Full text of "Elements of Luganda grammar : together with exercises and vocabulary"

ENTS OF LUGANDA
GRAMMAR

ERCISES AND VOCABULARY

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ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR
LUGANDA

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

GRAMMAR

TOGETHER WITH

EXERCISES AND VOCABULARY

W. A. CRABTREE, M.A.

(st. Catharine's college)
correspondent for african languages (east and soutil\ university of cambridge

Reprinted with a new Preface, 1923

KAMPALA: THE UGANDA BOOKSHOP
LONDON:'' S.P.C.K.

PREFACE

This book is reprinted by special request of the Uganda Translation
Committee. Whatever in it may be of 'scientific' value is from the
pen of that able scholar and teacher, G. L. Pilkington ; the rest is
simply rambling notes of one who has tried to think as the people
think. That such a book should find sufficient favour to be worth
reprinting confirms my very strong conviction that African studies
cannot be expressed in terms of Western scholarship.

If we would understand Africa, we must train ourselves to think as
the African thinks. Our knowledge of Latin or Greek, our school
training in French or German, and even a certain consciousness that
we can write or speak effective English is not going to help us. Such
a dictum is not, I know, very palatable to the educated mind. But
it is in reality nothing but the amplification of the remarks given in the
beginning of these Elements many years ago ; and no request has been
made that they be omitted from the reprint now called for.

further, the request of the Syndics of the Cambridge University
Press to contribute to their Guides to Modern Languages has brought
this point acutely to the front. A Manual of Luganda was written as
nearly as possible on modern lines. It was favourably noticed by the
press ; and so far as I am aware contains all the matter in the Elements,
except the notes on transliteration and philology. Moreover it was
condensed into the handy form of some 250 pages of very clearly
printed matter. Yet when it reached Uganda it was found to be
almost unsaleable. In fact now and again a man was willing to give
nearly four times its price for a copy of the old book, if such could be
found second-hand.

What was the reason? The grammatical matter was precisely the
same; the vocabulary was fuller and contained all the words known to
Mr. Pilkington and a few more; in addition there were short extracts
ii native texts. None the less the European felt, without doubt,
that none of this touched anything whatsoever with which he was
familiar. lie wanted 'exercises' in far greater number. In brief hi
wanted that educative process which trains the mind to think as the
African thinks.

And that training only comes with practice. It has little or nothing

in common with what the western mind knows, containing as it does

two 1 tally new principles, viz. : a peculiar phonetic system and a

primitive grammatical structure by prefix and suffix. The first of these

-ears at first sight so simple that its true import has hitherto been

PREFACE in

almost entirely overlooked. There are no difficult sounds ; yet the
European's speech is not too easily understood and ' mission ' speech
has become a byword.

The keen student finds it necessary to pay very close attention to the
way in which those apparently simple sounds are spoken. These
sounds are carefully noted in the Elements and remain in the reprint
exactly as originally written. Only now after thirty years is the writer
beginning to reach the underlying principle which makes the apparently
simple system so entirely different from anything western. No change
in the quality of the vowel is called for. On the other hand the length
of the vowel is so varied as to give quite a rhythmic flow of speech, and
this is done by manipulation of the consonant. How this consonant is
at times lengthened, at times pronounced with greater or less stress,
cannot be described here. 1 Whichever process is used, experience
shews that the length of every vowel is profoundly affected ; and if the
language has a tendency to intonation, the effect will often manifest
itself in the 'pitch.' Hence, all things taken together, the European
with his quite different western scheme of phonology does not always
speak intelligibly. He fails to appreciate how much depends upon the
force with which the consonant is uttered, and especially the lengthen-
ing effect of nasal ' n '. In a word, the rough division of vowels into
long and short followed in this book, in accordance with western
ideas, is far from being exact.

So too with the Prefix system. The exercises are designed to
familiarise the mind with the Prefix system. Many of the sentences arc-
nonsense according to African ideas, the mere literal rendering of an
English grammatical phrase. It is, however, a necessary process ol
mind training. 2 This mastered, the language is found to be remarkabl)
flexible, capable of expressing many shades of meaning quite unknown
to modern language. The student has now found out how to think
African thoughts. Finally by patient observation and much practice,
he will discover the African rendering of English thought.

On all counts, then, Africa claims its own place in any educational
programme; and the request to reprint Elements of L Uganda — a mere
crude collection of notes with no attempt at modern methods — con-
clusively proves it. There is no literary merit in the work ; if the
reader wants something up-to-date, let him take up the Manual of
Luganda published by the Cambridge Press. Of one thing, however.
I feel more and more certain, and that is, that African subjects need
to be studied in a way specially their own. Experience alone can decide
what precisely that line should be.

Several things of pressing moment depend upon this. In our Cam-
bridge University an African language can now be taken as part of the
Modern Language Tripos. One student has successfully passed in his
African language. But he had acquired the thought and mind of
Africa in the country itself. Other students who have offered for

1 See my Primitive Speech, Part I.: A Study in African Phonetics. London:
S.P.C.K.

2 For the meaning of the Prefixes and Suffixes see my Primitive Speech, Part II. :
Prefix System. London : Tritbner >X Co.

IV PREFACE

African languages would not have come up to the standard. Possibly
an exception might be found for Swahili or Hausa ; but I very much
doubt it. At the same time it is highly desirable that African studies
should be encouraged ; and an immense amount of valuable time will
be saved by preliminary study in England.

Again, we cannot but express regret that so much is made of Swahili
as being suitable for an official language. Such encouragement pro-
ceeds from too superficial a view of what African language is. Swahili
has comparatively few affinities with Bantu Africa and the coastmen
who spoke Swahili in old days were not beloved of the people.
Luganda, on the other hand, has remarkable affinities over a very wide
area. The languages of Unyamwezi, Unyoro and Kavirondo are all
very close ; and this affinity extends right down to Luba in its purer
forms and Karanga. As I have said elsewhere Swahili is of little help
towards learning a Bantu language beyond the general one of
familiarising the mind with the Prefix system and then only imperfectly.
So long as we have a much closer approximation in Luganda, why
not make more use of Luganda ?

Concerning the use of Luganda as a very old and very complete
type of Bantu exceedingly useful for philology I must not enlarge here.
I only wish to remark that Kikuyu, and probably Kamba, which is
closely related, is a quite different type of Bantu. Luganda is not of
very great help in learning Kikuyu. Nor is Luganda entirely satis-
factory as a stepping stone to Zulu or Cwana. Within such limitations,
however, Luganda will be found of incalculable use outside its own
sphere. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that Luganda is in
every way typical of Bantu speech as spoken over practically the whole
bantu area exclusive of the parts mentioned and possibly a few regions
in the West such as Luena, Lunda, Fang and Angola.

In reprinting Elements of Luganda, therefore, I trust we are helping
forward the true study of Africa. In what way this language does help.
the author has proved both by pioneer work and by innumerable
notes, which, for many reasons, have still to remain in manuscript.
Our hope is that others will master this valuable language not merely
for personal reasons, but as a preliminary to the wider studies of African
history and African philology as a whole.

W. A. Crartree.

Cawhri :
July, )<»_>;

PREFATORY NOTE

Much that is in this book is from our dearly beloved brother, G. L.
Pilkington ; but only a very small part indeed is directly from his pen
(some sentences of the Introduction, and Section I, Lessons I. — XV.).
The rest is either a reflection of ideas gathered from his translations ;
or verbal notes made during some very happy hours spent with him in
the early months of 1893. Had that time been prolonged, these verbal
notes would have been written out and worked into his grammar for his
revision and correction with a view to a second edition.

Besides the lessons above referred to, he left a most copious collection
of words, but in such rough form that they could not be printed as they
stood. These, it is hoped, are for the most part given in the Luganda-
English Vocabulary correctly ; but brevity in most cases necessitates
giving only the nearest English to the root-idea. Nothing but a care-
fully prepared dictionary could do more. Mr. Pilkington had long
intended to write a ' Root ' dictionary, but never could find the time
for it. This Vocabulary is therefore a first attempt to classify the words
with a view to that end ; and it is hoped that the arrangement will not
prove too difficult. It is most important to catch the shades of thought
of each word, and thus avoid mistakes. In only a very few cases indeed
has a Luganda word an exact English equivalent.

For the idea of the arrangement of this Vocabulary I am most grate-
fully indebted to 'The Zulu- Kafir Language,' by Roberts.

W. A. C.

The form adopted by the author of this book, of spelling the Luganda
for water (madzi), a carpenter (omubadzi), the perfect tense of the verb
" to come " (-dze), etc., is not that adopted by the Uganda Translation
Committee and of the Church Missionary Society, or used in the
Luganda Bible, where the forms ma'zi, omuba'zi, -'ze, etc., are used.

Similarly the nasal before -f, v-, etc., is written by them nf-, nv-, etc.,
and not mf-, mv-, etc., as in this book.

INTRODUCTION

In learning an unwritten language, there are many difficulties.
Those who have a sensitive ear for sounds readily learn the language
on the spot from the people, but have much difficulty in writing it
down. Less gifted people often require to work by written rules ; and
it is only after several years of patient labour that they begin to
appreciate the various sounds, and to study the proper value of each
vowel and consonant.

And without this study it is well nigh impossible to 'speak like a
native,' or even to be understood by the uneducated peasant. No
doubt in the case of those first mentioned the study is unconscious ;
but it is none the less real. Others again seem to occupy an inter-
mediate position ; and these require to see the word written down
before they feel able to remember it, or to follow the voice-sounds of
that word as spoken by a native.

If Europeans were settled down in the country from their early days,
then they might have a school for the teaching of unwritten languages ;
and the correct principle on which to begin would undoubtedly be to
first study the sounds and their application to a few simple words.
As, however, each European is in the country for a very limited space
of time, he must endeavour to learn as rapidly and as accurately as
he can ; using that method which most readily commends itself to him,
and by which he feels he can most readily accomplish his end ; only
let him be very careful not to sacrifice pronunciation to a voluminous
vocabulary. A few words well pronounced will be understood ; a large
number of words badly pronounced will never be understood — except
by a few natives to whom he is constantly talking, and who only too
soon learn his ways : with the result that they flatter him and make him
think that he knows the language. At the same time each European
in studying such an unwritten language should be constantly on the
qui vive to see how his speech can be made more like the speech of
the country. For he is in a country where thought, expression and
intonation are totally different to anything which he has probably heard
before.

This book therefore is divided into two sections. The first section
indicates the most accurate and best method : viz. to acquire the
language, its sounds and its intonation direct from the people them-
selves ; the second section is an attempt to give rules and suggestions
by which not merely Luganda could be mastered, but also any kindred
' Bantu ' language.

CONTENTS

Fundamental Principles.
Pronunciation :

PAGE

Syllables 41

Vowel Sounds 10, 39

Nasalization . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Consonants ........... 12, 40

Long or Exploded Consonants 14, 41

Orthography 38

Phonetic Changes :

With 'n' 109

Tables I, 2, 3 157

'V Stems 113

•W* Stems 116

Initial Vowel 146

Initial Vowel with Adjectives and Nouns ...... 45

Grammar.

Honns:

Mu — Ba (or ' man ') Class ......... 33, 72

List of Nouns ........... 47, 72

Subject and Object Prefix 33, 73

With Demonstrative . . . . . . . . • 33, 74

With Adjective .......... 44, 75

With Numeral . . . . . . . . •• • 33, 75

With Relative 33, 76

With Possessive 33, 75

Mu — Mi (or ' tree') Class 29,54

List of Nouns ............ 54

Subject and Object Prefix 29, 54

With Demonstrative .......... 30, 55

. With Adjective and Numeral . . . . . . . 29, 55

With Relative . . . . . . . . . . • 31, 56

With Possessive ........... 30, 56

N (or ' house') Class 34,98

List of Nouns 98

Subject Prefix ............ 99

Object Prefix ........... 34, 101

With Demonstrative .......... 34, 100

With Adjective ............ 109

With Numeral ........... 34, 100

With Relative 34, 99, 101

With Possessive .......... 34, 101

CONTENTS

Nouns — continued

Ki (or 'thing') Class
List of Nouns
Subject Prefix .
Object Prefix
With Demonstrative
With Numeral
With Adjective .
With Relative .
With Possessive .

Li—Ma {or ' stone') Class
List of Nouns
Subject Prefix
Object Prefix
With Demonstrative
With Adjective .
With Numeral
With Relative .
With Possessive .

