THE NOUN CLASS SYSTEM IN ISIZULU

THE NOUN CLASS SYSTEM IN ISIZULU

Nouns in Zulu are made up of two parts Noun Stem Noun Prefix i-apula

Noun Prefixes give us two important pieces of information about the noun… Is the noun singular/plural? 1. Which Subject Concord will I use? 2.

Each noun has a prefix which indicates whether the noun is in the singular or the plural. Here are some examples which you already know… Umama – mother Omama – mothers Umntwana-child Abantwana-children

umama This Noun Prefix tells me the word is in the singular This tells me its in the plural These belong to the u/o Class of nouns omama

Here is other example that you have learned The um/aba noun class umntwana abantwana

i/ama Here are the other noun classes in isiZulu im/izim in/izin imoto idada indiza izimoto amadada izindiza isi/izi isitimela umlenze um/imi izitimela imilenze

Quiz time Choose the correct answer

Nouns in isiZulu are made up of two parts. What are they? 1 A. The Noun Prefix B. The Noun Stem C. All of the above

Which part of the noun provides us with the most amount of information about the noun? 2 A. The Noun Prefix B. The Noun Stem C. All of the above

What information does the Prefix provide us with? 3 A. Both B & C B. Singular and Plural C. Subject Concord agreement

What would the Noun Prefix of this word be? umuntu 4 A. umu- B. mu- C. u-

What would the singular of this word be? abantu 5 A. obantu B. umuntu C. into

What is the Noun Prefix of this word? isigonci 6 A. izi- B. si- C. isi-

What would the plural be of this word? isigonci 7 A. izigonci B. sigonci C. All of the above

What would the plural of this word be? uCele 8 A. oCele B. abaCele C. boCele

What is the singular for the following word? izintombi 9 A. intombi B. zintombi C. None of the above

What would be the singular of this word? ogogo 10 A. bogogo B. ugogo C. ngogogo

Let’s check the answers