Saying no

Which Kimbundu this unit teaches

Chatelain says the negative differs considerably between Luanda and the interior, which he calls the Sertão. This unit teaches the Luanda forms only. Speech inland negates differently, and this course does not teach it.

The ending carries the no

In Luanda Kimbundu the negative is built into the verb. The verb takes a negative prefix and a negative ending, and the ending shows who is meant. Chatelain prints the word ki in brackets before these forms. The brackets mean that it can be left out, and this unit leaves it out.

No to the present

How to say what someone does not do

1. Choose who: I, you, he or she, we, you (several people) or they.
2. Take the negative prefix from the table. It is the prefix of the present, except that u- becomes ku- for you, and ka- for he, she and they. Saying what something is
3. Take the verb stem and drop its last letter, -a. For banga, that leaves bang. Saying what someone does
4. Add the negative ending for that person from the table.
5. Write the prefix, the stem and the ending as one word.

You should now be able to say each form in the table below.

The verb make, in the negative present

This is Chatelain's model paradigm. Compare it with the present in the earlier unit. (kubanga)

No to the past

The negative past starts from the past form in the unit on the past. This is Chatelain's negative of the past with a present effect, the only past tense this course teaches. Talking about the past

How to say what someone did not do

1. Take the past form for the person you want, from the unit on the past. For I, it is ngabange.
2. Change the beginning for three persons only. For you (one person), write kwa- in place of wa-. For he, she and they, write ka- in place of the past prefix (wa- or a-). For I, we and you (several people), keep the beginning as it is.
3. Take off the last letter of the verb, -e. For ngabange, that leaves ngabang.
4. Write y. Chatelain says the e becomes the semivowel i before the ending, and modern spelling writes that semivowel y before a vowel. Now you have ngabangy.
5. Add the negative ending for that person from the table above: -ami, -e, -e, -etu, -enu or -a. For I, ngabangy and -ami make ngabangyami.

Worked example for you (one person): wabange has the beginning wa-, so write kwa-, and the verb is kwabange. Take off -e to get kwabang, write y to get kwabangy, and add -e to get kwabangye.

The verb make, in the negative past

You should now be able to say no to something that someone did.

Telling someone not to

A negative command has no ending. For one person, put the prefix ku- before the stem and change the last vowel to -e. For several people, put the word ki before nu- and the stem. These are the two forms Chatelain prints, each with the translation do not.

The negative command of make

The command to one person is written the same as you do not make in the present. The situation shows which one is meant.

You should now be able to tell one person, or several, not to do something. For the positive command, see Commands.

Not taught here

Chatelain also gives negatives for the continuing present and past, for the futures and for other tenses, and a negative for nouns, numbers and possessives. This unit does not teach them.

Earlier in the course

• Saying what something is
• Commands
• Saying what someone does
• Talking about the past