Zulu grammar


Zulu grammar is typical for Bantu languages, bearing all the hallmarks of this language family. These include agglutinativity, a rich array of noun classes, extensive inflection for person, tense and aspect and a subject–verb–object word order.

Notation used in this article

Zulu orthography does not indicate vowel length or tone, but it can be important to note this in a description of grammar. The following diacritical marks are used throughout this article to indicate aspects that the standard orthography fails to.
The Zulu noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem. Nouns are grouped into noun classes based on the prefix they have, with each class having a number. For example, the nouns ' "boys" and ' "friends" belong to class 2, characterised by the prefix aba-, whereas ' "surname" and ' "tree" belong to class 7, characterised by the prefix isi-. The numbers are based on the classes reconstructed for Proto-Bantu, and have corresponding classes in the other Bantu languages. Therefore, classes that are missing in Zulu create a gap in the numbering, as is the case with the missing classes 12, 13 and 16.
The prefix occurs in two forms: the full form, and the simple or short form. The full form includes an initial vowel, called the augment, while this vowel is dropped in the simple form. The two forms have different grammatical functions, as detailed below.
The following noun classes exist:
ClassFull prefixSimple prefixExample
1um-1m-1 "person"
2aba-, abe-2ba-, be-2 "people"
1au-- " father"
2aō-bō- " fathers"
3um-1m-1 "leg"
4imi-mi- "legs"
5ī-, ili-li- "egg"
6ama-ma- "eggs"
7isi-si- "rich person"
8izi-zi- "rich people"
9in-3n-3 "dog"
10izin-3zin-3 "dogs", "feathers"
11ū-, ulu-lu- "feather"
14ubu-bu- "bead"
15uku-ku- "light"
17uku-ku- "autumn"

  1. umu- is used before single-syllable stems, e.g. umúntu "person". um- is used elsewhere. Both variants have two syllables; um- is pronounced /um̩/, with a syllabic consonant.
  2. abe- occurs only in rare cases, e.g. in ' "the Sothos" or ' "the Whites, the Europeans", where it has a collective, not plural meaning.
  3. The final n of the prefix becomes m before b, f, p, v, and disappears altogether before m or n. For example, ' "fish", ' "money", ' "life". If the noun stem begins with an aspirated or breathy voiced consonant, it becomes a plain consonant.
Every class is inherently singular or plural. Odd-numbered classes are singular, even-numbered classes are plural, with the exception of class 14 which is also singular in meaning. The plural of a noun is normally formed by switching it to the next higher class. Thus, the plural of class 1 umuntu "person" is class 2 abantu "people". For class 11 nouns, the plural is class 10. Classes 14, 15 and 17 usually have no plural at all, but in rare instances class 6 is used to form a plural for these nouns.
The class of the noun determines the forms of other parts of speech, i.e. verbs, adjectives, etc. These other parts of speech receive their own prefix, matching in class with the noun, though the prefixes themselves are not quite the same.
In terms of meaning, groups of similar nouns tend to belong to similar noun classes. For example, names and surnames are only found in class 1a. Nouns for people, including agent nouns, are commonly in class 1, while animals are often in class 9. Abstract nouns are often in class 14, loanwords in classes 9 and 5, and infinitives of verbs and nouns derived from them in class 15. These are only guidelines and there are exceptions in every single class.