LO (or 'long') Class
List of Nouns
Subject and Object Prefix
With Demonstrative
With Adjective and Numeral
With Relative .
With Possessive .

Ka (or 'diminutive') Class

Bu (or 'abstract ') Class

Tu Class

Gu Class

Personified or Invariable Nouns

Adjectives :

List of Adjective Roots
Reduplication of Adjectives
Comparison of Adjectives .
Agreement of Adjectives . .

,, ,, Table 8

Partitive Forms. Table 9 .

Numerals.

Cardinal Numbers

Table 10
Table 10

Distributive Adjectives

Ordinal Numbers.

Pronouns :

Personal Pronouns ......

Quasi Pronouns ......

„ ,, Vide Nouns. § Miscellaneous .

Demonstrative andTP ossessive.) Table 5
Possessive Second FoTm and Pronominal Adverbs.
Relative. Table 7 .....

Verbs :

PAGE

17, 42, 47
i8,47
23. 49
26, 49

19. 49
22, 49

18, 44, 48
26, 50
19. 5°
33,84

84
85, 89
33.87

85,87

108
108
108
108
108
108
108

i°5
106
107
107

43
S9
57
43
163
164

22, 50, 60
165
165
151

26, 4

. 28, 31, 34, 51, 90, 102

160

Table 6 . . 161

162

Lists of Verbs .

' To be ' and ' to have

' W ' and ' Y ' Stems .

62, 63, 65, 66, 67

. 32, 113, 116

CONTENTS

Vll

Verb 8 — con tin tied

Infinitive .

Infinitive used as Nouns

Infinitive Negative

Auxiliaries

Participles

' Must '

Table 4 .

Indicative.

Present Indefinite

Present Perfect . ' .

Near Future

Far Future

Near Past Table 4 .

Far Past .

Narrative

' Still ' and ' Not yet '

Relative with Negative

Imperative
Subjunctive .
Conditional .
Passive Voice

(26), 49

27
24, 49, 68

24, 49
• 159

27, 49, 69

35.68
36, 135

Modification of Verb.

Applied or Prepositional Form

Doubly Prepositional Form

ReversiVe Form ....

Reciprocal Form

Reflexive Form

' Ka ' or Capable Form

Causative Form

Ways of forming the Causative Form

Uses of Causative Form

Modified Forms

Uses of Modified Form

Negative
Negative
Negative
Negative
Negative
Negative
Negative

Negative
Negative
Negative Table 4

PAGB

25. 138

(58), 104

82, 107

25. 136
139
140

159

80, 89

27, 80, 89

24, 80

80, 89

8i, 89

1, 89, 103

'59
"3

125
127

132-
132
117

131

128

129

27, 62

Adverbs :

Place or Position

Affixes of* Relation (place)

Pronominal

Table 1 1 . ' .

. . . . 46

70
28, 31, 34, 51. (77), 90, 102

166

Simple: 'Nga' (as affix)
,, 'Nga' bwe

Relative : Lwe, bwe

Wa, e, gye .

Manner (' butuzi,' etc.)
Adverbial Idioms (time)

Interrogative : When ? di ? .
What? ki? .
Where? wa? (luwa?)

91 (as prefix)

92
94

95
96

107
119

144

16, 18, 45, 143

. 18, si

Prepositions :

'Ku,' 'mu'

' Vamu,' 'gyako,' etc.

' E ' — location ....

Vide Prepositional Form of Verbs

24, 46, 70

71, I50

125

viii CONTENTS

Conjunctions. Vide Relative Adverbs.

PAGE

Interjections. Table 12 167

Syntax and Analysis.

Idioms 133, 149

Emphasis ............ 145

Special Uses of Verbs 153

Transliteration ........... 167

Special Words 168

Synonymous and Slang Words . . . . • . . 169

Word Analysis ...... .... 170

Formation of Derived Roots ........ 172

Accent . . 174

Vocabulary.

Use of Vocabulary .......... 175

luganda- English Vocabulary 178

Englisb-Luganda Vocabulary ........ 215

Key to Exercises 238

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

SECTION I

METHOD OF LEARNING

In learning a new language there are three chief processes : —

i. Learning to hear the sounds which the natives make in speaking.

ii. Imitating those sounds. :

iii. Associating objects and ideas with these sounds.

The first of these processes is by far the most difficult and most
important — important because indispensable to the other two. It is
also the most difficult ; and yet nearly every beginner fancies that he
can hear and distinguish native sounds. After a few years of half-
wasted labour, if he is wise, he may discover his mistake, but only to
know that it is then too late to correct the fatal habits of mispronuncia-
tion which he has laboriously acquired. To parody a well-known saying,
then, the first thing in learning a language is to listen, and the second
is to listen, and the third is to listen ; but the listening must be
intelligent, painstaking, accurate : its value to be reckoned by quality,
not quantity. »

Then comes occasional and most cautious imitation, wherein the
slightest mistake is dreaded and guarded against by constant recurrence
to the native source. A mistake once made becomes a habit, and
then it is in most cases too late. Remember that the question is not
whether you will learn the language slowly or quickly, but whether you
will ever really learn it at all ; it is only a small proportion of learners
who do so : will you be one of them ?

Then comes association of objects (in the first instance, by pre-
ference, concrete objects) with sounds ; not — mark the distinction —
with English words ; nor must written symbols take the place of sounds.
To give an instance ; wrong method — you take a vocabulary and look
in it for the word 'tree'; you find 'Tree, Omuti,' and you impress
these symbols on your mind ; right method — you see a tree, and by
signs or otherwise inquire the native name from a native ; the sound
you hear associates itself directly with the object you see, just in the
way a child learns ; and when you see a tree in future, the object will

IO ELEMENTS OE LUGANDA

recall the sound, and vice versa. So with the phrase, so with abstract
ideas.

What good is a Grammar, then? None at all, alas, must be the
answer, in the case of those who use it otherwise than as an adjunct
to the above method, to check and correct and suggest and explain.
If so used, invaluable; if otherwise, fatal.

This then is an attempt to help those who desire to put these
principles in practice in learning Luganda. Should the question be
asked, 'What should I do before I arrive in the country to learn the
language by these methods.' Our answer to this question would be
' Study Phonetics ' ; and for this purpose a Primer of Phonetics, by
Henry Sweet, Clarendon Press, 1890, is strongly recommended.

Lesson I. The Vowels.

Unfortunately the characters used for Luganda are the same as in
English, although hardly any of them represent in Luganda the same
sound precisely as in English : the resemblance is close enough to
mislead the careless or untrained listener ; but the differences are
sufficient to turn what might be Luganda into unintelligible gibberish :
e. g. the sound of ' o ' in Luganda is a sound absolutely unknown in
English; if the word ' Katonda ' is pronounced with any English vowel
in its second syllable, no Muganda who has not had much intercourse
with Europeans will recognize the word in the least ; and a sentence
made up in a similar way will only elicit the reply, ' I don't know
English.'

The learner is earnestly entreated therefore not to skip these first
six lessons, as being too dull or too elementary, even though he wish
to learn by another method. The exercises in it are the most important
in the whole book for a true mastering of the language ; and should be
practised with a native at the learner's side; and when that is done,
future exercise work should be carefully pronounced many times in the
same way.

In Luganda there are five, and only five, vowel sounds, represented
by a, e, i, o, u. These sounds may be pronounced rapidly, in which
case they are simply written as' above ; or they may be prolonged, in
which case they are distinguished by a long mark above them, thus,
a, e, i, 6, u : that is, any vowel may be either short or long, while the
sound remains the same. These five symbols represent five, and only
five, sounds ; in other words, a, e, i, o, u, always represent the same
sounds respectively. This point is reiterated, because it is very im-
portant; in English, of course, each of these symbols represents several
sounds, according to the letters that are near them ; and these associa-
tions are most misleading to English learners : for instance, the
temptation is great to pronounce the ' a ' in such a word as ' banda '
like the totally different sound of 'a' in 'ban' or 'man'; or the 'o'
in 'bonda' like the ' o ' in 'bond.'

The following then are the vowel sounds : —

a, long, as 'a' in 'balm,' slowly pronounced,
a, short, as ' a ' in ' father ' said very quickly.

VOWELS 1 1

Where a French or German word gives the sound better than the
English, the word is put in brackets; and the vowel-sound indicated is
underlined.

e, long, as ' a ' in ' care ' said slowly ; or the ' ay ' in • say.

(Ger. 'see.')
e, short, as 'e' in 'berry'; or the 'e' in 'penny' said quickly.

French ■*&')

i, long, nearly as 'ea' in 'sea,' very slowly and much prolonged

and somewhat sharpened. (Ger. 'b/ene.')
i, short, nearly as the first ' i ' in ' spirit ' : or the ' i ' in the word

'pity.' (French 'fin/.')

6, long, a medium sound between the ' ow ' in ' low,' and the

' aw ' in ' law.'
o, short, nearly as the first 'o' in 'goloshes.'

u, long, as ' oo ' in ' stoop ' or ' cool ' said slowly,
u, short, as ' oo ' in foot said very lightly.

E"ircise. — a, long ; balm (slowly) : ba, ba, ba, ba nda, la nda.
In the above the first syllables of ' banda ' or ' landa ' must not sound like
the English words # • band ' or ' land.' They are therefore divided by syllables.

a, short ; father (rapidly) : fa, fa, fa, pa, pa, pa, pa nda, pa nga, pa mba.
ba ba : Aba ga nda ; ta za la: ba lwa la ; a ba ta ma nya ; ka ba ka ;

ga mba.
e, long : say : se, se, se ; care (slowly) ke, ke, ke ; te, te, te, te ra te ka,

te sa.
e, short : berry : be, be, be : penny : pe, pe, pe : se, se, se, se ka, se

sa, se na, se ra.
te ge nde ; nje re re ; te nde te re ; le ka ; le ta ; ba le se ; ba le se ; ba

le se ; ba le se.
i, long ; sea : (prolonged and sharpened) : si, si, si, bi, bi, bi, li, li,

li sa, li ra, li ka, ti sa.
i, short; pity: pi, pi, pi, ni, ni, ni, li, li, li, li nda, li mba, si nda,

zi nda.
ki, ki ; nyi ni, mwi ni ; i ga, imi ri ra ; a ba ka zi, ba ngi, nyi ni.
5, long; (between 'low' and 'law'): 15, 15, 16, ko, ko, k5, bo, bo,

b5, To ta, ko la, bo, la.
o, short ; goloshes, go, go, go, lo, lo, lo, ko, ko. ko, lo nda, to nda,

go nda, lo ka, ko la, so mba.
t5 la ; e ki ko lo ; 15 pa ; ko la ; ng5 li na ; mpo la.
u, long ; cool (slowly) : ku, kii, ku, su, su, sj, tu, tu, tit, ku ta, kit ma,

tu ka, su ka, zu ka.
o mu ntu o mu lu ngi ; omu ko no gu gu no ; su la ; su la ; su bi ra ;

tu ku la ; ba gu bu gu ; wu mbu lu la.
u, short ; foot (lightly) : fu, fit, fu, pu, pu, pu, lu, hi, lu, lu ka, du ka,

lu nda, su nda, lu.nga.
ma la, ba la, ba la, sa la, sa la, se ra, se ra, se sa, se sa, ma la,
si ka, si ka, bi ka, bi ka, ko la, ko la, k5 ta, ko ta, \)\\ sa, bu sa,
ku la, ku la, landa, bo nda, po nde, lu mo nde, 'la nga, sa nga,
so nga, to nga, wo nga.

Once more, beware lest you so pronounce any of these last nine words
that the first four letters rhyme with such English words as 'sand,' 'pond,
'rang,' or 'song.'

12 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Lesson II. Nasalization.

Every sound may be modified by nasalization : that is, it may be
pronounced with the nose-passage open, as in ordinary breathing, so
that air passes through the nose. So the statement that the five vowel
symbols represent only five sounds needs a certain qualification ; these
symbols may under certain circumstances represent the ordinary sounds
pronounced with the nose-passage open.

Nasal vowels are very common in French; e.g. -'sang,' 'vin,' ' un,'
'son,' etc. But none of the three vowels which are common to French
and Luganda are ever, as it happens, nasalized in French. So we
must work from analogy.

