Ndebele You, me, mine, yours

Salibonani mngane (hello friend). Today, let's look at some vocab about possession and people. If you are new, as always, please start at the bottom of the blog and work up to this post. Ngiyabonga (thanks).

mina - me
wena - you (singular)
thina - we/ us
lina - you (plural)

e.g. Mina, ngingumtshayeli, wena? - Me, I am a driver, and you?
Mina ngudokotela - me, I'm a doctor

Lami - my
Lakho - your
Lakhe - his/ hers

e.g. Ibizo lakho ngubani? - What is your name? (lit: name your is what?)
Ibizo lami nguJohn - My name is John (lit: name of mine is John)
ungaphi umama wami? - where is my mother?
remember that "your mother" has a whole different name to "my mother" i.e. unyoko and umama respectively (similarly uyihlo and ubaba for your/ my father)

(uku)Hlala - (to) stay
Ngaphi - where

Together, they can be put together as: Uhlalaphi? - Where do you stay?

remember that I use "u" for you/him/her but use "ngi" for I, "ba" for they, "si" for we
e.g. mina, ngihlala koBulawayo - me, I stay in Bulawayo
uhlala eGweru - He stays in Gweru
uhlala eGwanda, angithi? you stay in Gwanda, isn't it so?
bahlala eHwange - they stay in Hwange

If you are going to say a place with an "r" in it, just remember that siNdebele technically does not use the "r" sound and so replace it with an "l". e.g. France = eflansi

Yebo mngane, so... uhlalaphi? (yes friend so... where do you stay?)