Tone of nouns

Every noun stem has an inherent tone pattern, where each syllable is inherently high or low. For example, the stem -ntu of the noun umúntu has the pattern L while the stem -fúbá of the noun ísifûba has an underlying HH pattern. There are several rules which act to modify the underlying tones to produce the final tone pattern that is actually used in speech. Thus, the spoken tones may differ quite strikingly from the underlying tones. This is already evident in the example of ísifûba, where an underlying HH pattern is actually pronounced as FL.
The prefixes of nouns also have an inherent tone pattern, but this is the same for all nouns and noun classes. The simple prefix has a single L tone, except for class 9 where the simple prefix does not consist of any syllables. The full prefix has an underlying HL pattern, but the single-syllable prefixes of class 5, 9 and 11 have only H. Again, the underlying pattern may be modified by one or more tone rules, as seen in ubúntu, where the prefix is underlyingly úbu- but surfaces as ubú-.
The following tone rules apply to nouns:
  1. Prefix spread: If the penultimate syllable of the prefix is high-toned while the first syllable of the noun stem is low-toned, the high tone spreads rightward to the end of the prefix.
  2. H-spread: The last high tone in a word, if it occurs before the antepenultimate syllable, will spread rightward to the antepenultimate syllable. If the stem contains no high tones, this rule may apply to a high tone in the prefix as well, causing it to spread onto the stem.
  3. Phrase-final HH: Where the penultimate syllable is lengthened phrase-finally, if the last two syllables of a word are HH, then if...
  4. * both syllables belong to the stem, they become FL.
  5. * the former belongs to a one-syllable prefix while the latter belongs to the stem, they become FH.
  6. Left deletion: In a sequence of high tones that resulted from the spreading rules, all but the last high tone are deleted and replaced by low tones. Any high tones in the stem immediately preceding the last high or falling tone are also deleted, even if they are inherent rather than the result of spreading.
  7. Tone displacement: As described under Zulu phonology.
  8. Tone dissimilation: Any remaining word-final HH pattern becomes HL.
These rules are ordered, so that for example the prefix-spread rule applies before the left deletion rule: even if the left deletion rule deletes a high tone from the first syllable of the stem, the prefix spread rule will still operate as though it were still present. Thus, the application of the prefix spread rule can reveal the underlying tone of the first stem syllable. Moreover, the final two syllables are generally not modified by any of the rules, so that the underlying tones are usually readily apparent there. An exception applies for HH in the last two syllables: either the phrase-final HH rule will convert them to FL, the left deletion rule will delete the first H, giving LH, or the tone dissimilation rule will convert it into HL.
Note that the combination of the spreading rules and the left deletion rule gives the impression of high tone "shifting" rightwards. However, chronologically, these are two separate processes, and some other Nguni languages have the spreading rules but not the deletion rule.
The following table shows examples of underlying tone patterns, and the surface patterns that result after application of the rules. The hyphen indicates the boundary between the prefix and the noun stem; the tones of the prefix are shown before the hyphen, those of the noun stem itself after it.
These rules combined can often lead to ambiguity as to the underlying tones, especially with longer stems and with class 9 prefixes. For example, the surface-form ínhlamvukâzi could reflect HHLL or LHLL, where the falling tone would be the result of tone displacement, and the first high tone lost due to left deletion. But HHHH, LHHH or LLHH are also possible, with a falling-low final pattern due to phrase-final HH rather than tone displacement. Even HLLL would be possible, with H-spread followed by left deletion and tone displacement creating the falling tone. In this particular case, the noun is known to derive from ínhlâmvu, with a HH pattern, but that still leaves both HHLL and HHHH as possibilities.