In the following exercise ' n ' is not an ordinary ' n,' and is therefore
marked as in Spanish n ; it means that the preceding vowel is nasal.
In printed books this n is not marked.

Before t f and 'v' — which in Luganda sound like 'fw' and 'vw'
respectively — this sound is more like ' m ' ; in fact it bears the same
relation to ' m ' as ' n ' does to ' n.' For this reason it is much easier for
foreigners to read if written as ' rh,' or in printed books simply as ' m.'

Exercise —

a a aft aA aft aft baft baft baft baflsi baflsi taflfa tarftfa bamva

e e eft efl eft eft beft beft beft beftsi befisi teftfa temfa temva

i i ift ifl ift ift sift sift sift siftsi siftst siftfa simfa simva

o o oft oft oft oft bofl bofl boft kofize kofize

u u uft un uft uft muft mail muft muftsi muftsi mumveko

N.B. — Every vowel always has its full force in Luganda, never degener-
ating into such a colourless vowel as the 'o' or ' er' in 'together.'

Lesson III. Consonants.

There are twenty-one consonantal sounds in Luganda, represented
by nineteen symbols (regarding ng' as a separate symbol). The two
sounds unrepresented by symbols are : —

ny A nasal j, the French gn ; as in Boulogne.
m The glottal stop nasalized. This is the sound into which
' n' is modified before 'f and 'v' when no vowel precedes.

Besides these inaccuracies in Luganda spelling, with the misuse of
'n' mentioned in the previous lesson, there is one other : —

n before 'g' represents ng', if the next following syllable begins

with ' n ' or ' m.'
Of course ng' itself is a bad symbol.

Eleven consonant sounds may be regarded as identical with the
corresponding English sounds ; these are : —

K gi *> d» y. s > z > P» b, n when not nasalized, and m when
not representing a nasalized sound before 'for 'v.'

The letters, therefore, requiring special notice and practice
are:— w, ng', c, j, ny, 1, r, f, v.

ng' is a nasal 'g,' the same as ' ng ' in ' singer,' pronounced with

CONSONANTS 13

the nose held. It only seems to be difficult in African
languages because it is often initial.

c corresponds to the English 'ch.' ' Ch ' in English is forrrfed
with the point of the tongue; but 'c' in Luganda is formed
with the blade of the tongue ; the tongue is not turned up in
the least but instead a little down, in very nearly the same
position as in forming the letter 'y'; in fact 'c' may be
described as a slightly lisped 'ch.'

j is the voice-consonant corresponding to 'c'; that is, it is a 'j'
formed with the blade of the tongue.

w differs from the English ' w,' being much softer. No native
can ever pronounce initial 'w' in English names. It is always
followed by a vowel, so that with the vowel it is nearly like
ua, ue, ui, uo, uu, pronounced quickly. In some cases it is
so faint as to be scarcely audible.

ny is the nasal consonant corresponding to 'j'; i.e. it is the
Luganda 'j' nasalized; and corresponds to the French 'gn'
in 'agneau' or 'Boulogne.'

1 and r are not distinguished by natives ; but to English ears
'r' seems to occur after 'e' and 'i.' The difference in
English" between these two sounds is that in pronouncing 'r'
air passes above the tongue, in pronouncing ' 1 ' only at the
sides. This slight difference is frequently disregarded in
Bantu languages.

f and v are pronounced with the lips slightly pouted, so that the
upper lip comes into play, not the lower lip and teeth only,
as in English ; the result is a sound approximating to ' fw '
and ' vw ' as the case may be.

Obs. In the case of 'c,' ' j ' and ' ny,' the sound is made in iden-
tically the same way, as regards the tongue and the front of the mouth.

Exercise. — Hold the nose and say — Singer, inger, ing'a, ing'a, ng'a,
n g' a > n g' e > n g'i, ng'o, ng'u ng'a nda, ng'a mba.

Then try to make these sounds without holding the nose ; imitating a
native, or the hornbill whose cry is — ng'a ng'a ng'a.

Pronounce ' chant ' with a slight lisp, or in other words, with the point of
the tongue touching upon the teeth, the blade, that is, the part just behind
the point, pressing against the front of the palate, and so get the Luganda
sound

ca ca ca ce ce ce ci ci ci co co co cu cu cu.
Form a 'j' similarly and practise —

ju jaja jangu je jeje jo joga ju juju.
Form an ' ny ' similarly and practise —

nya nye nyi nyo nyu ; nyu mba, nya nja, nyi ngo, nyo mbo,
nyo ndo, nyi mba.
Pronounce f and v with the lips slightly pouted so as to make a sound
like fw and vw, and practise —

fa fe fi fo fu; va ve vi vo vu.
Pronounce 'mfa,' making it as nearly one syllable as possible; then
pronounce it without letting the lips come together so as to form a distinct
' m,' and so get the Luganda sounds —

mfa mfe mfi mfo mfu; mva mve mvi mvo mvu; mfu mba,
mvu de, mfi sa.

14 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Final ' u ' after ' m ' is often pronounced as a vocalized ' m ' : say omu
without separating the lips in the last syllable, yet making two distinct
syllables : —

omu wamu kamu kakamu gyamu.

Lesson IV. Combinations of Consonants.

Four of the Luganda consonants might be called semi-vowels, because
they can combine with consonants to form single sounds ; they are m,
n, w, and y; m and n are used initially; whilst w and y are used
medially.

(a) w and y medial. Pronounce as monosyllables : —
kwa gwa twa dwa mwa nwa cwa jwa lwa rwa swa zwa pwa bwa
kya gya tya dya mya nya cya (jya)lya rya sya zya pya bya
ng'wa nywa
ng'ya

Practise all the above with all other vowels.

Should ng'wa and nywa present any difficulty, first pronounce ng'uwa
and nyuwa, and then contract.

(6) m and n initial. Pronounce as monosyllables : —

nka nga nta nda nca nja nsa nza mpa mba mfa mva
Practise all the above with the remaining vowels, e, i, o, and u.

(c) Double combinations, containing m or n initially, as well as w or
y medial, though preceded by some other consonant. Pronounce as
monosyllables : —

nkwa ngwa ntwa ndwa ncwa njwa nswa mpwa mbwa nkya ngya
nkya ngya ntya ndya ncya (njya) nsya mpya mbya

Practise all the above with the remaining vowels, e, i, o, and u.

N.B. — Should any one of the above sounds prove difficult, continue
to practise it until you can produce it with perfect ease. 'Verify your
pronunciation by repeated reference to a native. The reading-sheet in
common use might prove helpful.

Lesson V. Long Consonants.

All the consonants, except 1, w, y, 1 and ng' may be either short or
long. A long consonant is distinguished by an apostrophe before it ;
thus : — 'f, 't, 'm, 'n, 'ny, 's, 'z, 'f, 'v, are lengthened by being pro-
longed and at the same time being pronounced with more explosive force.
Observe that these are fricative or continuous sounds, or nasal stops.

k, g, t, d, c, j, p, b, being stop or momentary sounds, are
lengthened by making an infinitesimal pause before them and also
pronouncing them with more explosive force.

'z as zz in ' buzzing ' pronounced slowly with a slight pause,
thus : — buz-zing.

1 Very rarely this consonant is lengthened : Mbu'ya (the Kago's capital), wa'ya,
and possibly one or two others.

kc in ' took care '

gg in 'bag game'

tt in ' that time '

dd in ' bad door '

tch in ' at church '

mm in ' am mad '

CONSONANTS: PHRASES 1 5

pronounced very distinctly.

and so on with the others. However, these English sounds are only
approximate. The beginner had better defer practising these sounds
until he has had ample opportunity of observing them on the lips of
natives. Then he may practice the following : —

Exercise. — ba'fe ba'sa ba'ma ba'no otya'no ba'ba e'papale
e'ziba ba'da ba'ta so'gola ku'ka e'jiba e'jembe mu nange
ba'nange e'zibu mutya'no mu'gulu kita'fe

baba, ba'ba •_ taba, ta'ba ; kugula, ku'gula ; kuta, kn'ta, 'kuta ;
kusa, ku'sa, 'kusa, kusa ; bu'sa, busa.

N.B. — All the above are words in actual use. The accent is on the
penultimate.

It will be well to practise daily the last and all the preceding exercises,
or at any rate the first three, until the sounds are perfectly learnt.

Before passing on from these purely phonetic exercises to those which
deal with the Grammar of the language, attention must be called to the
importance of correct intonation and accentuation. Take careful note
of accents and tones, especially in questions. Remember that you are
not at libecty to raise and lower your tone at your own sweet will. If
you attempt to make your meaning clear by such methods, you will only
mystify and amuse, unless you frighten, your audience. Until you are
sure of the native intonation, aim at a level tone.

Lesson VI. Some necessary Phrases.

In the following exercises it is rssumed that a Muganda is by your
side, and that each word is taken from his lips, repeated by him several
times for every single attempt that you make to pronounce it ; and further
that the object in each case in question is, if possible, in your hands.; or
at any rate before your eyes. Banish English from your mind as far as
possible ; also banish symbol?, i. e. written words, as far as you can, by
concentrating your attention on the sound and the object which it
represents.

A few sentences, therefore, are given to enable you to question the
Muganda who is to teach you, and first of all must come the salutations
in most common use. The intonation of these is difficult ; and so some
space is devoted to making this important matter as clear as written
directions can make it.

A. Otya'no? How are you ? B. Aaa (or mmm). I'm all right.

lit. No ; i.e. there's nothing wrong.
A. M B. Otya'no? A. Aaa. B. M.

The intonation of this series of questions and answers may be repre-
sented musically thus : —

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

4 i 4 4 4

o tya no a

a a

The relation of these notes to one another, of course, is all that
matters ; but the keynote once struck, both questioner and answerer
follow the lead given. After the salutation cornea series of short grunts,
growing shorter and less loud, till they die away. These also should be
carefully noted and practised. When there is much difference between
the voice of the questioner and answerer, the notes used by them respect-
ively will be separated by a whole octave.

What is this ? Kino ki ? {The tone leaps up on the last syllable.)

Say it again, kyogere nate.

Repeat it several times, ki 'demu emirundi mingi.

Speak slowly, yogera mpola.

I don't hear, siwulide.

I don't understand, site'ge'de.

Come here, jangu. (The intonation is the same as the first two
syllables of ' otya'no.')

I have finished, 'maze.

Let us stop now, tul^kerawo.

Good-bye, weraba.

Exercise. — Practise the above salutations very carefully with your teacher.
Make use of the above expressions to ask the names of various objects, not
trying so much to learn the names, as accustoming your ear to catcli the exact
sounds which your teacher makes.

As a further exercise of this nature, ask him to repeat the following proverbs
until you can reproduce them, intonation and all, without knowing what they
mean.

Akwata empola atuka wala.

Kyoto'nalya tosoka kwasama.

Enkima esala ogwekfbira?

Nafira ku kinene, ensanafu ku 'gere 'saja.

Okwerinda si buti, wansanafu aita agalu'de.

Ekita'ta Muima tekimumalako nte.

In all that follows, it should be borne in mind that this is a method by
which to learn from the natives themselves ; and therefore the matter is
made as brief as possible. A few of the immediately following lessons
explain the general rules and principles ; the remainder merely state
facts, because it is assumed that the learner will spend several days over
each lesson. An outline of the course of study is given : the details to
be filled in by the learner himself, working with a native teacher. For
example : he will find all the forms of the possessive pronoun in agree-
ment with say the Mu — Mi class ; he gets an idea of these forms from the
particular lesson ; and he spends several days, or perhaps a week, finding
out from one or more native friends how they are used, and so getting
familiar with them.

PREFIX: ROOT: INITIAL VOWEL 1 7

Lesson VII. The Class Prefix.

Ekitabo kyange kino kirungi, this book of mine is good.
Ebitabo byange bino birungi, these books of mine are good.
Akatabo kange kano kalungi, this little book of mine is good.
Obutabo bwange buno bulungi, these little books of mine are good
Let us rewrite these sentences thus —

i. e ki tabo kya nge ki no ki rungi

2. e bi tabo bya nge bi no bi rungi

3. a ka tabo ka. nge ka no ka lungi

4. o bu tabo bwa nge bu no bu lungi

It then becomes obvious that there is in these sentences a Variable
and an Invariable part. This Invariable part is : — •

tabo, a nge, no, rungi or lungi. (See Lesson III. for ' 1 ' and ' r.')
The Variable part is : —

1. eki, ki, ky (before a vowel).

