We have already learned a number of nouns in the preceding two lessons, but so far they have all been in the singular form. How do we say the plural form of nouns in Lingala?
Lingala (as is true of a number of African languages) makes changes not to the suffix – or end – of a word, but rather to the prefix – or start – of a word. Notice the following examples:
| bomoi | life | bomoi | lives |
| likambo | thing | makambo | things |
| mobali | man/husband | mibali | men/husbands |
| moto | person | bato | persons/people |
| mwana | child | bana | children |
| mwasi | woman/wife | basi | women/wives |
| nkombo | name | bankombo | names |
| nsango | news (singular) | bansango | news (plural) |
| ntango | time | ntango | times |
| nzambe | god | banzambe | gods |
Notice the way the prefix changes to make the word plural. Though it may at first seem random and unrelated, there is a consistency in how most plural nouns are created in Lingala. The following table which breaks down these plural classes or groups:
| Singular Prefix | Plural Prefix | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| mo– | ba– | person/people | moto / bato |
| mo- | mi– | object (thing) | motó / mitó |
| li– | ma– | idea (thing) | likambo / makambo |
| e– | bi– | object (thing) | eloko / biloko |
| – | ba– | thing (nasal, nz-, mb-, etc.) | nzambe / banzambe |
| lo– | n– | thing | lokasa / nkasa |
| lo– | ma– | thing | loboko / maboko |
There are a few variations of these combinations, but generally most fall into one of these categories.
When we take the numbers that we learned earlier, we can start to use these plural nouns along with plural verbs (when needed) to create new sentences. See how the numbers are placed after the noun, just as we do with adjectives:
| tozali na bana misato | we have three children | we are with children three |
| bato mibale basali | two people worked | people two they worked |