Use of the full and simple forms

The full form, including the initial augment, is the default form of the noun. It is used in most circumstances, such as in the role of the subject or object of a verb. The simple form has more specific uses. These include:
The locative is a noun form that indicates a location associated with the noun. It can translate to a variety of English prepositions, such as "in", "at", "on", "to" or "from", and is thus quite general in meaning. The locative is formed in two different ways, depending on the class of the noun.
For nouns in class 1 or 2, which include all proper names of people, the locative is formed by prefixing kú- to the noun, dropping the augment. The prefix has a high tone like the augment, so the tone pattern of the word does not change. For example:
For nouns that are not in class 1 or 2, the locative is formed by replacing the augment of the noun with e-, or with o- with class 11 nouns. For most nouns -ini is also suffixed, which causes various changes to the final vowel of the stem. The additional stem syllable also changes the tone pattern.
  • a + ini → eni
  • e + ini → eni
  • i + ini → ini
  • o + ini → weni
  • u + ini → wini
Some examples:
  • ' "leg" → emlénzeni "on the leg"
  • ' "eye" → êswéni "in the eye"
  • ' "water" → émánzini "in the water"
  • ' "ear" → éndlebéni "in the ear"
  • ' "fog" → énkungwíni "in the fog"
  • ' "roof" → ōpháhleni "on the roof"
Some nouns have locative forms without the suffix, using just the prefix. This includes most nouns for place names, but also a few regular nouns:
The possessive form is similar to the genitive case of some other languages. It indicates the possessor, or a more general association, and corresponds in meaning to the English preposition "of". It is placed after the noun that is possessed, and receives a special possessive prefix that agrees with the preceding noun's class. For example:
The possessive prefix is formed from the subject concord of verbs, plus á. When the possessive prefix is attached to a noun of class 1a, an additional k is infixed, and the subject concord is dropped altogether when it consists of only a vowel.
ClassPrefixPrefix
+ class 1a
1, 1awá-ká-
2, 2abá-baká-
3wá-ká-
4yá-ká-
5lá-liká-
6á-ká-
7sá-siká-
8zá-ziká-
9yá-ká-
10zá-ziká-
11lwá-luká-
14bá-buká-
15kwá-kuká-
17kwá-kuká-

The vowel of the prefix coalesces with any initial vowel of the noun, as follows:
  • a + a → a
  • a + e → e
  • a + i → e
  • a + o → o
  • a + u → o
With nouns not in class 1a, the possessive prefix can be attached to either the full form or the simple form of the noun. When attached to the simple form, it has an indefinite meaning, like "of any", used with negative verbs. The full form is used in other cases. For example:
  • angidlánga úkudlá kwênjá "I didn't eat the food of the dog" / "I didn't eat the dog's food"
  • angidlánga úkudlá kwânjá "I didn't eat the food of any dog" / "I didn't eat any dog's food"
With nouns in class 1a, the prefix, extended with ka, is always attached to the simple form.
The possessive form can be extended into a substantive form. It is created by prefixing á-, é- or ó- to the possessive, depending on the noun prefix of the possessed's class: a is used when the possessed noun's prefix begins with a, e when it begins with i, o when it begins with u. In class 6, áw- is prefixed.
The copulative form of a noun expresses identity, and has a meaning similar to the English copula be. However, it is a noun form rather than a verb, so no verb is needed, at least in the present tense. The copulative is formed by prefixing the so-called "identifying prefix", which takes three different forms:
By itself, the copulative form means "it is" or "it is a/the", such as:
When a noun is equated with something else, the copulative is prefixed with a subject concord that matches the subject that the noun is equated with. The subject may or may not be explicitly stated, as usual for verbs. Thus:
However, when the two things being equated have the same noun class, the subject concord is left out:
  • umúntu ngumúntu ngabántu "a person is a person through people"
The substantive possessive forms of a noun also have a copulative of their own. They are formed and used in the same way as for the base noun, and always use the prefix ng-.
To express the negative of the copula, corresponding to English "is not" and similar, the prefix a- is added to the subject concord of the existing copulative. The subject concord must therefore always be present; the prefix cannot be added to the "bare" copulative.
Pronouns behave in many ways like nouns, having locative, possessive and copulative forms. They differ, however, in that they have one form for each possible class they can refer to.
The locative form of pronouns is formed like it is for class 1 or 2 nouns, using the prefix ku- and no suffix. The possessive forms are the same as for nouns. The copulative form always uses the identifying prefix yi-.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns occur in two forms: an independent form, which is used as a word alone, and a combining stem, which is used whenever a prefix is added. The independent form consists of the combining stem with na added at the end. Some pronouns also have a separate possessive stem, which is the combining stem that is used when a possessive prefix is added.
The forms mina, wena, thina and nina mean "I", "you", "we" and "you" respectively. The class 1 and 2 forms are used as third-person pronouns, with yena meaning "he" or "she" and bona meaning "they". All class forms, including classes 1 and 2, mean "it" or "they" when referring to a thing of a particular class. For example, yona can refer to inja, while wona can refer to amanzi. The class 17 pronoun khona serves as a neutral pronoun, indifferent to class.
Note that outside of the first- and second-person singular, the possessive stem has an underlying high tone. Since the possessive prefix also has an underlying high tone, the combined high-high tone surfaces as a falling-low pattern, just like in nouns of the HH tone class. In the first- and second-person singular, only the possessive prefix is high-toned, so the resulting surface pattern is simply high-low.
Zulu is a pro-drop language. As the verb already includes prefixes to indicate the subject and object, personal pronouns aren't strictly needed, and are mostly used for emphasis.

Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns in Zulu occur in three types:
There is one pronoun for each noun class that may be pointed to. As with the personal pronouns, class 17 is a neutral class.
ClassProximalDistalRemote
1, 1aló, lónalówolowayā́, lowayána
2, 2alábalábolabayā́, labayána
3ló, lónalówolowayā́, lowayána
4lé, lénaléyoleyayā́, leyayána
5léliléloleliyā́, leliyána
6lá, lánaláwolawayā́, lawayána
7lésilésolesiyā́, lesiyána
8lézilézoleziyā́, leziyána
9lé, lénaléyolēyā́, lēyána
10lézilézoleziyā́, leziyána
11lólulólololuyā́, loluyána
14lóbulóbolobuyā́, lobuyána
15lókhulókholokhuyā́, lokhuyána
17lókhulókholokhuyā́, lokhuyána

The longer forms are used especially when the demonstrative stands alone at the end of a sentence. The single-syllable forms lá, lé and ló remain stressed on the final syllable when prefixes are attached. The remote demonstratives in -yā́ likewise have final stress.
The demonstratives may stand alone, as true pronouns, but may also be used in combination with a noun, much like "this" and "that" in English. The demonstrative may either precede or follow a noun. If it precedes, the noun appears in the simple form, while if it follows, the noun is in the full form.

Adjectives

The term "adjective", as applied to Zulu and most other Bantu languages, usually applies only to a rather restricted set of words. However, in the wider sense, it can refer to any word that modifies a noun. The wider sense is used here. Adjectives in the stricter Bantu sense are referred to as "true adjectives" in this article.
All adjectives have one thing in common: they all follow the noun they modify, and require some kind of prefix whose class matches the preceding noun. The different types of adjectives reflect the different prefixes that are used:
Adjectives have the same tone classes that nouns do.

True adjectives (iziphawulo)

As mentioned, adjectives in the restricted sense are rather rare in Zulu, with only about two dozen existing. They form a closed class; no new adjectives are created.
The list of adjectives is as follows:
isiphawulo meaning
-detall
-fishaneshort
-ncanesmall / little
-khulubig
-biugly / bad
-hlebeautiful
-shanew / young
-dalaold
-ningimany
-bilitwo
-thathuthree
-nefour
-hlanufive

There are two sets of adjective concords: the regular adjective concord, and the shorter copulative concord.
The copulative adjective concord consists of just the simple noun prefix, except in class 9 where the full in- is used, and class 8 zin- which has an additional n. Forms for the first and second person exist as well. These are formed by prefixing the corresponding subject concords to the simple noun prefixes of classes 1 and 2.
The regular adjective concord is formed by prefixing a to the full noun prefix, with the vowel coalescing with the initial vowel of the noun prefix. Again, class 8 has an additional n that is not present in nouns. The first- and second-person forms are created analogically from the copulative concords, by duplicating the vowel in the subject concord and then prefixing a.
ClassRegularCopulative
1st sing.engim-ngim-
2nd sing.om-um-
1st plur.esiba-siba-
2nd plur.eniba-niba-
1, 1aom-m-
2, 2aaba-ba-
3om-m-
4emi-mi-
5eli-li-
6ama-ma-
7esi-si-
8ezin-zin-
9en-in-
10ezin-zin-
11olu-lu-
14obu-bu-
15oku-ku-
17oku-ku-