2. ebi, bi, by „ „

3. aka, ka, k „ „

4. obu, bu, bw „

Note the Initial Vowel in the first column, printed in small letters.
The variable part printed in thick type is different for the singular and for
the plural ; for ' a book ' and for ' a little book ' ; but does not vary in
each sentence. That is, if we are talking about • books ' the variable
part is bi throughout the whole sentence ; if we are talking about 'a
little book ' the variable part or prefix is ka throughout the whole
sentence. This Variable part or Prefix is therefore called the Class Prefix.

Every substantive in Luganda (the exceptions may at present be dis-
regarded) has such a prefix, one for the singular, and one for the plural ;
and all substantives are divided into classes, according to their prefixes.

The invariable part of any word is called its Root.

The object of this and the next few lessons is to give you a complete
practical mastery of this one class. This done, it will be a comparatively
simple thing to add to your knowledge any other class. This one class
thoroughly known will serve as a backbone on which to build up a sound
knowledge of the grammar of the whole language. Everything there-
fore depends on the command you obtain of this foundation.

Sing. Ekitabo, book. Plur. Ebitabo, books.

The ' e ' which precedes the ki and bi is an Initial Vowel ; it is not
really a part of the prefix. The use of this Initial Vowel is to denote a
pause ; therefore if we give the noun by itself it must have the Initial
Vowel ; no native could understand the word pronounced without it.

The pause does not occur, /'. e. the Initial Vowel is not used, with
substantives and adjectives : —

i. After the Negative : —

Sirina kitabo, I have not a book.
Si kitabo, it is not a book.

1 8 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

ii. When the word is used as a predicate : —

Ekitabo kirungi, the book is good.
Kye kitabo, it is a book.

Observe that the I.V. generally has a secondary accent, i. e. in each
word, one, and only one, syllable bears a stronger stress than it does.

i often becomes y before vowels, ki and bi of this class always
become ky and by before vowels.

Bring, leta. Go and bring, genda olete.

Go, genda. Go and look for, genda ononye.

Look for, nonya. Go and ask for, genda osabe.

Ask for, saba. Show me, ndaga.

What does- the word ' kitabo' mean ? Ekitabo kiki? Lit. What
is ' ekitabo ' ?

N.B. — If we say Kitabo ki ? (without the I. V.) it means Which book?
Ekitabo kiruwa ? Where is the book ?
Ebitabo biruwa ? Where are the books ?

Exercise. — (a) Ekyoto, ekyunia, ekibya, ekigogo, ekitoke, ekiwago,
ekyai, ekita, ekikajo.

Make the plurals of these words, and find out what they mean by means of
the above phrases.

(b) Show me a bowl. Bring one-piece-of-plantain-fibre (sing.). Go and
look for some-pieces-of-p'antain-fibre. /Vsk for some-bowls. Look for a
piece-of iron (or any article of iron in one piece). Where are the pieces-of-
iron ? Go and ask for (some) gourds. Bring a piece-of-sugar- cane. Show
me some plantain-trees. Bring one-piece-of green-plantain-bark. Look for
a bunchlet.

Lesson VIII. Adjectives and this Class.

Sing, e ki ntu e ki rungi, a good thing.
Plur. e bi ntu e bi rungi, good things.

Adjectives show the substantive to which they refer by taking the
same prefix, singular or plural, as the substantive. In the above example
' lungi ' is the root ; hence ekirungi ebirungi.

Sing, e ki tabo e ky eru, a white book.
Plur. e bi tabo e by eru, white books.

The root is yeru : e ky eru is for e ki yeru : the y is dropped and
the e is lengthened in compensation : then e ki eru becomes e ky eru.
bi, bad nene, large warnvu, long

mpi, short tono, small

If you want to say such a sentence as ' The book is bad,' do not
translate the word 'is ' : merely, ' The book bad,' missing out the I.V. of
the adjective.

Exercise. — Translate into Luganda, referring each sentence for approval to
your teacher, fixing your attention on the objects named : —

The large bowls. The bowl is large. The fireplace is small. The cala-
bashes are tall (long). The bit-of-plantain-bark is short. Go and bring a
good sugar-cane. Go and look for a bunchlet (of plantains). Show me the
long pieces-of-iron. Bring the bad bowls. The sugar-canes are long.

e ki bya

ki no

e ki bya

ki no

e ki gere

ki ri

e ki gere

ki ri

e ki ta

e ky o

e ki ta

e ky o

DEMONSTRATIVE : POSSESSIVE 1 9

Lesson IX. Demonstratives and this Class.

e ki kajo ki no, this sugar-cane, e bi kajo bi no, these sugar-canes,
e ki kajo eky o, that sugar-cane, e bi kajo eby o, those sugar-canes.
e ki kajo ki ri, that sugar-cane, e bi kajo bi ri, those sugar-canes.

ekyo (e ki o) and ebyo (e bi o) imply that the object is fairly

close at hand,
kiri and biri imply that the object is at some distance.

e ki bi, this bad bowl.

ki bi, this bowl is bad.

e ki nene, that large foot.

ki nene, that foot is large,
e ki wamvu, that (near) tall gourd,
ki wamvu, that (near) gourd is tall.
Observe the order of words.

Exercise. — These large bowls. That (near) calabash is tall. Those good
fireplaces. That piece-of-iron is long. This plantain-fibre is bad. Those
(near) bunchlets. These pieces-of-plantain-fibre are good. That piece-of-
green-plantain-baik is short. This book is long. Those large bunchlets.
These bunchlets are large. These small bowls are bad. This long plantain-
fibre is good. That (near) bowl is white. Bring those large gourds. Go
and look for that large sugar-cane. Show me those (near) large books. Go
and bring those small sugar-canes.

Lesson X. Possessives and this Class.

e ki tabo ky a kabaka, the book of the king, the king's book.

e bi tabo by a kabaka, the king's books.

e ki kajo kya nge, the sugar-cane of me, my sugar-cane.

e bi kajo bya nge, my sugar-canes.

e ki ntu kya fe, the thing of us, our thing.

e ki ntu kya mwe, the thing of you (plural), your thing.

e ki ntu kya bwe, the thing of them, their thing.

Thus the Possessives of this class are : —

e ki ntu kya nge, my thing e ki ntu kya fe, our things

e bi ntu bya nge, my things e bi ntu bya fe, our things

e ki ntu ky o, thy thing e ki ntu kya mwe, your thing

e bi ntu by o, thy things e bi ntu bya mwe, your things

e ki ntu ky e, his thing e ki ntu kya bwe, their thing

e ki ntu by e, his things e bi ntu bya bwe, their things.

Observe, i. The possessives of the second and third persons are
enclitics, that is, they have no accent of their own, and so need support.
It is therefore customary to join them to the noun with which they
agree, and write as one word ekintukyo, ebintubye, etc.

ii. Kyamwe, your, always refers to more than one person ; and the
form ' kyo,' ' byo,' to one person only. They are not interchangeable.
The unwary person might translate 'your wife' by a form in 'mwe,'
and would mean that she was the wife of at least two people.

20 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Ejcercise. — My bowl. His piece-of-iron. Your books. Our sugar-cane.
Thy foot. His bunchlet. My pieces-cf-plaintain fibre. Their books. Our
fireplace. Your gourd. Her bowls. Their piece-of-iron. Go and bring
my book. Go and ask for his calabash. His book is good. Their books
are bad. Show me your gourds. His fireplace is little. My bunch is large.
His piece-of-iron is little. Look for your gourd. Ask for their pieces-of-
iron. His things are nice.

Lesson XI. Possessives continued.

The I.V. is omitted in questions when the Interrogative immediately
follows the noun.

ki tabo ky ani ? 1 kya nge

Whose book ? Mine

ky ani, is for kya ani, of whom.

bi tabo by ani ? bya fe

Whose books ? Ours

But when any word intervenes the I.V. is not used : —

e ki tabo ki no ky ani ? kya nge

Whose book is this? Mine

e bi tabo bi no by ani ? bya fe

Whose books are these ? Ours

So also: —

e ki tabo ki ki? What is the meaning of the word
' ekitabo ' ?

The following is a list of these possessives —

SING. PLUR.

Ekintu, e kya nge, mine e kya fe, ours

e ki kyo, thine e kya mwe, yours

e ki kye, his e kya bwe, theirs

Ebintu, e bya nge, mine e bya fe, ours

e bi byo, thine e bya mwe, yours

e bi bye, his e bya bwe, theirs

Observe that the forms for the second and third persons are redupli-
cated. This is because they are enclitic ; vid. last lesson.

These forms take the I.V. unless they are used as predicates or a nega-
tive precede : —

e. g. — Ekita ekyo si kyafe ? Is not this gourd ours ?
And positively, This gourd is not ours,
ekitabokye kimpi, ekyange kiwamvu, his book is short, mine
is long.

1 Lit. It is mine, from Ekyange, the I.V. 'e' being omitted by rule to make it
Predicate. So all answers to questions. Ekitabo kyani ? Kya mulenzi wange.
Whose book ? My boy's. Lit. It is of my boy.

POSSESSIVES 21

1 Observe. — ekitabo kyange kino, this book of mine: //'/. this my book,
ekitabo kyabwe kin", that book of theirs.

Exercise. — Whose sugar-cane is that ? His. Whose is that bunchlet (near) ?
Ours. Whose pieces-of-iron are those? The king's. Whose gourds are
these ? Thine. This book of thine. That book is not thine. That bunch
(near) is not his. Is that sugar-cane his ? Is that iron yours ? That good
bowl of his. Thy calabash is short ; mine is tall. His books are nice ;
yours are bad. Our fireplaces are large ; theirs are small. My bowls are
bad ; the king's are small ; thine are nice. That bunch of hers is large.
That (near) thing is his. That (over there) is ours.

-Lesson XII. Possessives continued.

Its, their.

kyo means 'it,' and byo means 'them,' referring to a substantive of
the ki bi class ; thus we get —

e kyai kya kyo, the fibre of it (e ki toke, a plantain), its fibre.

e kyai kya byo, the fibre of them (e bi toke, plantains), their fibre.

e byai bya kyo, its (e ki toke) pieces of fibre.

e byai bya byo, their (e bi toke) pieces of fibre.

When Possessive Pronouns are combined with other epithets : —
i. The possessives take precedence of all.

As kyo, kye, etc., must be joined to the substantive, obviously no word
can intervene between them ; this makes it easy to remember that all the
possessives take precedence.

ii. Phrases made with the preposition 'of (ekya kabaka) generally
come last of all.

N.B. — When anything intervenes between the substantive and this posses-
sive phrase, the I.V. appears in the preposition ; that is, the possessive
phrase stands in pause, not intimately connected with what has gone before.

e. g. — ekintukyo ekirungi, thy good thing.

ebintu byange ebirungi, my good bowls,
ebintu byange bino ebirungi, these good bowls of mine,
ebintu byange bino birungi, these bowls of mine are good,
ekibya kino ekirungi ekya kabaka, this good bowl of the king's,
ekibya kino ekirungi kya kabaka. this good bowl is the king's,
ekibya kino ekya kabaka kirungi, this bowl of the king's is good,
ekibya kya kabaka kirungi, the king's bowl is good.

Exercise. — That good bowl of mine. That sugar-cane of his is long. This
long sugar-cane is his. These tall plantains are the king's. Those (near)
plantains of the king's are tall. Those bad gourds of yours are large. That
short sugar-cane is thine. Those white books are his. This plantain is
mine. Its fibre is good. These plantains are the king's ; their fibre (plur. )
is his. These plantains of hers ; their bunches ; their green-bark ; their fibre
(plur.). That gourd is small. Mine is large.

1 Emphatically ekitabo kino (kiri) ekyafe either, Is this (that) book mine
and no one's else ? or (positively), This (that) book is mine and no one's else.
Similarly ' ekitabo kiri ekyabwe,' etc. Cf. note on previous page.

22 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Lesson XIII. The Numerals.

The numerals from one to five are adjectives ; all other numerals are
grammatically substantives, though they seem to be used as adjectives
as well. This lesson deals only with the adjectival numerals.

-mu 1 one -na four

-biri two -tano, five

-satu three

These numerals show their agreement with substantives in the same
way as other adjectives would do, except for the I.V.

ekintu ekimu the one thing ebintu ebina the four things

ebintu ebibiri the two things ebintu ebitano the five things
ebintu ebisatu the three things

There is also a plural form of '- mu,' ebimu, meaning ' some '; cf. our
expression ' ones.'

