Category: Verbs

In an earlier lesson we began to look at some of the verb extensions or infixes that exist in Lingala. In this lesson we again look at some verb extensions, the first of which is the reciprocal or –an-.

In English we may often use a verb and indicate it is done to each other, this is reciprocal action. In Lingala we use the –an– extension to create this same effect. Notice some examples below:

tomonanaka	we always see each other	we always see each other
likambo oyo ezali koyebana	this thing is known	thing this it is known to each other
baninga balinganaka	friends that always love each other	friends they are always loving each other

As in the examples above we can see the usefulness of this extension. It allows us to involve two or more subjects in a sentence equally. The structure is also simpler than it is in English.

In the second example above we use the –an– extension to show that the knowledge of it is known to everyone involved. This can be used generally, to refer to someone who is famous, or to people who are acquainted with each other.

In the other examples the idea is more simple. In fact is is used in an expression when leaving someone who you will see again:

tokomonana

Here it means simply that we will see each other again. 

Another extension in Lingala is the –mi– extension, called the Reflexive. This is used for verbs that ‘reflect’ back the action at the one doing it. We do this in English by saying things like: I taught myself, he will see himself, they are helping themselves, etc.

We can do this very simply in Lingala using the reflexive extension. Notice:

namiteyaki	I taught myself
akomimona	he/she will see him/herself
bazali komisalisa	they are helping themselves

You can see that we use the –mi– extension before the root of the verb. This is the only extension that we do this with. All other extensions are placed after the root of the verb. Therefore we write the format of a verb using the reflexive extension this way:

PREFIX + mi + ROOT + SUFFIX

Although we previously spoke (in Lesson 2) about using the a pronoun along with the word moko to create idea of self (so ngai moko means myself), we should not use this to try and replace the reflexive tense in a verb.

Another useful verb that uses the –mi– extension is komipesa, meaning to give yourself, that is to dedicate.

A second verb extension that we will learn in this lesson is the passive –am-.

In English (as in many languages) there are times when we talk about the action of a verb being doing to us. We call this the passive tense. As an example, we could say I was seen which expresses the same idea as they saw me. We can do the same in Lingala:

namonamaki	I was seen
bamonaki ngai	they saw me

It is also possible to use passive along with the causative extension:

okosalisama	you (singular) will be helped
bakosalisa yo	They will help you (singular)

So we can write format of the passive tense in the following way:

PREFIX + ROOT + [EXTENSIONS] + am + SUFFIX

We can make any verb passive in Lingala. Though this is possible, you will notice many native Lingala speakers don’t use the passive tense very much at all, often choosing to say someone did the verbs action to something or someone. It is very common for them to choose to use the ba– prefix (they) even if it was just one person that did the verbs action.

In our previous lessons we have learned how to use verbs in Lingala, including looking at how they have prefixes or suffixes that change to reflect different tenses or persons.

Verbs in Lingala can also gain additional meaning by the use of extensions that are added to the root but before any suffixes or prefixes. Sometimes these are called infixes. Let’s look at one example we have already seen:

kokanisa

We learned previously (in Vocabulary – Part 4) that this word means to think. However this word contains an extension: –is-. This extension is causative, that the verb is forcing or causing something or that it is caused or forced. In kokanisa the real root of the word is –kan– which means to purpose or will something or even the sense of plan. In using the extension –is– we see that the verb is causing to plan, that is planning or as we better understand that meaning thinking.

Take a look at some other words that are derived from verbs in this lesson or previous lessons. Notice what the root means, and then how it changes when we add the causative –is– extension.

kozala	to be	kozalisa	to cause to be, to create
komona	to see	komonisa	to make see, to show
kosala	to do	kosalisa	to make work, to help
koyeba	to know	koyebisa	to make know, to inform
koyoka	to hear, to feel, to smell	koyokisa	to cause to hear, to make feel, to make smell

Many words in Lingala can have or use this causative extension. As you can see above some of the words that are created can take on a more expanded meaning than simply to cause this action. Notice kosalisa is used to help us create the idea of not just causing work to be done but also the sense of helping.