Relatives

Relatives are an open class, and most English adjectives will have a corresponding relative in Zulu.
Like the true adjectives, relatives have two concords, a regular concord and a shorter copulative concord. They are formed exactly parallel, with one key difference: for relatives, the subject concord is used as the base rather than the noun prefix. The regular relative concord is then formed by prefixing a copy of the subject concord's vowel, preceded by a.
ClassRegularCopulative
1st sing.engi-ngi-
2nd sing.o-u-
1st plur.esi-si-
2nd plur.eni-ni-
1, 1ao-u-
2, 2aaba-ba-
3o-u-
4e-i-
5eli-li-
6a-a-
7esi-si-
8ezi-zi-
9e-i-
10ezi-zi-
11olu-lu-
14obu-bu-
15oku-ku-
17oku-ku-

Enumeratives

Verbs

Like nouns, verbs are formed by adding prefixes to a basic stem. However, the prefixes are not a fixed part of the verb, but indicate subject, object and various other nuances. Different stems and prefixes are used to indicate different tenses and moods. Normally, verbs are cited in the stem of the principal present tense, which ends in -a, for example -wa "to fall", -dlá "to eat", -enza "to do, to make", -bôna "to see", -síza "to help", -sebénza "to work". A few verbs end in other vowels, namely -âzi "to know", -sho "to say", -thi "to say".
Prefixes are always attached in a fixed order; the object prefix always comes last, immediately before the verb stem, while the subject prefix comes before the object prefix. Certain tense, mood and polarity prefixes may intervene between the subject and object prefix, or be placed before the subject prefix. No prefix may come between the object prefix and the stem. For example, wālipheka "he/she cooked it" consists of a stem -pheka "to cook", preceded in reverse order by an object prefix li-, the remote past tense marker -ā-, and the subject prefix u-. The form angikuboni "I don't see you" consists of a stem -boni, prefixed by the object prefix ku-, the subject prefix ngi-, and the negative marker a-.

Subject and object concords

Both the subject and, when applicable, the object of the verb are indicated by prefixes or concords attached to the verb stem. Zulu is a pro-drop language: explicit personal pronouns are only used for emphasis, while in general the concords on the verb give enough information. When a noun is used as the subject or object, then the concord must match its class. To refer to someone in the third-person, without a noun, classes 1 and 2 are used. The subject concord must always be present, except in the infinitive and imperative forms. The object concord is always optional, even when an explicit object follows the verb.
Four different kinds of verbal concord exist. For the subject, there are the primary subject, secondary subject and participial subject concords. In addition, a separate set is used for the object. The four are essentially the same if not for tone, except in class 1.
The letters in parentheses indicate additional letters that are added when the prefix is not at the start of the word, functioning to "save" the phonology from being violated or to avoid ambiguity.
Person/
Class		Primary
subject
Secondary
subject
Participial
subject
Object
1st sing.ngi-ngí-ngí-ngí-
2nd sing.u-ú-ú-kú-
1st plur.si-sí-sí-sí-
2nd plur.ni-ní-ní-ní-
1ú-á-é-ḿ-
2bá-bá-bé-bá-
3ú-ú-ú-wú-
4í-í-í-yí-
5lí-lí-lí-lí-
6á-á-é-wá-
7sí-sí-sí-sí-
8zí-zí-zí-zí-
9í-í-í-yí-
10zí-zí-zí-zí-
11lú-lú-lú-lú-
14bú-bú-bú-bú-
15kú-kú-kú-kú-
17kú-kú-kú-kú-
reflexive———zí-

Examples:
The reflexive prefix only occurs as an object, and refers back to the subject of the sentence. It is equivalent to English forms like myself, yourself, himself and so on.