The I.V. is much less often used with these numerals than with other
adjectives. Never insert the I.V. with numeral adjectives,- unless the
numeral is used definitely, i.e. corresponding to the English definite
article with the numeral ; and not even so, if the numeral is used pre-
dicatively or after a negative.

This rule is really a particular case of the omission of the I.V. in
predicates : e. g. Nina ebitabo bisatu, I have three books.

bisatu is really part of the predicate — I have books, and they are
three.

But, Nina ebitabo ebisatu, I have the three books.

In the first case, the word Bisatu adds a fresh fact ; in the second it
is merely a defining epithet. To put it another way, in the one case it is
emphatic, being the point of the sentence ; in the other it is subsidiary.

This point is dwelt upon because throughout the language the inser-
tion or omission of the I.V. is governed by the same principle ; the case
of the numerals is the easiest for the English learner to begin upon.

The position of numerals is the same as that of adjectives ; if both
adjective and numeral are applied to the same substantive, the numeral
generally precedes, but the opposite order may also be used.

Ebibya byange bino ebibiri ebirungi.
or, Ebibya byange bino ebirungi ebibiri.
These two good bowls of mine.

leta ebitabo bisatu, bring three books,
leta ebitabo ebisatu, bring the three books.

Exercise. — Three pieces of plantain-fibre. One plantain-tree. Four gourds.
Two pieces-of-iron. These three things are his. These four bowls of his.
Those two large calabashes of theirs. Those (near) five sugar-canes of thine.
This large plantain is mine. The two books of the king are large. Bring

1 Pronounced ' mo ' when used by itself.

numerals: supplementary: verb 23

one bunchlet. The five bowls are small. My three fireplaces are good.
Go and bring the three sugar-canes. Go and look for two pieces of-iron.
Show me the four short pieces-of-plantain-bark. Bring those (near) long
sugar-canes of thine. The five tall plantains are the king's. Your two
calabashes are short. The two long-pieces-of-iron are ours. This foot of
mine is large. Those three bowls are bad.

Lesson XIV. Supplementary.

To translate ' is ' or ' are ' with numerals, kiri and biri must be used ;

e.g. Ekitabo kiri kimu, the book is one, i. e. there is only one book.
Ebibya biri bisatu, there are only three bowls.

Very, or very much, Nyo.

And, . . . Na. The ' a ' is always dropped before a vowel,

especially the initial vowel. This word can
only be used to connect substantives and sub-
stantival expressions.

Both, . . . Byombi ; (stronger) byombiriri.

All three, . . Byonsatule.

N.B.— 'And,' connecting adjectives and verbs, is sometimes omitted; some-
times ' era ' is used. When the verb can be used in the narrative tense, the
'and ' is supplied by the 'ne' of that tense.

The adverb ' nyo ' takes its meaning trom the context : e. g. yogera,
speak; yogera nyo, speak loud ; tambula, walk ; tambula nyo, walk fast.

N.B. — Be careful to pronounce ny in nyo correctly. The least ' i' sound
between the ' n ' and the ' y ' makes the word into an expression of abuse.

Exercise. — The plantains are three. The large sugar-canes are five. This
bowl is very large. Those sugar-canes are very short. Go and bring the
bowls and the calabashes. Go and look for plantain-bark and fibre. Show
me all three bowls. The plantains and the sugar-canes are both very good.
Bring the two pieces-of-iron, both are very long. Bring all three books.
Those (near) fireplaces are very small. These five white things are very tall.
This large fireplace is very nice. Those five sugar-canes are long.

Lesson XV. The Verb and this Class.

When a substantive of this class is the subject of a verb, this relation
is shown by prefixing ki or bi to the verb : ki for the singular, and bi
for the plural.

If the verb-root begin with ' y ' the ' i ' of ki or bi drops out before
it ; with a reflexive verb ki and bi become ky and by respectively,
-kula, grow to maturity.

ekitoke kikula, the plantain is growing up.
ebitoke bikula, the plantains are growing up.

-yokya, be hot.

ekyuma kyokya, the iron is hot.

ebyuma byokya, the pieces of iron are hot.

-ebaka, sleep.

ekikere kyebase, the frog is asleep.

ebikere byebase, the frogs are asleep.

N.B. — ebase is the Present Perfect of '-ebaka,' and means 'has gone to
sleep and still is asleep.'

24 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

These prefixes are called the Subjective Prefixes.
The tense thus formed is called the Present Indefinite. It denotes
what is going on continuously.

In, inside, Mu.
On, upon, Ku.
The I.V. is dropped after these two words.

mu kibya, in the bowl : ku kitoke, on the plantain.

In Lesson VIII. you were warned not to translate 'is' or 'are' when
an adjective or substantive, or substantival expression followed ; how-
ever, when an adverb or adverbial expression follows, these words must
be translated by kiri or biri for this class. An adverbial expression is
one that answers to one of the questions, How ? Why ? Where ? or
When?

Exercise. — Those two frogs jump far [buka nyo]. The king's plantains
are growing. All three pieces-of-iron are in my bowl. Both books are on
your bunchlet. • The king's animal [ekisolo] moves quickly, mine moves
slowly. The bunchlets are among the pieces-of-plantain bark. Five very
large sugar-canes are on your animal. Show me the bundnets, they are on
the tall plantain. Go and bring the little books They are in the white
bowl. Plantains and sugar-canes grow. Animals walk and also grow.

Lesson XVI. The Verb continued.

To translate 'is not,' 'are not,' with adjectives or substantives as the
predicate, use the single word ' si,' ' not' e.g. : —

ebita bino si biwamvu, these gourds are not tall.

ekibya kino si kyeru, this bowl is not white.
To make a verb negative, prefix ' te ' to the verb. e.g. : —

ebitabo biri tebiri wano, those books are not here.

ebisolo bino tebitambula nyo, these animals do not travel fast.

There are two future forms in Luganda : —

(a) The Near Future, formed by inserting the prefix na after the class
prefix : — e. g. ekisolo ki na genda, the animal will move,
ekyuma ki na yokya, the iron will be hot.

{b) The Far Future, formed by inserting the Prefix li after the class
prefix : — e.g. ebisolo bi ri tambula, the animals will travel.

The Near Future refers to what will take place in the course of the
next twelve hours or so ; the Far Future to more distant events.

The Negative Near Future is not given at present, as its formation is
quite different from that of the positive tense, and is besides a little
difficult.

N.B. — There is no such form as tebinagenda ; there is a form tebi'nagenda,
which means 'they have not yet gone.'

The Negative Far Future presents no difficulty : e.g. : —
ebisolo tebiritambula, the animals will n6t travel.

N.B. — Europeans must be very careful in their use of the future tenses ;
the tendency is to use one or other of these tenses to the exclusion of the
other to express future time. Nothing is more perplexing to a Muganda

AUXILIARY VERB 25

than this. When you are talking of what will happen to-day and use the
Far Future tense, it sounds as utter nonsense lo a Muganda, as to say ' I
have gone ' instead of ' I shall go ' would sound to an Englishman.

Exercise. — These sugar-canes are not long. These calabashes are not bad.
This plantain does not grow much [kula bulungi]. These animals will
walk fast to-day [lero]. The bunchlets are not on the plantain. Those
large books are not the king's. These sugar-canes will grow large [bulungi].
My plantains are not growing much. The bunchlets are not among the

Eieces-of-plaintain-bark. Those books are not in the white bowl. The
ing's animal does not walk fast. This bowl is not very large.

Lesson XVII. The Auxiliary Verb.
The Infinitive of a verb is formed by prefixing ' oku ' to the verb : —
e.g. — okugenda, to go: okuleta, to bring.

If the Root begin with y, drop out the y and lengthen the vowel
following, at the same time changing ' oku ' to 'okw ' ; thus : —

yagala, love : okw agala (okwagala), to love.
If the Root is Reflexive, change ' oku ' to ' okw ' ; thus : —

ebaka, sleep : okwebaka, to sleep.

The ' o ' in ' oku ' (or ' okw ') is the I. V., and the Infinitive is simply a
form of noun. The I.V. ' o ' is therefore omitted, or put in according
to the rules for the I.V.

After an auxiliary verb, 1 the I.V. is generally omitted, unless the
speech be slow and deliberate. It occurs, however, after an Auxiliary
which is Relative — ' which he intends to . . .'

The commonest Auxiliaries are — :

mala, finish. soka, do first, begin.

ja, be about. yagala, intend ; (of things) be likely.

' When ' is translated by ' bwe ' prefixed to the Verb.

Ekitoke bwekirikula, when the plantain shall grow up.

Ekitoke bwekirimala okukula, when the plantain shall have grown

up. Lit. When it shall finish to grow up.
Kija kugenda, it is about to go.
Bija kugenda, they are about to go.
Kyagala kugenda, it is likely to go.
Byagala kugenda, they are likely to go.

Ekyo kye kirisoka kugenda, this is the one which will go first.
Bwekisoka kugenda, when it begins to go.

The following are some useful verbs : —

kuba, beat. gwa, fall. njagala, I want,

kwata, take hold of. laba, see. kigenda kugwa, it is
sula, throw. sala, cut. going to fall.

1 Perhaps it might be more correct to make no exception here to the rules for I.V. ;
but to regard the two vowels as so run together as to sound as one. (Cf. note at end
of Hymn-book.)

26 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Exercise. — The plantain is likely to fall. The bowl is about to fall. The
plantains are likely to fall. When the animals shall have walked. I want
to see plantain-fibre. I want to begin here [wano]. I want to finish beating
the iron. The iron is about to fall upon the bowl. I want to begin beating
the iron. The bunchlet is likely to fall. When the iron begins to get hot.

Lesson XVIII. The Personal Subject and Object.

sing. PLUR.

Subject. Object. Subject. Object.

n I n me tu (tw) we tu us

o (w) thou ku thee mu (raw) you ba you

a (y) he mu him ba they ba them

The forms in brackets are used before a vowel.

The object always comes immediately before the verb, and the subject
comes first : e.g. r. ku laba, I see you : ba ki kuba, they strike it.
And with the Future (p. 24),

anakiraba, he will see it — Near Future.

balimukwata, they will catch him — Far Future.

When an auxiliary verb is used, the Object Pronominal Prefix goes
with the Principal Verb, not with the auxiliary, e.g. —
maze okukikwata, I have got hold of it.

Exercise. — (a) Put each of these subject pronouns before the various verb
roots already given — laba,. leta, gwa, genda, kuba, sala, kwata, sula, etc.

Test these forms by your teacher : they mean — I see, thou seest, he sees, etc.

{b) Next put the Object pronoun in, making sentences thus : I see him, we
strike you, etc.

I see it. They see them. He strikes it. We shall see him. They will
see us. We shall throw it (away). You will take hold of it. Thou seest
them. I will bring them. You shall see us. He will bring me. You shall
cut it. I want to take hold of it.

(d) The Negative is formed by putting ' te ' before the Subjective Prefix :
the first pers. sing, is, however, always ' si ' : e . g. sigenda.

I am not falling. You do not take hold. He does not see. lie does not
see it. He does not see them. They do not see him. We do not take hold
of it. They are not going to come. He is not about to go. He does not
intend to beat it. I am not going to throw them away. You are not cutting
it. I am not hitting you. He is not taking hold of you.

Lesson XIX. The Relative.

Subject. — We have already seen that 'kikula' means 'it grows up.'
If we put the I.V^ before this we make it Relative ; i. e.

e kikula (with I.V. 'e'), which grows up.
Similarly,

e bikula (with I.V. ' e '), which grow up.
Hence, eki toke ekikula, the plantain-tree which grows up.

ebi toke ebikula, the plantain-trees which grow up.

RELATIVE : FAR PAST : PRESENT PERFECT 2J

Object. — kye means 'which ' for the singular.
bye means ' which ' for the plural,
e ki tabo kye tulaba, the book which we see.
e bi tabo bye tulaba, the books which we see.
If a vowel come after the ' e ' of kye or bye, the ' e ' is dropped,
e ki tabo ky alaba, the book which he sees,
e bi tabo by alaba, the books which he sees.

