Language/Lingala/Grammar/Verb-to-be

Verb to be in Lingala (simple present)

I > Ngai/na: I am strong > Naza(li) makasi You > Yo/o: You are short > Oza(li) mukuse He/she > Ye/a: He/she is here > Aza(li) awa It > ~/e: It is good > Eza(li) malamu We > biso/to: We are young > Toza(li) bilenge You > bino/bo: You are far > Boza(li) musika They > bango/ba: They are nice > Baza(li) kitoko We use the steem forms of pronouns with the verb. E.g: 'I' is 'ngai', but we say Nazali for 'I am' So, we have : I na (steem form) You o (steem form) He/she a (steem form) It e ( steem form) We to (steem form) You bo (steem form) They ba (steem form) Note: the 'li' verb ending is often omitted in daily talks. Here are some examples: I am a man > naza mobali (instead of 'nazali') She is a woman > Aza mwasi (instead of 'azali')

Other Lessons

• The Past Tense To Be
• Prepositions
• Past progressive tense
• The present tense To be
• Irregular verbs – kolia – to eat
• Gender
• The First 10 Verbs
• The first 10 words
• Irregular verbs – koya – to come
• Personal pronouns