Phrases
The following is a list of phrases that can be used when visiting a region where the primary language is Zulu.
| Sawubona | Hello, to one person |
| Sanibonani | Hello, to a group of people |
| Unjani? / Ninjani? | How are you (sing.)? / How are you (pl.)? |
| Ngisaphila / Sisaphila | I'm okay / We're okay |
| Ngiyabonga (kakhulu) | Thanks (a lot) |
| Ngubani igama lakho? | What is your name? |
| Igama lami ngu... | My name is... |
| Isikhathi sithini? | What's the time? |
| Ngingakusiza? | Can I help you? |
| Uhlala kuphi? | Where do you stay? |
| Uphumaphi? | Where are you from? |
| Hamba kahle / Sala kahle | Go well / Stay well (used as goodbye - In practice, the person staying in whatever place the action is occurring says 'Hamba kahle', and the person leaving says 'Sala kahle') |
| Hambani kahle / Salani kahle | Go well / Stay well, to a group of people |
| Eish! | Wow! (No real European equivalent, used in South African English) (you could try a semi-expletive, such as oh my God or what the heck. It expresses a notion of shock and surprise) |
| Hhayibo | No! / Stop! / No way! (used in South African English too) |
| Yebo | Yes |
| Cha | No |
| Angazi | I don't know |
| Ukhuluma isiNgisi na? | Do you speak English? |
| Ngisaqala ukufunda isiZulu | I've just started learning Zulu |
| Uqonde ukuthini? | What do you mean? |
Read more about this topic: Zulu Language
Famous quotes containing the word phrases:
“She loved Cecil; George made her nervous; will the reader explain to her that the phrases should have been reversed?”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“For proverbs are the pith, the proprieties, the proofs, the purities, the elegancies, as the commonest so the commendablest phrases of a language. To use them is a grace, to understand them a good.”
—John Florio (c. 1553–1625)
“It is a necessary condition of one’s ascribing states of consciousness, experiences, to oneself, in the way one does, that one should also ascribe them, or be prepared to ascribe them, to others who are not oneself.... The ascribing phrases are used in just the same sense when the subject is another as when the subject is oneself.”
—Sir Peter Frederick Strawson (b. 1919)