Category: Verbs

Lingala	English
nazali na	I have
ozali na	you have (singular)
azali na	he/she has

In Lingala the idea of having something is constructed slightly different to English. Notice that we have the word
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na added to the three words we learned in part a. This small word in Lingala can have many meanings or uses. Notice what some of those are:

of
from
to
between
in
with

This means that we can use the word na in place of so many of the prepositions we use in English. However, the absolute meaning of na is with. Understanding that can help us to see some of the character of Lingala as we progress in learning the language.

So, in the three words we had at the start of this part, we really can translate the na as with, meaning that nazali na literally means I am with. So as an example if we were with a pen, then we would in effect have or possess the pen. So the word na implies ownership or control of something.

Lingala	English
ezali na	it has
tozali na	we have
bozali na	you have (plural)
bazali na	they have (people)
ezali na	they have (objects)

We complete the word list for to have, adding the inanimate it and the plural forms as well. Remember that we really can translate the na as with, so that tozali na literally means we are with.

Lingala	English
nazali	I am
ozali	you are (singular)
azali	he/she is

From the above three words, you can see that Lingala works very differently to English in its word structure. In English we might expect that the start of the word would remain the same, whereas we can see that in Lingala the start, or prefix, of a word changes depending on who is doing the action of the verb.

In the words above we can see what the verb is by looking for the root of the verb. In the words above that root is
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zala. This is in effect the ‘word’ that we are here learning.

You can also see that the word azali can mean both he is and she is.  Lingala does not have a feminine or masculine structure to words. We will learn more about this in a later lesson.

Lingala	English
ezali	it is
tozali	we are
bozali	you are (plural)
bazali	they are (people)
ezali	they are (objects)

We have now listed five other prefixes that help us identify the subject of the verb. You can see that tozali , bozali and bazali are plural versions of the verb
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zala. Interestingly, in Lingala there is a difference between you as a singular and you as a plural. This can be a little confusing for English speakers when learning Lingala, but you will find it helps be more specific when speaking in Lingala.

Now notice that ezali appears twice, both as a singular and a plural form when referring to an inanimate item, such as a box or tool. This is the opposite of what we find with it in English where we also use the word them to refer to more than one inanimate item.

Note: In older Lingala (something we will discuss in another article) an inanimate plural is izali. This is rarely used by modern Lingala speakers.

So, the complete list of prefixes used by lingala is as follows:

Singular		Plural
na-	I	to-	we
o–	you (singular)	bo-	you (plural)
a-	he/she	ba-	they (people)
e-	it is	e-	they (objects)