Language/Lingala/Grammar/Simple-present-tense

Simple present tense – Learn the Lingala Language

The simple present tense is used to talk about things that you do all the time, such as ‘I usually buy’ or ‘I usually pay attention’.   

The construction of this tense is pretty simple and straightforward. For kosomba (to buy), first, drop the ‘ko-’, which leaves ‘-somba’. Add the appropriate subject pronoun at the beginning and then ‘-ka’ at the end. That’s it.   

So for kosomba, the simple present tense becomes:   

• na+somba+ka – nasombaka – I usually buy
• o+somba+ka – osombaka – you usually buy
• a+somba+ka – asombaka – he/she usually buys
• to+somba+ka – tosombaka – we usually buy
• bo+somba+ka – bosombaka – you usually buy (plural)
• ba+somba+ka – basombaka – they usually buy
• e+somba+ka – esombaka – it usually buys   

And for kokeba (to pay attention), it becomes:

• na+keba+ka – nakebaka – I usually pay attention
• o+keba+ka – okebaka – you usually pay attention
• a+keba+ka – akebaka – he/she usually pays attention
• to+keba+ka – tokebaka – we usually pay attention
• bo+keba+ka – bokebaka – you usually pay attention (plural)
• ba+keba+ka – bakebaka – they usually pay attention
• e+keba+ka – ekebaka – it usually pays attention

Source

https://lobalingala.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/23042014-loba-lingala.pdf