We can format causative verbs in this way:

PREFIX + ROOT + is + SUFFIX

If other extensions are used along with –is-, then –is– always comes first in the verb. Notice a few examples of these causative words in action.

nasalisaki yo	I helped you (singular)	I made do you
bakomonisa biso makambo nyonso basalaki	they will show us every thing that they did	they will show us things all they did
tozali koyebisa bato nsango malamu	we are informing people good news	we are making know people news good

Lingala	English
bakokufa	they will die
okolinga	you will love/like/want
tokoloba	we will say/speak
bokomona	you (plural) will see
akopesa	he/she will give
nakosala	I will do
ekosepela	it/they will enjoy
akotanga	he/she will read
nakoteya	I will teach
okoyeba	you will know

Notice that we now have changed the structure of the verb again. So now the verb –zal– is written as:

nakozala

Breaking down the verb we notice first that we have the prefix na– meaning I, followed by –ko-. We then have –zal– (the root) and finally the suffix –a. This gives the meaning of I will be.

Therefore, when looking at the structure of a future tense verb in Lingala we find:

PREFIX + ko + ROOT + a

So with this information, look at a few examples of how we can use the future tense in some simple sentences:

Lingala	English (meaning)	English (literal)
tokosala mingi	we will work a lot	we will work much
mwana mwasi na yo akokufa	your (singular) daughter will die	child woman with you he/she will die
nakozala monene	I will be great	I will be great
bokotanga buku moko ya malamu	you (plural) will read one good book	you (plural) will read book one of good

Tip: Some have found it helpful to think of the form of the future tense verb as the prefix (i.e. na-) plus the infinitive form of a verb (i.e. koteya).

Note: The terminology used for the part –ko– is either an infix or an extension. We will learn other extensions/infixes in later lessons.

Welcome to our fourth lesson to learn Lingala. In this lesson, we’ll look into more detail of how verbs tenses work in the past and future.

As we have discussed in the previous lessons, Lingala verbs are built around the root, changing both the prefix (start) and suffix (ending) of the word to change or show the tense.

When we look at verbs in the simple past, we find:

nazalaki

Notice that the root –zal– is preceded by the prefix na– which we have learned represents I. But we also have a different suffix: –aki. This makes the verb read as I was.  So, the structure of simple past verbs in Lingala could be written as:

PREFIX + ROOT + aki

This applies to all the verbs we have learned so far. Notice some examples in the chart below:

nakufaki	I died
tolingaki	we loved/liked/wanted
olobaki	you (singular) said/spoke
amonaki	he/she saw
bopesaki	you (plural) gave
esalaki	it did/worked/acted
nasepelaki	I enjoyed
totangaki	we read
eteyaki	it/they taught
bayebaki	they knew

Let’s apply what we’ve learned and use the past tense in some simple sentences:

natangaki babuku nyonso	I read all the books	I read books all
bana bapesaki ngai nsango malamu	the children gave me good news	children they gave me news good
tolobaki na bango	we spoke with them	we spoke with them
omonaki biso nyonso	you (singular) saw all of us	you (singular) saw us all

Deprecated: strlen(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/includes/general.php on line 866

Deprecated: strlen(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php on line 918

Deprecated: strlen(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($string) of type string is deprecated in /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php on line 1929

Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Unknown named parameter $post_ID in /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php:1941 Stack trace: #0 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php(703): Pods->field() #1 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php(4205): Pods->display() #2 [internal function]: Pods->process_magic_tags() #3 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php(4161): preg_replace_callback() #4 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/components/Templates/Templates.php(623): Pods->do_magic_tags() #5 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/components/Templates/Templates.php(560): Pods_Templates::do_template() #6 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php(3851): Pods_Templates::template() #7 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/includes/general.php(1126): Pods->template() #8 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/includes/general.php(763): pods_shortcode_run() #9 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/shortcodes.php(381): pods_shortcode() #10 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag() #11 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/shortcodes.php(256): preg_replace_callback() #12 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(287): do_shortcode() #13 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/plugin.php(212): WP_Hook->apply_filters() #14 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/post-template.php(253): apply_filters() #15 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/template-parts/post/content.php(58): the_content() #16 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/template.php(732): require('/home/quasar/li...') #17 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/template.php(676): load_template() #18 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/general-template.php(204): locate_template() #19 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/archive.php(43): get_template_part() #20 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include('/home/quasar/li...') #21 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/home/quasar/li...') #22 /home/quasar/lingala.uk/index.php(17): require('/home/quasar/li...') #23 {main} thrown in /home/quasar/lingala.uk/wp-content/plugins/pods/classes/Pods.php on line 1941