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