In these examples we can see simple commands or statements. These contain no subject, that is they have no prefix, and they usually contain an object. In imperative verbs, the subject of the verb is assumed. If mum says, “Give it me!” we assume that it’s the mum speaking to the child.

These imperatives are formed in this way:

ROOT + á

Notice we don’t have a prefix. The final ‘a’ has an accent over it showing that we stress that vowel (that is, the last syllable).

However, the above form works for only imperatives when addressing an individual, not a group of people. In Lingala, groups of people addressed with an imperative command (plural imperatives we could say) contain the prefix that we have learned before:

When we look at Lingala from 50 years ago or more we see that whenever a word had an –ol– extension the meaning of the root was reversed. That still is true, however many times in Lingala we don’t use the unextended root and so to some extent the intent of the –ol– extension has been lost.

Notice some of the verbs we have that use the –ol– extension.

Knowing about this reversive extension is useful for the next section of our lesson.

The Changed Spelling of the Reversive –ol–

While the reversive –ol– extension is not an extension we need to understand extensively, we do need to know about the changes in spelling that occur because of this extension.

As mentioned in the section before we have four words we have learned previously that have the –ol– extension. Of these four words, –tambol– (meaning to walk) changes in an unusual way when we add the extension –is-, it becomes –tambwis-. In this change the meaning of the word is to cause to walk, or to direct. We notice that we lose the –ol– and it becomes –w-. This is done to many words that contain the –ol– extension and another extension is added to it.

Watch out for these changes as we continue with the lessons.

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:

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. 

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

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.

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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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:

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