Saying what someone does

The same prefix, before a verb

In the unit on saying what something is, the prefix stood before a noun and meant is: I am a woman. Put the same prefix before a verb stem and it shows who does the action. Chatelain says only the present uses the prefix as the verb to be. In the other tenses, Kimbundu uses the verb kukala. Saying what something is

How to say what someone does

1. Choose who does the action: I, you, he or she, we, you (several people) or they.
2. Take the prefix for that person from the table below.
3. Take the verb stem. The stem is the dictionary form without ku-. The infinitive: ku-
4. Write the prefix and the stem as one word.

You should now be able to say each form in the table below. Chatelain gives the verb make as the model, and says any other verb works the same way.

The verb make, now

This is Chatelain's model paradigm. Each line gives the pronoun, then the verb with its prefix. (kubanga)

A stem that starts with a vowel

When the stem starts with a vowel, it merges with the prefix. Chatelain's own example is ngi- with ixana, which gives ngixana and not ngiixana.

Chatelain prints ngixana without a translation. The meaning here is the prefix ngi- on the meaning of the verb.

Points to watch

• You and he or she have the same form, ubanga. The pronoun, or the situation, tells you which is meant.
• Chatelain says this present covers two things: what someone does as a habit or in general, and what someone is about to do.
• This unit teaches the Luanda forms. Chatelain gives no separate inland form of this present. He does give one for the present of an action in progress, which this course does not teach, so expect inland speech to differ there.

Earlier in the course

• Saying what something is
• Commands
• The infinitive: ku-