Glossary
- futhi (conj.) - and, also
- iso (n. Irregular. Plural: amehlo) - eye
- kanti (adv.) - after all, however, nevertheless
- khona (adv.) - there
- -khulu (adj.) - big
- kodwa (conj.) - but, however, yet
- konke (quant. pron.) - everything, all
- nga- (prep.) - instrumental prefix
- ngesikhathi (conj.) - when, while
- nxazonke (adv.) - everywhere
- ukubabazeka (v.) - be admirable, be attractive, be beautiful
- ukubona (v.) - see
- ukufuna (v.) - want
- ukundiza (v.) - to fly
- ukunqoba (v.) - conquer, defeat, overcome, win
- ukuthanda (v.) - like, love
- ukuthinta (v.) - touch, contact, challenge
- ukuthola (v.) - find, get
- ukwahlukile (v.) - be different
- ukwazi (v.) - know, be able
- ukwenama (v.) - be delighted, be glad, rejoice
- ukwenza (v.) - do, make, cause
- umhlaba (n.) - world, Earth
- ushukela (n.) - sugar
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Grammar
Zulu has an SVO word order, but it is pro-drop, so the subject and object are optional. Adjectives and possessives follow nouns. Verbs agree with their subjects and optionally with their objects. The structure of the verb is subject-tense-object-root. The only tense prefix used here is ya-, present tense. Present tense isn’t always marked though. The infinitive prefix is uku-. Nouns in Zulu are all part of one of 14 noun classes. (They are numbered 1-17, but there are no 12, 13, or 16.) To make the noun plural, you change the noun class. The noun classes are grouped into singular and plural pairs. Adjectives and verbs have to agree with the noun class. Adjectives can be used attributively (“The white house”) or copulatively (“The house is white”). When used attributively, they use the prefixes shown in the table. When used copulatively, the first vowel of the prefix is removed. Adverbs are able to take a subject verb prefix. You can also form an adverb out of an adjective by attaching the prefix ka-. It is important to note that class 17 is the default noun class, and that class is used when there is no noun to agree with. Possessives are formed by attaching a possessive prefix to a noun or possessive stem. There can never be two adjacent vowels within a word, so when adding prefixes causes two nouns to be next to each other, they will change in certain predictable ways. A vowel could become a consonant, a vowel could be dropped, or the two vowels could merge. Noun prefixes
| Class | Singular | Plural |
| 1a/2a | u- | o- |
| 3/4 | um(u)- | imi- |
| 5/6 | i- | ama-, (ame-) |
| 17 | uku- | uku |
Adjective prefixes
| Class | Singular | Plural |
| 1a/2a | om(u)- | aba- |
| 3/4 | om(u)- | emi- |
| 5/6 | eli- | ama- |
| 17 | oku- | oku |
Subject verb prefixes (nouns)
| Class | Singular | Plural |
| 1a/2a | u- | ba- |
| 3/4 | u- | i- |
| 5/6 | li- | a- |
| 17 | ku- | ku- |
Subject verb prefixes (personal)
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | ngi- | si- |
| 2nd | u- | ni- |
| 3rd | u- | ba- |
Object verb prefixes (nouns)
| Class | Singular | Plural |
| 1a/2a | m-, wu- | ba- |
| 3/4 | wu- | yi- |
| 5/6 | li- | wa- |
| 17 | ku- | ku- |
Object verb prefixes (personal)
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | ngi- | si- |
| 2nd | ku- | ni- |
| 3rd | m- | ba- |
Possessive prefixes
| Class | Singular | Plural |
| 1a/2a | wa- | ba- |
| 3/4 | wa- | ya- |
| 5/6 | la- | a- |
| 17 | kwa- | kwa- |
Possessive stems
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| 1st | -mi | -ithu |
| 2nd | -kho | -inu |
| 3rd | -khe | -bo |
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