The Vocative

When u-/o- nouns are used in the vocative, in other words when you call a person, address a person directly, or give a command to a person (or persons), the class prefix of that noun falls away:

• Mama! (Mother!) instead of umama
• Gogo! (Grandmother!) instead of ugogo
• Hamba malume! (Go, uncle!)
• Sala kahle, baba! (Goodbye father!)

When addressing more than one person, use the plural imperative together with the vocative prefix bo- :

• Gijimani kakhulu, boSipho! (Run fast, Sipho and those with you!)
• Hambani kahle, bomalume! (Go well, Uncles / Uncle and company!)

The vocative prefix bo- is commonly left out because the plural imperative suffix ni- already indicates the presence of more than one person:

• Yidlani kamnandi, malume! (Enjoy your meal, Uncle and those with you

When a person in any other class is addressed in this way, the initial vowel of the class prefix, i.e. the preprefix, falls away:

• Dlalani kamnandi, bafana! (Enjoy your playing, boys!)
• Woza masinya, ndoda! (Come quickly, man!)

The Imperative

THE IMPERATIVE

A command may be given to one person by using only the verb stem:

• Dlala! (Play!) [-dlala]
• Letha! (Bring!) [-letha]
• Hamba! (Go!) [-hamba]

If a command is given to more than one person, the verb stem takes the suffix -ni:

• Bhekani! (Look everyone!) [-bheka]
• Gijimani! (Run everyone!) [-gijima]

If the verb stem happens to start with a vowel, y- is prefixed to the stem:

• Yenza! (Do!) [-enza]   Plural : Yenzani!
• Yosa! (Roast!) [-osa]    Plural : Yosani!

Monosyllabic verb stems prefix yi- to the stem for the single imperative. For plural imperatives in this case, either suffix -nini to the stem, or -ni to the single imperative:

• Yidla! (Eat!) [-dla]   Plural : Dlanini! / Yidlani!
• Yiza! (Come!) [-za]   Plura : Zanini! / Yizani!

THE IMPERATIVE NEGATIVE WITH musa

This negative form is usually used to stop somebody from doing something, in other words if the person is still in the process of doing it.  It can, however, also be used to prevent somebody from doing something.  In singular the negative auxiliary verb musa (don’t / stop) is used, and in plural musani is used. The auxiliary verb is then followed by an infinitive.

Singular

• Hamba! (Go!)    Musa ukuhamba! (Don’t go!)
• Funda! (Learn! / Read!)    Musa ukufunda! (Don’t read!)

Plural

• Gijimani! (Run!)     Musani ukugijima! (Don’t run!)
• Fundani! (Learn!)     Musani ukufunda! (Don’t go/walk!)

In the spoken language the final vowels of musa and musani are usually omitted:

•     Mus’ukuhamba!        Musan’ ukuhamba!
•     Mus’ukufunda!        Musan’ ukufunda!

THE NEGATIVE IMPERATIVE WITH -nga-

When a forbidding command is given,  in other words before the action is carried out, the morpheme -nga- is used.  This morpheme follows on the subject concord and the verb stem ends in -i:

• Ungakhali! (You must not cry)
• Ungadli! (You must not eat)
• Ungahambi! (You must not go)

IMPERATIVES AND ADVERBIAL FORMS

The imperative may also be used with adverbial forms:

•  Sala kahle! (Stay well!)
• Hamba kahle! (Go well!)
• Gijima kakhulu! (Run fast!)
• Yenza kanje! (Do like this!)