Category: Difficult Words

Two useful words nde and ata will allow us to expand even more the conversations we can have in Lingala.

The word ata simply means even or even though. It is used very similarly to how we use it in English:

ata ntango akotala buku oyo, akotanga yango te

Here we use it to mean even at the time he/she sees this book, they won’t read it. We can also combine the word ata with eloko and moko to create some useful expressions:

ata eloko moko te	nothing	even thing one not
ata moko te	no one	even one not
ata moto moko te	nobody	even person one not

These expressions are used regularly in Lingala and add a little more naturalness to the sound of our Lingala when we use them correctly.

The second word, nde, is also very useful to Lingala speakers. It basically means then, but is used in a number of interesting ways. Notice some:

Luka azali koyangela te, nde Marc mokonzi ya ekolo oyo	Luke isn’t ruling, then it is Mark is the king of this nation	Luke he is ruling not, then Mark king of nation this
ezali bato nde oyo bazali na esengo	then it is the people who are happy	it is people then this they are with joy
Justine nde ayebaki yango	it is then Justine that knew it	Justine then she knew it

Look out for how nde is used and you will see the interesting ways that it emphasizes the content of the sentence.

Comparisons are important in all languages, and Lingala has a single word that allows us to do show comparison of something being better or less than something else. This verb is –lek– and in this part of the lesson we’ll examine a few ways it is used.

Lingala	English (Meaning)	English (Literal)
bozala na makasi koleka ngai	you (plural) are stronger than me	you (plural) are with strength passing me
tozali koleka bango	we are better than them	we are passing them
batangaka babuku koleka biso	they are always better at reading books than we are	they are always reading books passing us

As we can see in those examples, the word –lek– used in the infinitive (koleka) simply means to pass (by), but we can use it for other English words like exceed, surpass, and go beyond.

We can also use it as we would a normal verb in this way:

Lingala	English (Meaning)	English (Literal)
naleki ye na mayele	I am more intelligent than him/her	I pass him with intelligence
Jacques aleki Armand na nguya	James is stronger than Armand	James he passes Armand with power
oleki biso na botondi	you (singular) are more thankful than we are	you (singular) pass us with thankfulness

Here we see that we use the verb with the object immediately after the verb, and then use na followed by the thing the person is better at.

Now notice what happens if we just use the object and subject without the thing they are better at:

Lingala	English (Meaning)	English (Literal)
mama aleki ngai	mum is better than me	mum she passes me

We simply are saying that the subject or object is better than the other.

What if we want to reverse the meaning and make something smaller or less important?

Lingala	English (Meaning)	English (Literal)
moto moko aleki moke, moto mosusu aleki monene	one person is less, another person is greater	person one he/she passes little, person other he/she passes great

Alternatively we can just use the word te on the end of the sentence to mean the person is not better.

mama aleki tata te

Here mother is not better than father.

We can also use the –lek– verb with numbers:

Lingala	English (Meaning)	English (Literal)
bato koleka ntuku mwambe	more than eighty people	people passing eight

As we can see, –lek– is a very useful word and has a great many uses.

We have learned previously words that can help us to emphasize something, such as the words mingi and mpenza. These words are added after the noun or verb to emphasize the extra amount or importance of something.

Lingala does have another way of adding emphasis to an idea in the form of doubling the verb root or the word. Notice some examples:

malamumalamu	really good
mpenzampenza	really really, fully
–lobaloba	chatter
solosolo	truly, really true
libosoliboso	firstly
–lukaluka	really look, search, research

We see that in all these cases the idea is emphasized. So in solosolo, we get the idea of it really being true. In libosoliboso, we see that it must be first, before anything else. in –lobaloba we see that the verb is now the action of a lot of talking, which in English is chattering.

When verb roots are doubled, the doubled root acts as any normal verb for example:

balukalukaki mpe bamonaki bango

Here the sense of the sentence is they searched and the saw (found) them.

Among the new words for this lesson is the word ete. This word is useful as it simply means that. We use it in the same way as we do in English:

alobi ete ayebi bango

This would translate as he said that he knew them.

Often we want to introduce a clause into sentence in which we indicate that this contrasts with the previous statement. We do this using the word but in English. In Lingala the equivalent word is kasi. Notice how we can use it:

ezali monene, kasi ezali makasi te

This translates as it is big, but it is not strong. The word kasi is used very often and is used almost identically to how it would be in English.

We also have the word elongo in the vocabulary list. This word means together. It is used very similarly to how we would in English:

nazali elongo na bino

That sentence translates as I am together with you (plural). Notice na is inserted after elongo. This gives us the sense of being together with. Often they are used together in this way. But it can be used on it’s own:

tozali elongo

Here the phrase means we are together.

It should be noted that although this word is used the same as in English, Lingala speakers often use the word na to mean with in place of elongo. As such it is less frequently used than together is in English.

Within Lingala there are some verbs that have a special use in that they can be used for more than their basic meaning. An example of this is the verb –zang– which means to lack. It can also be used to give the sense of being without something or someone.

Other than it’s basic meaning, it can be used along with other verbs (and words) to emphasize what the verb does is missing, or that it is the opposite. Notice some examples using some of our new words for this lesson:

kozanga kokoka	to be imperfect / unable	to lack to be able
kozanga kotosa	to violate	to lack to obey
kozanga mobali	to be without husband	to lack man/husband
kozanga kokufa	to be immortal	to lack to die
kozanga kokanisa	to be thoughtless	to lack to think

So in these cases, compounding the verb –zang– with other verbs helps us to form great ideas. This is something that is often done in Lingala where it lacks specific words to express an idea in just one word.

In the first example above we have kozanga kokoka. The root –kok– has a meaning of being able. This means it can also be used to describe something as perfect, or at least give the sense of that idea. So the phrase kozanga kokoka appropriate means to lack perfection, or be imperfect.

In English to say something isn’t something else we use the word not. We do something similar in Lingala. The word te means no and is used like the word not to negate something. In contrast to English, it is always placed after the word or phrase it is negating, or at the end of the sentence or phrase. So:

azali mobali kitoko te

In this example the sentence literally reads as he is man beautiful not, or as we translate it into English he is not a handsome man.