Tenses and moods

The participial form is used, among others:
The infinitive is an action noun, and belongs to class 15, which is reserved specifically for infinitives. It is a noun in every respect, and therefore it has a simple form, locative, possessive and so on. It corresponds to the English to-infinitive or gerund.
Affirmativeúku...a
Negativeúkunga...i

With passive verbs ending in -wa, the suffix -a is used in the negative instead of the normal -i.
VerbAffirmative infinitiveNegative infinitive
-waukúwa "to fall; falling"ukúngawí "to not fall"
-dláúkudlá "to eat, eating"ukúngadlí "to not eat"
-dláukuyídla "to eat it" ukúngayîdli "to not eat it"
-bônaúkubôna "to see"ukúngabôni "to not see"
-bônaukúngibôna "to see me"ukúngangíbôni "to not see me"
-enzaukwénza "to do"ukúngenzí "to not do"
-osaukósa "to roast"ukúngosí "to not roast"

The infinitive may also sometimes be a result noun or other noun associated with the verb. For example, while the infinitive ukudla in its regular meaning is "to eat", it also has the lexical meaning of "food". This differs per verb and is a lexical property of that particular infinitive form, and must therefore be learned for each one.

Imperative

The imperative is used to issue direct commands. It can occur either alone or with an object prefix.
AloneWith object
Singular...a...e
Plural...ani...eni

The plural form, with the suffix -ni, is used when addressing multiple people.
The prefix yi- is used when the verb stem has only one syllable. A shortened form y- is used when the stem begins with a vowel. Exceptionally, the verb -za "to come" uses the prefix wo- instead, thus woza, wozani etc.
VerbAloneWith object
-dláYidlá! Yidláni! "Eat!"Yídle! Yidleni! "Eat it!"
-enzaYenzá! Yenzáni! "Do!"Kwenze! Kwenzeni! "Do it!"
-sízaSíza! Sizáni! "Help!"Ngisize! Ngisizeni! "Help me!"

Present tense

The present tense is the default tense, used to indicate events in the present. It corresponds to the English simple present or continuous present.
PrincipalParticipial
Affirmative...a...a
Negativea...inga...i

The infix -ya- is used whenever the form has lengthening on the penultimate syllable, i.e. when it occurs finally in the sentence.
VerbExample
-hámbaUyahamba. "He is going."
-hámbaUhamba ekuseni. "He is going in the morning."
-hámbaAkahambi. "He is not going."
-sízaUyangisiza. "He is helping me."
-sízaUngisiza namhlanje. "He is helping me today."
-sízaAkangisizi. "He isn't helping me."
-sízaUsiza uyise. "He is helping his father."
-khulumaUkhuluma edla. "He talks while he eats." / "Eating, he talks."
-bônaNgambona engasebenzi. "I saw that he was not working."

Past tense

There are two different past tenses in Zulu, the recent past and the remote past. They both share the same negative forms, however. What is "recent" versus "remote" depends on the speaker. The remote past is used to indicate the distant past, the past preceding the recent past, and as a narrative past. In the colloquial language, the recent past is often preferred to the remote past.
The long form in -ile is found when the verb has a lengthened penultimate syllable, otherwise the short form in -ē is used.
VerbExample
-hámbaSihambile. "We went."
-hámbaSāhamba. "We went."
-hámbaSihambē izolo. "We went yesterday."
-hámbaAsihambanga. "We did not go."
-bônaAsimbonanga. "We have not seen/did not see him/her."

With verbs of certain endings, the recent past ending -ile is not used, and instead the vowels of the last two syllables of the stem are changed. There is no distinction between long and short forms in these verbs.
Ending inRecent past ending
-ala, -ela-ele
-ama, -ema-eme
-ana, -ena-ene
-asa, -esa-ese
-wa -iwe
-awa1-ewe

There are two different future tenses in Zulu, the immediate future and distant future. They are essentially identical in form, with z in the immediate future versus y in the remote future.
Both originate as periphrastic forms, from the auxiliary verbs -za "to come" and -ya "to go" respectively, followed by an infinitive. These two have fused into one word in modern Zulu, but remnants of their former status as two distinct words remain in various respects. The following list shows the approximate way in which the contraction of the immediate future preceded, using the verb -síza "to help" as an example.
AffirmativeNegativeContraction level
ngiza ukusizaangizi ukusiza1. Original periphrastic form.
ngizokusizaangiziyukusiza2. Two words fused into one.
angizukusiza3. Glide -y- deleted.
ngizosizaangizusiza4. -ku- infix of the infinitive deleted.
ngōsizaangūsiza5. -z-/-y- of the auxiliary deleted, contraction of subject prefix vowel.

