Expressing Commands in Ngoni Language

Expressing Simple Commands in Ngoni

The simplest way to express a command in Ngoni language is to use just the plain verb stem. In other words the root plus a.

An Example would be

Verb Root + a

Hamb + a > Hamba! Go!
Ngen + a > Ngena! Enter!
Fund + a > Funda! Learn!
Thand + a> Thanda! Love!

When one or more people is being spoken to then one needs to add the suffix -ni at the end.

The pattern: Verb Root + a + ni

Examples:

VR + a + ni
Ngen+an+ni > Ngenani! Enter (all of you)
Hamb+a + ni> Hambani! Go (all of you)!
Khulum+a+ni> Khulumani! Speak (all of you)!
Fund + a+ni> Fundani! Learn (all of you)
Thand+a+ni> Thandani! Love (referring to more than one)

There are a few exceptions however especially for single syllable verb roots such as -dla (eat). In this case you add prefix yi to the verb root.

The pattern: Singular: Yi+Verb Root+a
             Plural :  Yi+Verb Root+a+ni

Examples:

Yi + VR + a 
Yi + dl + a > Yidla! Eat!

Plural
Yi + VR +a+ni
Yi + dl +a +ni> Yidlani! Eat! (plural)

Negative Commands.

There are two ways of expressing negative commands in Ngoni. The most common uses Yekela + infinitive form of the verb when speaking to one person and Yekelani + infinitive when speaking to more than one person.

Examples:

Speaking to one person:

Yekela ukuthanda! Do not love (one person)
Yekelani ukuthanda! Do not love (addressing more than one person)

Yekela ukungena! Do not enter! (to one person)
Yekelani ukungena! Do not enter! (addressing more than one person)

Another way of expressing the commands in the negative is using the following forms:

Mus'+uku + Verb Root + a (infinitive) when speaking to one person
Musani + uku + Verb Root + a when speaking to more than one person

Examples:

Mus' ukungena! Don't enter!
Musani ukungena! Don't enter! (to more than one person)
Mus' ukubanga umsindo! Don't make a noise!
Musani ukubanga umsindo! Don't make a noise!

Simple Commands with object concords

This when you want to say something like Help him, help them, assist them etc. To do this the pattern to follow is as follows:

Object Concord + Verb Root + e

Examples:

OC + VR + E
M + siz + e > Msize! Help him!
Ba+ siz +e > Basize! Help them!
Yi+thath+e> Yithathe! Take it (yi refers to a noun in class 9)

When speaking to more than one person being spoken to you add suffix -ni.

The pattern: Object Concord + Verb Root + e + ni
OC+VR + E + NI
Yi+thatha+e+ni> Yithatheni! Take it(all of you)!
M+siz+e+ni> Msizeni! Help her/him (all of you)
M+thand+e+ni> Mthandeni! Love him/her (all of you)

Negative Commands  with Object concords.

In this case you add the object just before the verb root

Pattern:  One person: Yekela + uku + OC+ Verb Root + a
More than one person:Yekelani + uku+ OC+ Verb Root +a

Examples: Yekela ukuyithatha! Don't take it! (yi representing class 9 nouns)
                   Yekelani ukuyithatha! Don't take it !(speaking to more than one person)

Another way is to use the mus' and musani where you add the object concord before the verb root as used in the Yekela and Yekelani examples above.

Examples:

Musani (u)kungihleka! Don't laugh at me!(addressing more than one person
Mus' (u)kungihleka! Don't laugh at me! (addressing one person)
Mus' ukuyithatha! Don't take it! (when addressing one person)
Musani ukuyithatha! Don't take it! (when addressing more than one person)
Mus' ukumthanda! Don't love him!
Musani ukumthanda! Don't love him

Ngoni Warriors 1895