo (grandmothers)
amagama (names)
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 youth)
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 (eg. singer, from sing) are commonly in class 1, abstract concepts (eg. beauty) in class 14,
loanwords in classes 9 and 5, and nouns derived from the infinitives of verbs (eg. eating, from
eat) in class 15.
The following table gives an overview of Zulu noun class, arranged according to singular-plural
pairs.
Class
1/2
1a/2b
3/4
5/6
7/8
9/10
11/10
14
15
1

Singular
um(u)uum(u)-1
iis(i)-5
iN-6
uubuuku1

Plural
aba- , abeoimi-2
ama-, ame-4
iz(i)-5
iziN-6
iziN-6
(ama-)7
2

um- replaces umu- before monosyllabic stems, eg. umuntu (person).

aba- and imi- replace ab- and im- respectively before stems beginning in a vowel, eg.
abongameli (president).
2

abe- occurs only in rare cases, eg. in abeSuthu (the Sotho) or abeLungu (the Whites, the
Europeans).
3

ame- occurs only in one instance, namely amehlo (eyes) the plural of iso (eye; originally: ihlo).

isi- and izi- replace is- and iz- respectively before stems beginning with a vowel, eg.
isandla/izandla (hand/hands).
5

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:
6

iN- = i-: imali (money)

iN- = im-: impela (truth)
iN- = in-: inhlanzi (fish)
7

Rare, see above.

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 tense 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 (eg. tense or modality)

The verb stem and the suffix are always present, but the other parts are optional, ie 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-dl-enz-nqamul-os-siz-

to fall
to eat
to make, to do
to break [something]
to cook, to roast
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. Eg.:
-enz-enzan-enzek-enzel-

to make, to do
to do something together
to be doable i.e. possible
to do something for someone

-enzis-enziw-

to bring someone for doing something

to be made, to be done

Subject prefixes

In Zulu, a subject prefix corresponds to the subjective case of English 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.
Thina sihamba manje.

We are going now.

We are going now.

There is a unique subject prefix for each person|grammatical person and each noun class.

Person
1st
2nd
Class
1/2
1a/2b
3/4
5/6
7/8
9/10
11/10
14
15

initial SP
Singular
ngiuSingular
uuulisiilubuku-

Plural
siniPlural
babaiazizizi-

Person
1st
2nd
Class
1/2
1a/2b
3/4
5/6
7/8
9/10
11/10
14
15

non-initial SPSingular
-ngi-wuSingular
-ka-ka-wu-li-si-yi-lu-bu-ku-

Plural
-si-niPlural
-ba-ba-yi-wa-zi-zi-zi-

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|direct object 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) und the personal pronoun yena (him/her/it):

Ngimbona.
Ngimnika isipho.
Ngimbona yena.

I see him.
I give her a gift.
I see him.

There is a unique object prefix for each person and noun class.
Object prefixes
Singular

Person
1st
2nd

-ngi-kuClasse

Plural
-si-ni-

Singular

1/2
1a/2b
3/4
5/6
7/8
9/10
11/10
14
15

-m-m-wu-li-si-yi-lu-bu-ku-

Plural
-ba-ba-yi-wa-zi-zi-zi-

The imperative

Formation of the imperative:

Singular:
Plural:

without object
(yi) - VS - a
(yi) - VS - ani

with object
OP - VS - e
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:

Stem
-dl-

-enz-

without object
Singular
Plural
Yidla!
Yidlani!

with object
Singular
Yidle (inhlanzi)!

Plural
Yidleni (inhlanzi)!

eat!

eat!

eat it (the fish)!

Eat it (the fish)

Yenza!

Yenzani!

Kwenze!

Kwenzeni!

Do

Do!

Do this!

Do this!

-siz-

Siza!

Sizani!

Msize!

Msizeni!

Help!

Help!

Help him!

Help him!

