Zulu Nouns

Welcome to the third Zulu lesson about nouns. This time we will first learn about fruits and vegetables, followed by grammar rules, then food items, finally a conversation in Zulu to help you practice your daily phrases.

potatoes amazambane

tomatoes utamatisi

onions uhhanyanisi

carrots izaqathi

fruits izithelo

apples amahhabhula

bananas obhanana

oranges amawolintshi

Nouns Grammar Rules

In general nouns refer to a person, an object, or abstract ideas. For example: a fast runner the noun is [runner] because it refers to a person. The examples below use nouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Grammar + Rules - Zulu
do you have milk? [verb + noun] unalo ubisi?
I have milk and coffee [preposition + noun] nginobisi nekhofi
he has three apples [number + plural noun] unamahhabhula amathathu
she only has one apple [number + singular noun] yena unelilodwa kuphela
we live in a small house [adjective + noun] sihlala endlini encane
I like our breakfast [pronoun + noun] ngiyasithanda isidlo sethu sasekuseni

The following are nouns of food items that you might be interested in learning and memorizing.

bread isinkwa

milk ubisi

butter ibhotela

cheese ushizi

coffee ikhofi

sandwich isamishi

meat inyama

chicken inkukhu

fish inhlanzi

breakfast isidlo sasekuseni

lunch isidlo sasemini

dinner isidlo sasebusuku

Conversation in Zulu

Now we finally reach the fun part, the practice of the daily conversations. These phrases are used to get to know new people, and break the ice.

English - Zulu
Do you speak (English/ Zulu)? ukhuluma (isingisi/isizulu)?
Just a little kancane nje
I like Zulu ngithanda isizulu
Can I practice with you? ngingazama nawe?
How old are you? uneminyaka emingaki?
I'm thirty three years old ngineminyaka engamashumi amathathu nantathu
It was nice talking to you kube mnandi ukukhuluma nawe

I hope you enjoyed this lesson about the nouns in Zulu. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. Now check the next lesson below.