Exercise. — The' sugar-canes which will grow up. The iron which we
strike. That bunchlet which they see is in the bowl. The three books
which we will bring (socm). Bring the books which they are going to throw
away. Take hold of the books which are likely to fall. The plantain-
fibre which comes [ra] off [ku] the plantain. The gourd which is likely to
fall. This is the bunchlet which is likely to rot [vunda]. Where are the
plantain-trees which they are about to cut? Show me the pieces-of-iron
which he wants to take [twala]. I have not the book which he asks-for.
The book which is about to fall. The plantain which is about to fall.
Those two books which they are going to bring are white.

N. B. — The Negative with the Relative is treated later.

Lesson XX. The Verb continued.

The Far-past Tense of the verb is formed by putting the vowel ' a '
between the Subjective Prefix and the Root ; e.g. laba, see, makes : —

SING.

N a laba, I saw.
W a laba, thou sawest.
Y a laba, he saw.
Ky a laba, it saw.

PLUR.

Tw a laba, we saw.

Mw a laba, ye saw.

Ba laba (for ba a laba), they saw.

By a laba, they saw (i.e. 'things' saw).

Exercise. — (a) Make this tense for all verbs yet given, and correct by your
teacher.

A Present Perfect Tense is formed by modifying the stem and adding
the Subjective Prefix. It means ' he has seen and still is seeing,' etc.

The following are the modified forms of all the simple verb-stems yet
given : —

STEM.

MODIFIED FORM.

STEM

MODIFIED FORM

Leta.

bring ;

lese.

Kuba,

beat ; kubye.

'Ja,

come;

dze.

Saba,

ask-for ;, sabye.

Genda,

go;

genze.

Sala,

cut ; saze.

Gwa,

fall;

gude.

Sula,

throw ; sude.

Kula,

grow up ;

kuze.

Twala,

take ; tute.

Kwata,

take hold ;

kute.

Va,

go out ; vude.

Mala,

finish ;

maze.

Vunda,

rot ; vunze.

Nonya,

look for ;

nonyedza.

Exercise.— (b) Add the Subjective Prefixes, so as to make the forms for
' we have gone ' ; ' they have come,' etc. ; and correct by your teacher.

These are made Negative by putting ' te ' before each form : e. g.
tebalaba, they did not see, tetulabye, we have not seen.

28 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Except the first person singular, which is 'si': e.g. 'salaba,' I did

not see.

Exercise. — (c) Make all these negative forms with your teacher.

Exercise. — (d) The bowl has fallen. The frogs have gone. The plan-
tains have grown up. We have asked for a book. The plantains which I
saw. The iron which fell down. The pieces-of-plantain-fibre have rotted.
Those two nice bunchlets which we saw. They have taken the nice book
which he bought. Where are the pieces-of-plantain-fibre which they thr°w
away ? Where is the book which he wanted to ask for ? The frogs have
not gone. We did not see the book. They have not taken the bowl. I
have not thrown away the book. The plantains have not fallen. The
plantains did not fall. I have not taken hold of the bowl. We have not
asked for a book. The pieces-of-plantain-fibre have not rotted. They did
not take the bunchlets. He did not strike the iron. The iron, he has not
struck it. The bunchlets, he has not taken them.

Lesson XXI. Miscellaneous.

e bi ntu bi meka ? How many things ?

e bi ntu bi ri bi meka ? How many things are there ?

The answer to these questions is Predicative, /'. ) Investigate these forms with your teacher.

Exercise. — (ir) Whose stick? mine. Whose is this friend ? theirs. Is that
hoe-handle thine ? it is not mine. Your stick is short, mine is long. My
work is difficult [zibu], yours is easy [yangu]. Whose work is this? theirs.
Whose head is that ? his. Whose arms are those ? yours. The iron, its price.
The snake, its body is large. The animals, their heads, their tails, their
forelegs [omukono]. The plantain, its season [omwaka]. That stick is not
yours. This snake is not his. That [near] hoe-handle is not hers. The
hoe-handle, its iron (piece). The gourds, their price.

Lesson XXVI. The Relative.

Subject. — o mu ti o gu gwa : the tree which falls,

e mi ti e gi gwa: the trees which fall.

Object. — o mu ti gw na laba : the tree which I saw.

e mi ti gye na laba : the trees which I saw.

The gu becomes gw, and the gi becomes gy before a vowel. The ' e '
of the Objective Relative drops before a vowel — as we saw in Lesson
XIX.

N.B. — omugo gweyagenda okugunonya : the stick which he went to
look for.

The Relative Object with ' genda ' and the Pronominal Object with
the Active Verb 'nonya.'

Exercise. — The work which he did [kola]. The work which he has done.
The stick which has fallen. The year which came to an end [gwako].
The arm which he struck. The hoe-handles which they will bring. The
snake which died. The rivers which we shall cross. The fire which burns
[yaka] brightly. The head which is visible [labika]. The price which is
great. The heads which we have seen. The price which we have given
[wade]. The fire which he has asked for. His body which is very clean
[tukula nyo]. My stick which he has taken. The price which he wants to
ask for. The fire which is going to burn. The river which flows
[kulukuta] fast.

Lesson XXVII. Miscellaneous.

e mi ti e meka ? How many trees ?

e mi ti gi ri e meka ? How many trees are there ?
o mu ti gw oka, the tree only. e mi ti gy oka, the trees only,
o mu ti gw ona, all the tree. e mi ti gy ona, all the trees.

bwe gu ti, like this. bwe gi ti, like this,

bwe gu tyo, like that. bwe gi tyo, like those.

gu tya, how gi tya, how

gu li gu tya, what is it like ? gi ri gi tya, what are they

like?

32 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Exetcise. — How many swamps? How are the hoe-handles? The frog,
what is its head like ? An arm like this. All the month. Snakes like that.
This year only. All the fire has fallen. The snakes went like this. All the
snakes died [fa]. All our materials-for-work have rotted. How is the
doorway? It is very narrow. 1 All my friends. The tail only was left. 2
All the swamps are three only. Make the doorways like this. They made
the doorways narrow like that All the years.

The remainder of this section is intended only as a summary. It
gives a few leading points which deserve special attention. Make
exercises for yourself on the same model as those already given, and go
through them step by step with your teacher.

Lesson XXVIII. w and y Stems. 3
Verbs,
(a) Those stems which begin with y.

In the Present and Present Perfect, the Subjunctive Mood and
Infinitive of the verb, note that the y of the root drops out, and
the vowel immediately following it is lengthened by compensa-
tion, after all prefixes ending in the letter ' u.'

e.g. twagala, we want : for tu yagala.

The first person singular is only ' n ' if the second syllable of the

root begins with ' n ' or ' m ' : e.g. nyongede, I have increased.
But in other cases the forms are njagala, I want ; njeze, I have swept.
(i>) Those stems which begin with w.
Whenever n comes before the w, we have mp, not nw.

Substantives (including Adiectives).

(a) y Stems.

i. With the Class Prefix n.

No change if the second syllable of the stem begin with n or m :

e.g. yengevu, ripe, — empafu enyengevu, ripe slow.
Otherwise change n to nj and omit the y.
e.g. yeru, white, — ente enjeru, a white cow.
ii. With other Class Prefixes.

Omit the y and make the necessary change in the vowel of the
prefix : at the same time lengthen slightly the first vowel of the
stem.
e.g. yengevu, eryengevu (eri engevu), — yeru, obweru (obu eru).

(b) w Stems.

i. With the Class Prefix n, change nw to mp : e.g. wamvu,

high, — enju empamvu, a high house.
ii. With the Class Prefix li, change li to g : e.g. wamvu, long, —

ejinja egwamvu, a long stone,
hi. In other cases no change ; but avoid making the w hard.

1 Use the verb ' funda,' to be narrow.

2 Use the verb ' sigala,' to be left.

3 The word ' stem is used as inclusive of the three forms given in Note on Word
Analysis, p. 170, viz. true root, derived root and modification.

MU — BA CLASS 33

Lesson XXIX. The mu — ba Class.

Find out from your teacher what the following words mean : make
their plurals and get thoroughly familiar with this class.

omukyala, omulenzi, omuwala, omukazi, omusaja, omuntu
omusomi, omuwesi.

Lesson XXX. Notes on this Class.
The Objective Prefix is mu for the singular, and ba for the plural,
ya mu laba, he saw him. ya ba laba, he saw them.

The plural forms are made in the usual way from this Objective
Prefix : —

e.g. a ba ntu ba nge, my : ba li, those : -bo, thy : -be, his, etc.
The singular forms present some difficulty : —

Numeral. — omuntu omu, one man.
Demonstrative. — omuntu ono, this man.

omuntu oyo, that man (near),
omuntu oli, that man.
Possessive. — Wa, of: e.g. omulenzi wa kyejo, a boy of insolence, an
insolent boy.
Hence, wa nge, of me, my : -wo, thy : -we, his : wafe, our
etc., in the usual way.
Relative Subj. — omuntu alaba, a man who sees, alabye, who has seen.
This, it will be seen, is the same in form as ' a man sees,'
'a man has seen.'

omuntu eyalaba, 1 a man who saw.
Relative Obj. — omuntu gweyalaba, a man whom he saw.

omuntu gwalabye, a man whom he has seen.
Miscellaneous.— omuntu yena, every man.

omuntu yeka, a man by himself.'
omuntu atya ? bwati, like this : bwatyo, like that : ali, he is.
atya is frequently used in the sense ' what did he say '

Lesson XXXI. The li — ma Class.

Find out what the following words mean : make the plurals of them
and get thoroughly familiar with the sound of this Prefix.

eriso, erinyo, erigwa, e'fumu, e'gi, eryato, e'jinja, e'kubo, e'sanyu,
e'subi, amadzi, amata, amafuta.

Lesson XXXII. Notes on this Class.

The Objective Prefixes are li for the singular.

ga for the plural.
e. g. ya li kwata, he caught it.

ya ga kwata, he caught them.

1 Some people say 'ayalaba,' which is consistent with the fact that 'a' as a
pronoun denotes 'he.'

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

All the various forms are made in the usual way from these prefixes :
li (ly) for the Singular ; ga (g) for the Plural.
Bracketed forms before a vowel.
e.g. li no, this ; ga li, that ; lya nge, my ; lyo, thy; lye, his.

The agreement of the Adjective in the Singular is difficult ; for the
adjectives already given it is : —

eryato e'bi amato amabi
erimpi amampi

egwamvu amawamvu

e'dene amanene

e'tono amatono

Lesson XXXIII. The n Class.

Find out what the following words mean : make the plurals of them
and get thoroughly familiar with the sound of this prefix :—

Entebe, embwa, enyumba, empiso, ensuwa, enyindo, embuzi, ente,
emere, emfufu, embadzi, empagi.

Lesson XXXIV. Notes on this Class.

The Objective Prefix is gi (gy) for the Singular, and

zi (z) for the Plural.
Bracketed forms before a vowel.
All the plural forms are made in the usual way from zi (z).

The Singular Forms are : —

Numeral. — enyumba emu, one house.
Demonstrative. — enyumba eno, this house.

enyumba eyo, that house (near),
enyumba eri, that house.
Possessive. — ya, of : hence ya nge, of me, mine; yo, thy ; ye, his ;

yafe, our, etc., regularly.
Relative Subj. — enyumba egude, the house which has fallen,
enyumba eyagwa, the house which fell,
enyumba erigwa, the house which will fall.

i. e. the forms are the same as for 'the house falls,' ' has fallen,' ' will
fall,' except in the Far-past Tense.

Relative Object. — enyumba gyeyalaba, the house which he saw.

enyumba gyalabye, the house which he has seen,
enyumba yona, all the house. enyumba zona, all the houses,
enyumba yoka, the house only. enyumba zoka, the houses only.

enyumba etya : zitya,

bweti, like this,
bwetyo, like that,
enyumba emeka ?
eri, it is.

bweziti, like this (plur.),
bwezityo, like that.
How many houses ?
ziri, they are.

IMPERATIVE: COMPOUND SENTENCES 35

Lesson XXXV. Imperative, etc.

The simplest form or 'stem' of a verb is the 2ad pers. sing. Imper.
The Subjunctive is formed by changing the ' a ' final of the stem in the
present tense to ' e,' e.g. tugende, we may go (tugenda, we go) ; bakwate,
they may take hold (bakwata, they take hold).

The Subjunctive has various meanings, viz. tugende, we may go,
let us go, are we to go ? may we go ? bagende, let them go, are they to
go?