Generally, the forms of contraction levels 4 or 5 are used. With monosyllabic verbs, or verbs beginning with vowels, contraction only proceeds to level 3 so that the -ku- remains. Note that in the most contracted form, the distinction between immediate and distant past entirely disappears.
VerbExample
-zaNgizokuza. Ngiyokuza. "I will come."
-zaAngizukuza. Angiyukuza. "I will not come."
-akhaNgizokwakha. Ngiyokwakha. "I will build"
-akhaAngizukwakha. Angiyukwakha. "I will not build."
-sízaNgizomsiza. Ngiyomsiza. "I will help him."
-sízaAngizokumsiza. Angiyokumsiza. "I will not help him."

Subjunctive

The subjunctive expresses hypothetical situations, wishes and requests. It is also used for consecutive action, and as a complement to certain auxiliary verbs and conjunctions. There are present and past subjunctive forms.
PresentPast
Affirmative...ea...a
Negativenga...iaanga...a
anga...a
aa...a

Note that the affirmative past subjunctive is identical to the affirmative remote past, except that the infix -a- is short. In regular Zulu spelling, where vowel length is not marked, this distinction becomes invisible. The three alternative negative past forms are contracted to different degrees. The first form is the uncontracted form.
VerbExample
-hámbaNgamtshela ahambe. "I told him he should go."
-zamaWoza lapha uzame futhi! "Come here and try it again!"
-hlekaUmane ahleke. "He only laughs."
-gqoka, -hámbaWāvuka wagqoka wahamba. "He woke up, dressed, and went out."
-bhekaWābaleka wangabheka emuva. "He ran away and did not look back."

Stative verbs

A range of Zulu verbs indicate a change of state or a process, which tends towards some final goal. From these, a special kind of verb called a stative verb can be formed, which describes being in the state of having completed that process, i.e. "to be ". Stative verbs often fulfill the function that an adjective has in English. For example, the English adjective hungry translates to -lambile "be hungry", a stative verb.
Affirmative...ile
Negativea...ile

Stative verbs are formed similarly to the recent past, but with a few differences: there is a separate negative form, there is no shorter form ending in -ē, and no participial form. However, like the recent past tense, a stative verb can be formed by changing the vowels of the last two vowels of the stem, depending on the ending of the verb.
A stative verb is not a fully functional verb, as it can only be inflected in the present tense and infinitive. To form the past and future tenses of stative verbs, the auxiliary -bē is used, either alone for the past tense, or with future tense inflections.
Base verbNon-stativeStative
-fáUyafa. "He is dying."Ufile. "He is dead."
-lambaNgiyalamba. "I am becoming hungry."Ngilambile. "I am hungry."
-búyaSiyabuya. "We are turning back."Sibuyile. "We have returned."
-lálaBayalala. "They sleep."Balele. "They are asleep."
-lálaBalalile. "They slept."Babē balele. "They were asleep."
-lálaBazolala. "They will sleep."Bazokubē balele. "They will be asleep."

Derived verbs

New verbs are readily created from simple verbs by attaching various suffixes to the stem, to get different shades of meaning. The following table lists these suffixes, and an example using the base verb -enza "to do, to make":
TypeSuffixExample
Reciprocal: each other-ana-enzana "to do something to each other"
Neuter-passive: be -able-eka-enzeka "to be doable/possible"
Applicative: for/on behalf of-ela-enzela "to do something for"
Causative: cause/make-isa-enzisa "to cause to do"
Intensive: intense/quick action-isisa-enzisisa "to do quickly"
Passive: be -ed-wa-enziwa "to be done/made"