Difference between revisions of "Zulu"

Revision as of 17:34, 4 January 2008

"uyambona"

"u-ya-m-bon-a"

he is seeing her

u - subject morpheme
ya - tense marker of present tense (the so called "long form")
m - subject morpheme
-bona - verb stem consisting of bon - verb root and -a the categorial morpheme^[1]

u-baba u-bon-a um-ntwana

the father sees the child

u-baba aka-bon-i um-ntwana

the father doesn't see the child

u-baba u-zo-bon-a um-ntwana

the father will see the child

u-yo-m-bon-a

he will see it

u-bon-ile

he saw

u-m-bon-ile

he saw it

wa-bon-a

he saw it long ago

aka-m-bon-anga

he didn't see it

aku-zu-m-bon-a

he will not see it

ba-ya-bon-ana

they see each other

-ana indicates reflexive

↑ the categorial morpheme is the last part of the verb stem indicating certain grammatical and semantic information

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 :''he is seeing her ''
-:u - subject morpheme
+:*u - subject morpheme
-:ya - tense marker of present tense (the so called "long form")
+:*ya - tense marker of present tense (the so called "long form")
-:m - subject morpheme
+:*m - subject morpheme
-:-bona - verb stem consisting of bon - verb root and -a the categorial morpheme<ref>the categorial morpheme is the last part of the verb stem indicating certain grammatical and semantic information</ref>
+:*-bona - verb stem consisting of bon - verb root and -a the categorial morpheme<ref>the categorial morpheme is the last part of the verb stem indicating certain grammatical and semantic information</ref>
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 :''the father will see the child''
-:zo - nearer future
+:*zo - nearer future
 :u-yo-m-bon-a
 :''he will see it''
-:yo - far future
+:*yo - far future
-:u-bon-i-le
+:u-bon-ile
+:''he saw''
+:u-m-bon-ile
 :''he saw it''
@@ Line 36: / Line 40: @@
 :''he didn't see it''
-:aka is the negative morpheme for nouns in class 1 (like ubaba)
+:*aka is the negative morpheme for nouns in class 1 (like ubaba)
 :aku-zu-m-bon-a
@@ Line 47: / Line 51: @@
 :-ana indicates reflexive
 ==Notes==