The form mugende is always used for the plural Imperative, Go ; the
singular, ogende, is used as the Near Imperative — oje enkya, come in
the morning; genda olete, go and bring; commands to be executed
not immediately but in Near Time.

Prohibition. — Use

(a) the negative form of the simple tense : e. g.

togenda, do not go.
To make this a general prohibition, add nga.
togendanga, never go.

(b) 'leka,' leave off: e»g. leka kulinya ku bigere byange, don't tread

on my feet ; muleke kuzanyirawo, don't play about there.
' that ye may not ' use ' lema,' cease : e. g. muleme kugenda, that
ye may not go.

Lesson XXXVI. Compound Sentences.

Always make your sentences as simple as possible, and avoid a
number of dependent sentences. If in English we use a number of
sentences depending on one another, the Baganda do not, and they
must be broken up so as to consist of simple sentences entirely : e. g.
he went . . . and eat.. . . and slept . . . etc., or of one simple sen-
tence and one dependent sentence : e. g. he went . . } when he had
eaten ... he laughed 1 because the speaker was funny, etc. A sen-
tence which exceeds the above in complexity cannot be followed by the
ordinary native.

nga, meaning ' thus,' can be used to supply most English con-
junctions. Practise with your teacher such sentences as : —

genda ngomaze okulya, go as soon as you have eaten.

Lit. Thus, you have finished to eat.
omwami ngakomyewo, muwa ebaruwa eno, as soon as the master

has come back give him this letter,
amanyi ngakoze bubi, she knows that she has done wrong.

Nga brings a comparatively distant fact into the immediate present
time.

1 — 1 Even here in telling a story the Narrative Tense would be used : ' he eat . . .
and he went'; ' the speaker was funny . . .and he laughed.' The use of the con-
junction in this case is mostly confined to short, isolated or independent sentences.

36 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Your teacher may also suggest or prefer other expressions, according
to his particular way of looking at the matter. Thus : —

Bwobanga omaze okulya (as soon as you have done eating)
expresses that the meal has not yet begun, as well as some
uncertainty as to when it will begin.

Bwonoba (nga) omaze okulya, expresses much the same, but at
a slightly more future time, say from two to eight hours hence.

Similarly —

Bwabanga akomyewo, if he is expected almost immediately.
Bwanaba (nga) akomyewo, if he is expected in a few hours.
Bwaliba akomyewo, if he is not expected until to-morrow or later.

In Narration these become —

yamala okulya nagenda, he went when (as soon as) he had eaten,
or, relating what happened to-day — alide, era agenze.

Similarly —

Relating what happened a day or more ago,

Omwami yakomawo ne'muwa [ni'muwa] ebaruwayo.

I gave the master your note when (as soon as) he came back.

Relating what happened to-day —

Omwami akomyewo : ebaruwayo 'muwade [ngirmuwade].
I gave the master your note on his return.

Obanga, if: e.g. obanga agenze, komawo, if he has gone, come
back.
Ngagenze would be quite intelligible, but not so idiomatic.

Singa : (this requires the use of a tense not yet given, viz. ' ndi ' or
' ku ' placed before the stem and after the subjective prefix,
and meaning ' would have ' done) : singa okisude, yandikuku-
bye, if you had thrown it away, he would have beaten you.

Note how your teacher uses ' lwe,' for ' when ' and sometimes * bwe' :
bwe also means ' how,' — tomanyi bwali, you don't know how he (she) is ;
how bad, good, beautiful, etc., is supplied by the context.

nga ye bweyakola, just as he did.

wandika nga bwenkuigiridza, write as I have taught you.

This simple construction, mostly with 'and' instead of the more
elaborate conjunction, is very common in the Hebrew of the Old Testa-
ment. A few instances only out of the many that might be quoted, are
given. In nearly every case they could be literally translated into
Luganda with 'and ' without using our English conjunctions.

The rendering of the R. V. is given in the bracket : the ' and ' as it
reads literally being put into the text.

' And {For) he shall be as a tree . . . and {but) his leaf shall be
green . . . and {neither shall) shall not cease. . . . ' Jer. xvii. 8.

'And {yet) we did esteem him. . . . And {but) he was wounded. . . .'
Isaiah liii. 4.

CONJUNCTIONS: PRONOMINAL ADVERBS 37

That :

' Ye shall not profane . . . and {that) ye die not.' Numb, xviii. 32.
' There must be an inheritance . . . and {that) a tribe be not
blotted out.' Judges xxi. 17.
Then :

' When ye take . . . and {then) ye shall offer. . . .' Numb, xviii. 26.
But :

' The young lions do lack . . . and {but) they that ... Ps. xxxiv. 10.
Also in the above quotations from Isaiah and Jeremiah, and very
frequently elsewhere.
So:

'Depart . . . And {So) they gat them up. . . .' Numb. xvi. 27.
When :
' And Moses heard, and fell on his face.'

R. V. ' and when Moses heard it, he fell. . . .' Numb. xvi. 4.
' And thou 1 hast heard, and thou l hast forgiven.'

R. V. ' and when thou hearest, forgive.' 1 Kings viii. 30.
Where •
' I sink . . . and {wfiere) there is . . . I am come . . . and {where)
the floods overflow me.' Ps. lxix. 2.
Let:

1 Hide . . . and no man knows where. . . .

R. V. ' Hide . . . and let no man know where. . . .' Jer.
xxxvii. 19.
Neither :

' Fight not with the small and the great.'

R. V. 'fight neither with small or great.' 1 Kings xxii. 31.
And above in quotation from Jeremiah.

l — ' In this and the following, Dr. Young's Idiomatic Use of the Hebrew Tenses is
followed ; also in note on ' Must,' p. 141.

SECTION II

The subject being now treated from a slightly different point of view,
there will be some expansion of the more elementary principles ; but it
is hoped that the repetition will not be tedious.

Orthography.

Since so few of the letters used in English exactly represent the same
found in Luganda, it is a matter of some difficulty to write Luganda
uniformly. The following suggestions will be found useful : they are
based upon two broad principles, viz : —

1. Arbitrary Laws : i. e. laws which are made arbitrarily to facilitate
the process of writing and of reading that which is written.

II. Phonetic Laws : a term which sufficiently explains itself.

Arbitrary Laws.

i. The pronunciation is so far followed as to combine together the
following words when they occur in ordinary conversation : — -

(a) The Preposition 'of with the word following, — obulamu

bwabantu, the life of men.
The Preposition ' mu ' to the verb preceding, when it forms an

integral part of the verb, — nakitulamu,and sat in it.
Also such Prepositional forms as kulwange, on my account ;

kubwoyo, for his sake, etc.

(b) The Possessive pronouns -o, -e : — mwanawo, your child ; ama-

soge, his eyes.

vowel : — nomusaja and a man ; ngayogera, he speaking.

(d) The Relative Particles — Lwe, bwe, we.gye, kwe, mwe — with the

verbs with which they are respectively connected. These might
perhaps be included in the verb formation.

2. The more important parts of speech are not run together, nor are
their vowels elided, as they would be in speaking. They are written
grammatically, not phonetically.

Exc. Write as one word, kuberekyo, this being so.

3. No double consonants occur.

38-

ORTHOGRAPHY : VOWEL SOUNDS 39

4. Every written vowel is, or forms, part of a syllable : thus double
vowels do not occur to denote a strong accent. For grammatical pur-
poses the lengthened vowel may be denoted by a horizontal bar : —
amanyi, strength ; okukuma, to keep.

5. An apostrophe may be use'd to denote an omitted root-letter which
has given rise to a lengthened or explosive sound in the following con-
sonant : — oku'ta, to kill ; oku'ba, to steal ; ye'ka, by himself.

6. r is written after the vowels e and /': and 1 in all other cases.
Thus Z 1 is written in preference to r as an initial consonant, even
though it may not be the exact sound.

Exc. All foreign words, or names which are clearer if written with
the proper consonant.

7. The particle 'nti' used to introduce reported speech is written by
itself, and has no comma or other stop before or after it. The word
immediately following ' nti ' is written with a capital letter.

8. The stem of all verbs is the imperative form singular; and all
other parts of the verb are formed from this according to the Phonetic
Laws, p. 107 and ff., and Tables I, II, III.

Exc. Reflexive Verbs.

9. w is scarcely audible when it occurs between two similar vowels —
lowoza, amawanga ; but it is better on analytical grounds to retain
it.

In the prefix 'wo' the audibility of the 'w' varies; but it is best
retained uniformly for the same reason as in the previous case.

10. When the name of a person or place is joined to a preceding part
of speech, by the above arbitrary methods, then the initial letter of that
part of speech bears the capital letter : — Nomwoyo Omutukuvu, and the
Holy Spirit.

Exc. Foreign names : it adds greatly to the clear understanding of a
foreign name to write it by itself, writing any prefixes which this language
may require separately — aba Efeso, the people of Ephesus, the
Ephesians ; but AbeFeso is used by many writers.

And for this reason e locative is best written apart from the name
of the place — e Mengo, at Mengo ; e Gibea', at Gibeah ; but Emengo,
Egibea, are also used.

11. Phonetic Laws. These are summarized in the Appendix, Tables
I, II, and III ; and are given in the Exercises, p. 107 and ff.

Summary of the Vowel Sounds.

A short. A long.

mala, finish. mala, plaster,

kabakaba, wise. kaba, cry.

omuzanyo, play. omuzana, slave-girl,

wala, far. wala, have small-pox.

1 Certain Baganda sound an initial 1 like d in such words as lwaki- -dwaki ; and
instances of this spelling are to be found in the earliest translations published. This
is now uniformly written as 1.

4 o ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

E short. E long.

akatebe, a little stool. katebe, a bog.

sere, grass-seeds. sera, cheat,

ke'ta, spy. keta, pall (of food) ?

short. O long.
loka, sprout. loka, throb?
kola, do. kola, weed,
enkota, bunch of plantain. kotakota, stoop.

1 short. I long
bi'ka, cover. bika, lay egg.
siba, tie. siba, spend time.

siga, sow seed. siga, bedaub with grease, etc.

U short. U long.

obusa, dung. busabusa, doubt,

ku'ta, have sufficient. kuta, rub.

ensulo, spring. sula, throw,

wulira, hear. wula, beat heavily.

Intermediate sounds may often be heard ; the extremes only are
given. See note on ' Length of Vowels,' p. 173, iii.

Summary of Consonant Sounds.

Eleven consonants may be regarded as identical with the correspond-
ing English sounds, viz. k, g, t, y, s, z, p, b ; n, when not nasalized,
and m, when not representing a nasalized sound before p, b, f, v :
also d when not modified before a • z.'

w may be said to have two sounds : —

i. A voiced consonant; this is not common, and occurs mostly

in ' w stems '^ e.g. wata, wagala, etc.
ii. Most commonly it is a soft-breathed consonant.

n, immediately followed by another consonant other than ' w ' or 'y,'
is nasalized ; the effect being to make ' n ' like a semi-vowel.
e.g. enkuba, rain; ensi, land; nsoma, I read.

When this ' n ' is nasalized before p, b, f, or v, the sound more
resembles a nasalized ' m,' and is therefore sometimes written m.

e.g. mba, mfa, mpa, mva.
Note the syllables mwa, mya, nwa, nya, etc.

ny, or nasalized 'j ' like 'gn ' in Boulogne.

ng, or nasal ' g.'

1 and r : many Baganda declare that they make no difference.
Many Europeans however notice that the sound is more that
of '1' when initial, or preceded by the vowels a, 0, and u;
and more that of 'r' when preceded by the vowels e and i.
Further, many Baganda are capable of making a sound in-
clining more to ' r ' than ' 1 ' in such proper names as Rebeka,

CONSONANT SOUNDS : SYLLABLES 41

with ' r ' initial. And this is done not on special occasions
but constantly in everyday intercourse in some names like this
with *r' initial, though not in all.

f and v are sounds approximating to ' fw ' and ' vw ' respectively.

j should be carefully noticed : e. g. bulijo, joga, janjaba.

gy in such words as ' gyawo ' must be carefully noted.

Lengthened or Exploded Consonants.

These denote an omitted root-letter.

't and 'd : e'taka 'dungi, the soil is good ; e'diba, a skin ; oku'ta,
to kill ; oku'da, to go back.

'b (and 'p) : oku'ba, to steal ; e'banga, space ; e'banda, bamboo.