The infinitive

Formation of the infinitive:

Aff.: uku - (OP) - VS - a
Neg.: uku - nga - (OP) - VS - i
Examples:
Verb stem
-w-dl-

-enz-os-

Infinitive
ukuwa
ukungawa
ukudla
ukungadli
ukuyidla
ukungayidli
ukwenza
ukungenzi
ukosa
ukungosi

Meaning
to fall
not to fall
to eat
not to eat
to eat it (e.g. inhlanzi, the fish)
not to eat it
to do
not to do
to roast
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.
Furthermore, the suffi -a will be found with verb stems which end in w, never -i.
The present

Formation of the present|present tense:

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.
Uhamba ekuseni.
Akahambi.
Uyangisiza.
Ungisiza namhlanje.
Akangisizi.
Usiza uyise.
Uyamsiza uyise.

He is going.
He is going in the morning.
He is not going.
He is helping me.
He is helping me today.
He isn't helping me.
He is helping his father.

The participial form

Formation of the participial|participle form:

Aff.: SPP - (OP) - VS - a
Neg.: SPP - nga - (OP) - VS - i
In the participial form, the subject prefixes u-, ba- and a- of the classes 1, 1a, 2, 2b and 6 become
e-, be- and e- respectively. The participial form is used, among others:

to indicate simultaneity

in subordinate clauses with certain conjunctions|conjunction.

with certain auxiliary verbs.

Examples:
Ukhuluma edla.
Ngambona engasebenzi.

He talks while he eats (Eating, he talks).

I saw that he was not working

The subjunctive

Formation of the subjunctive:

Aff.: SCS - (OP) - VS - e
Neg.: SCS - nga - (OP) - VS - i
In the subjunctive, the subject prefix u- of classes 1 and 1a becomes a-. The subjunctive is used

in wishes and polite requests

in sequences of requests

with certain auxiliary verbs

Beispiele:
Ngamtshela ahambe.
Woza lapha uzame futhi!
Umane ahleke.

I told him he should go.

Come here and try it again!
He only laughs.

The perfect

The perfect|perfect tense 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.
Sihambe izolo.
Asihambanga.
Asimbonanga.

We went.
We went yesterday.
We did not go.
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|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.
Ufile.
Ngiyalamba.
Ngilambile.
Siyabuya.
Sibuyile.

He is dying.
He is dead.
I am becoming hungry.
I am hungry.
We are turning back.
We have returned.

Note that the form verbs with certain endings, the ending -ile is not used. These are:
Verb stem

Stative

-al-, -el-an-, -en-am-, -em-ath-, -eth-as-, -es-aw-1

1

-ele
-ene
-eme
-ethe
-ese
-ewe

This is a unique case, namely the irregular passive -bulaw- from -bulal-.

The preterite

The preterite 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
In the affirmative, because of the merger of the of the SP with a following a in the spoken
language, the following subject prefixes result for the preterite:
Person
1.
2.

Singular
ngawa-

Class
1/2
1a/2b
3/4
5/6
7/8
9/10
11/10
14

Plural
sana-

Singular
wawawalasayalwaba-

Plural
babayaazazaza-

15

kwa-

Examples:
Sahamba.
Asihambanga.
Asimbonanga.

We went.
We did not go.
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.
Wabaleka wangabheka emuva.

He woke up, dressed, and went out.

He ran away and did not look back.

The future I

Formation of the future|future tense I:

Aff.: SP - zo - (OP) - (ku) - VS - a
Neg.: a - SP- - zu - (ku)- (OP) - VS - a
The marker of the future tense is the infix zo- in the affirmative and the corresponding -zu- in the
negative. The form is constructed from the auxiliary verb uku-za (or with the auxilairy 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.
Angizukuza.
Ngizokwakha.
Angizukwakha.

I will come.
I will not come.
I will build
I will not build.

Ngizomsiza.
Angizumsiza.

I will help him.

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.
Phrases
The following is a list of phrases that can be used when visiting a region where the primary
language is Zulu.
Sawubona
Sanibonani
Unjani? / Ninjani?
Ngisaphila /
Sisaphila
Ngiyabonga
(kakhulu)
Ngubani igama
lakho?
Igama lami ngu...
Isikhathi sithini?
Ngingakusiza?
Uhlala kuphi?
Uphumaphi?
Hamba kahle / Sala
kahle
Hambani kahle /
Salani kahle
Eish!

