Language/Lingala/Grammar/Conditional-Mood

Lingala Grammar - Conditional Mood

Hi Lingala learners! 😊
In today's lesson, we will be discussing the conditional mood in Lingala. The conditional mood is used to express a hypothetical situation or an action that could happen in the future. It is also used to express wishes and desires.

Finish this lesson and explore these related pages: Present Tense, Verb to be, Object Pronouns & Subject Pronouns.

Overview

The conditional mood in Lingala is formed by adding the suffix -a to the verb stem. For example, the verb stem for the verb "to write" is -tɛkɛ, so the conditional form of this verb would be -tɛkɛa.

Formation

The conditional mood is formed by adding the suffix -a to the verb stem. This suffix is added to the end of the verb stem, regardless of the tense or person. For example, the verb stem for the verb "to write" is -tɛkɛ, so the conditional form of this verb would be -tɛkɛa.

Examples

• To speak: -bɔlɔ → -bɔlɔa
• To go: -zɔlɔ → -zɔlɔa
• To eat: -mɔnɔ → -mɔnɔa

Usage

The conditional mood is used to express a hypothetical situation or an action that could happen in the future. It is also used to express wishes and desires.

For example, if you wanted to say "I would like to go to the store", you would say "Nalɛka zɔlɔa magazini".

The conditional mood can also be used to express politeness. For example, if you wanted to say "Can I have a glass of water?", you would say "Nalɛka mɔngɔ ya mabɔkɔ ya nzambe?".

Conclusion

We have now discussed the conditional mood in Lingala. We have seen how it is formed and how it is used. We hope that this lesson has helped you to gain a better understanding of the conditional mood in Lingala.

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If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Other Lessons

• Present Tense
• Create simple sentences in the negative
• The Past Tense To Be
• Verb to be
• POSSESSIVES
• The subjunctive
• Personal pronouns
• Irregular verbs – kokende – to go
• Create your first simple sentences in the affirmative

Sources

• Lingala Language - Dialects & Structure - MustGo