Hello, to one person

Hello, to a group of people
How are you (sing.)? / How are you (pl.)?
I'm okay / We're okay
Thanks (a lot)
What is your name?
My name is...
What's the time?
Can I help you?
Where do you stay?
Where are you from?
Go well / Stay well (used as goodbye)
Go well / Stay well, to a group of people
Wow! (No real European equivalent, used in South African English) (you
could try a semi-expletive, such as oh my God or what the f*ck. It expresses
a notion of shock and surprise)
No! / Stop! / No way! (used in South African English too)
Yes
No
I don't know

Hhayibo
Yebo
Cha
Angazi
Ukhuluma isiNgisi
Do you speak English?
na?
Ngisaqala ukufunda
I've just started learning Zulu
isiZulu

Sample text
(From the preamble to the Constitution of South Africa|South African Constitution)
Thina, bantu baseNingizimu Afrika, 'Siyakukhumbula ukucekelwa phansi kwamalungelo
okwenzeka eminyakeni eyadlula; 'Sibungaza labo abahluphekela ubulungiswa nenkululeko kulo
mhlaba wethu; 'Sihlonipha labo abasebenzela ukwakha nokuthuthukisa izwe lethu; futhi
'Sikholelwa ekutheni iNingizimu Afrika ingeyabo bonke abahlala kuyo, sibumbene nakuba
singafani.
Translation:
We, the people of South Africa, Recognize the injustices of our past; Honor those who suffered
for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our
country; and Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.
Common place names in Zulu
Zulu place names usually occur in their locative form, which combines what would in English be
separate prepositions with the name concerned. This is usually achieved by simply replacing the
i- prefix with an e- prefix (for example, 'eGoli' translates literally as 'to/at/in/from Johannesburg'
when iGoli is simply Johannesburg), but changes in the name can also occur (see Durban below).
The locatives are given in brackets.

South Africa - iNingizimu Afrika / uMzansi Afrika

Durban - iTheku (eThekwini)

Johannesburg - iGoli (eGoli)

Cape Town - iKapa (Cape Town|eKapa)

Pretoria - iPitoli (ePitoli)

Pietermaritzburg - uMgungundlovu (eMgungundlovu)

Ladysmith - uMnambithi (eMnambithi)

Overseas - phesheya

The 'Zulu'/'isiZulu' debate

The Zulu language is called 'isiZulu' in Zulu, 'isi-' being the prefix associated with languages
(e.g., isiNgisi = English, isiXhosa = Xhosa, isiBhunu = Afrikaans, isiJalimane = German, etc.).

The root word Zulu can take many other forms in Zulu, each with a different meaning. Here is a
table showing how the meanings of two roots - Zulu and ntu - change according to their prefix.
Prefix

-zulu

-ntu

um(u)

umZulu (a Zulu person)

umuntu (a person)

ama, aba

amaZulu (Zulu people)

abantu (people)

isi

isiZulu (the Zulu language)

isintu (culture, heritage, mankind)

ubu

ubuntu (humanity, compassion)

kwa

kwaZulu (place of the Zulu people)

i(li)

izulu (the weather/sky/heaven)

pha

phezulu (on top)

ezulwini (in, at, to, from heaven)

Some prefer to call Zulu isiZulu in English as per the Zulu name for the language. This is similar
to the practice of calling Swahili Kiswahili, but many languages are not called by their native
names in English, like German (which is Deutsch in German) and Japanese (which is Nihongo in
Japanese).
Zulu words in South African English
South African English has absorbed many words from the Zulu language. Others, such as the
names of local animals (impala and mamba are both Zulu names) have made their way into
standard English language|English. A few examples of Zulu words used in South African
English:

Muti (from umuthi) - medicine

Donga (ditch)|Donga (from udonga) - ditch (udonga actually means 'wall' in Zulu)

Indaba - conference (it means 'an item of news' in Zulu)

inDuna - chief or leader

Shongololo (from ishongololo) - millipede

ubuntu (ideology)|Ubuntu - compassion/humanity