'k and 'g : oka ka, to come down ; e'gi, an egg ; ye'ka, by him-
self; e'ka, at home ; oku'gulawo, to shut the door.

'f and 'v : are not so easy to hear as the others. Note carefully
the pronunciation of 'fe, we ; and the first ' v ' of e'vivi, a
knee.

's and 'z : not very marked : a'se, he has killed ; e'sasa, a
smith's shed; e'ziga, a tear; e'zibu, hard (in agreement with
the li ma class).

'j (and 'c) : not easy to hear. Note e'jembe, a charm ; e'jiba, a
dove ; e'joba, a bird's crest.

Lastly, before z (and probably before j) there is a ' d ' sound :
the ' d ' has not its full sound : e.g. amadzi, slightly different
from ama'zi ; akiridza, slightly different from akiri'za.

Probably there is a slight ' d ' sound also before the ' j ' in okuja.
Thus ' okuja ' gives ' okwidtha ' in Lusoga and ' kwitza ' in
Kavirondo (Mumia's), a rather plain hint that a 'd' is want-
ing, even if only slightly sounded.

I. Syllables.

Each word must be carefully pronounced by syllables. The author
has found it most helpful to consider each vowel in a word as the end
of a syllable ; it may have one consonant before it ; in certain cases it
may have two or even three consonants before it. In any case the
vowel marks the best place to divide the syllable.

This division is correct in Swahili, but not quite correct in Luganda.
It serves however as a simple rule by which to guard against that most
common mistake of making English syllables correspond to Luganda
ones, or, to be more correct, to make the vowels in them correspond.
Thus we must say Ka-to-nda, not Ka-tond-a ; ba-nda, not ban-da ; Ngo-
gwe, not ngog-we. This is one of the commonest mistakes made by
Europeans.

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

II. Forms of Speech.
The Noun.
The noun is made up of three parts : —

i. The Root or simplest possible part, which never varies.

2. The Class Prefix, which shows what kind of thing is meant.

3. The Initial Vowel or ' I.V.'
Thus — mu ntu, a man. Here —

ntu is the Root or invariable part, and has the meaning

'existence.'
mu is the Class Prefix, and determines what existence we mean.
Now ' mu ' denotes 'human,' i.e. man as opposed to animal.
Therefore ' mu ntu ' is ' human existence,' /'. e. a man.
is the Initial Vowel, and must always be used when the word
stands by itself.
Again — e ki ntu, a thing. Here —

ntu is the same root as before, meaning ' existence.'
ki is the Class Prefix which gives the meaning of ' inanimate,'
/'. e. neither man nor animal ; and not having any special
characteristics of length, hardness, smallness, or the like.
Therefore ' ki ntu ' is ' inanimate existence ' ; i. e. a thing.
e is the Initial Vowel, which it will be noted is a different vowel
to that in the previous case. Every Class Prefix has its own
I. V.; but the only three vowels used for this purpose are 'a,'
'e,' 'o.'
Thus from the root ntu, 'existence,' we have two words — mu ntu,
a man, and e ki ntu, a thing. We can also form from this root a-ka-ntu,
a little thing ; and o-bu-ntu, abstract existence ; whence comes the
expression Omuntu obuntu, a mere man.
The following are a few specimen nouns : —

saja, a

man.

lenzi,

boy.

mu dn, a

man-slave.

kazi, a

woman

wala,

girl.

mu zana, a
slave.

woman-

somi, a

reader.

baka,
senger.

mes-

mu bnmbi, a

potter.

bina, a

crowd.

diba,

pool.

ki kayi, a

potsherd.

bira, a

forest.

gambo,

word.

ki kolo, a

root.

bya, a

bowl.

gere,

foot.

ki nya, a

hole.

The word '

na' means

'ai

id'; wl

jen

a vowel

comes after

'na' the

vowel 'a ' is dropped, and the ' n ' is joined to that word ; e.g. : —
o mu kazi no mu wala, a woman and a girl,
e ki bya ne ki kayi, a bowl and a potsherd.

Exercise. — A boy and a girl. A word and a root. A reader and a
messenger. A word and a bowl. A man-slave and a woman-slave. A
pool and a hole. A forest and a root. A reader and a boy. A hole and
a bowl. A woman and a girl. A foot and a hole. A root and a girl. A bowl
and a woman. A boy and a foot. A messenger and a crowd. A forest
and a pool. A potter and a potsherd. A bowl and a potter. A woman-
slave and a girl. A man and a woman. A messenger and a potter. A
crowd and a hole. A woman and a potter. A man and a man-slave. A
man and a forest. A bowl and a potsherd. A reader and a girl. A root
and a hole.

PLUR.

ntu,

men.

kazi,

women

ntu,

things.

bira,

forests.

PLURAL : ADJECTIVE 43

The Plural of these Two Classes.

To form the plural, change mu to a ba, and e ki to e bi respectively,
thus : —

SING.

ntu, a man. a

kazi, a woman. a

ntu, a thing. e

bira, a forest. e

Exercise. — (a) Make the plurals of all the above nouns.

{/>) Men and women. Bowls and potsherds. Crowds and words. Roots
and holes. Readers and boys. Messengers and a crowd. A potter and
bowls. A forest and holes. Men and things. Boys and girls. A mes-
senger and men-slaves. Feet and holes. A man and readers. Girls and
a bowl. Women-slaves and a root. A messenger and news [words]. Foot-
marks [feet] and a boy. Pieces of potsherd [sherds] and a woman. Readers
and a crowd.

III. The Adjective with the Subjunctive.

The adjective has exactly the same form as the noun ; in fact, the
adjective is not considered as different from the noun. It has its own
root, and the class prefix shows what is meant. Thus the adjective
takes precisely the same prefix as the noun, with which it agrees ; and
this shows in all cases where the noun is understood and not given
what sort of thing is referred to.

The following is a list of simple Adjective Roots : —

Bi, bad. Kalubo, hard. Nene, large.

Bisi, raw. Kambwe, fierce. To, young.

Funda, narrow. Kulu, fullgrown. Tono, little.

Gazi, wide. Lamba, whole. Wamvu, tall, long.

Genyi, foreign. Lamu, sound. Wolu, cold.

Gomvu, soft. Lume, male. Yangu, light.

Gumu, hard. Lungi, good. Yerere, empty.

Gya, new. Lusi, female. Yeru, white.

Kade, worn out. Mpi, short. Zibu, difficult.

Kalu, dry. Nafu, weak. Zira, brave.

The use of these adjectives should be carefully noticed ; they have
none of them an exact English equivalent.

bi is the opposite of lungi ; it is used loosely for ' dirty ' as opposed
to ' clean ' (lungi), as well as for ' bad.'

bisi means ' in its natural state ' — amadzi amabisi, cold water ;
omuti omubisi, a green piece of wood ; enyama embisi, uncooked
meat.

genyi, used only of people. Omugenyi, a visitor.

gumu denotes what is hard and yielding. Of a fence or wall, it means
' strong ' ; of cloth and other fabrics, it means ' stout and durable.'

kade, used of men as well as things; e.g. a man that has passed the
vigour of life is considered as ' worn out ' ; i. e. an old man.

44 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

kalubo denotes what is hard and unyielding ; metaphorically, of diffi-
cult matters, ' difficult,' ' insoluble.' As a verb, ekigambo kimukalubi
rira, he finds that a difficult problem.

kambwe, used of animals by preference. Its application to men seems
to be European.

lamba, mostly of things, 'undivided"; omwaka omulamba, a whole year.

lamu, — Omuntu omulamu, a man in full health ; ekibya ekiramu,
a bowl without a crack in it.

lume and lusi are used of animals ; saja and kazi are the words for
human beings ; hence, omusaja, a man ; omukazi, a woman.

nafu applied to human beings is a term of contempt — 'enfeebled
creatures.' It denotes in all cases that the strength which ought to be
there is gone.

to denotes 'undeveloped,' whether of persons or things, 'not full-
grown ' ; emuli nto= ' reeds not fully grown,' and which in consequence
shrivel up when dried; e'toke e'to= ' plantain not fully matured,' and
therefore not fit for food ; omwana muto = ' a child who is not full-
grown,' 'young,' and therefore has not its full strength.

kulu is the opposite to 'to,' and means 'adult.' Applied to persons
it may mean ' head ' or ' chief man.'

tono, little in point of size. More rarely in point of quantity —
Amadzi matono, a small quantity of water.

ivanivu denotes length, either upwards — tall, or downwards — deep.
Horizontally it can only be applied to a definite object to mean ' long ' ;
'a long interval ' is expressed by 'nene,' large — e'banga dene. 1

wolu is applied to food. If applied to persons it means 'gentle.'
This latter use is perhaps peculiar rather to Lusoga and other kindred
languages, than to Luganda.

yangu. The primary idea seems to be that of ' quickness ' ; hence
(i.) ' light,' because soon carried ; (ii.) ' easy,' because soon done.

yerere, ' with no adjuncts ' — omuntu omwerere, a man with no
adjuncts, i.e. naked ; enyumba enjerere, a house with no adjuncts, i.e. the
mere house, or an empty house ; emuli enjerere, reeds and nothing else.
yeru, lit. ' cleared ' ; hence, weru (for wayeru), a place cleaned of all
dirt and undergrowth ; olusozi olweru (of distant objects), a hill with a
smooth surface, because it is clear of all trees ; ente enjeru, a cow clear
of all colour patches, and therefore white. 2

For a full explanation of the different forms taken by w and y stem
adjectives (/. e. those whose stems begin with w and y), see Phonetic
Laws.

Exercise. — A good girl. A young boy. New words. Bad slaves. A
large sherd. Short readers. Little feet. An old woman. Full-grown
boys. A short root. A useless [hi] sherd. Bad men. Good potters. A
dirty [bi] bowl. A short foot. Difficult words. A large forest. Worn-out
things. Brave women. Empty holes. Adult readers. A large crowd.
Little pools. Old messengers. Ar adult messenger. Dry pools. A large
girl. An unbaked [bisi] bowl. A tall woman. Short men. A new bowl.
Dry things. A little forest. A sound foot. Hard roots. A wide hole A
green root. A deep hole. A hard sherd. A sound boy.

For this agreement, see p. 1 12, iv. 2 For agreements, see Chap. XVII. p. 112, ff.

INITIAL VOWEL 45

IV. The Initial Vowel with Adjectives and Nouns.
Always use the I.V. with Adjectives and Nouns, unless —
i. A negative precedes.
e. g. ' si,' meaning ' no* ' : —

si mukazi, it is not a woman.

si kigambo, it is not a word. (Used as equivalent to ' Never

mind.')
si kirungi, it is not good.

N.B. — When an adjective is joined to a noun, or when two nouns are
joined together by the prep, 'of,' both drop their I.V. after a negative ; e.g.
si kya kutulamu, it is not for sitting in.
sibalina kibya kirungi, they have no good bowl.
Si is rarely if ever followed by an adjective and noun together ; either a
noun only, or an adjective only, follows it.

ii. They are predicative.
e. g. ' ye ' meaning ' he ' or ' she ' : —

ye mulenzi, he is a boy.

ye mulungi, she is nice,
'kye,' meaning ' it is ' — kye kibira, it is a forest.

So with adjectives —

Ekibya kino kirungi, this bowl is nice.

N.B. —The adjective is generally made predicative when in agreement
with a noun ; e.g. : —

' Ekibya kirungi, generally is the equivalent of the English, A good bowl ;
whereas Ekibya ekirungi may mean, The good bowl, which you know of,
•which we are looking at, or the like.

iii. The preposition mu, in or ku, upon precede ; e. g. : —

mu kibya, in the bowl ; ku kikolo, upon the root,
iv. One of the questions Which or Whose is asked, e.g. : —

Kitabo ki ? Which book ?

Kitabo kyani ? Whose book ?
Provided the words for ' which ' and ' whose ' immediately follow the
noun. If anything whatsoever comes between, the I.V. is used, e.g. : —

Ekitabo kino kyani ? Whose book is this ?

with I.V. (e kitabo), because kino intervenes.

N.B.— Ekitabo kiki? means, What is meant by 'ekitabo '?
N.B.— Form of the I.V. The I.V. is :—

' a ' if the vowel of the Class Prefix is ' a.'
'o' „ „ „ 'u.*

* e ' in all other cases.

Possession : Pronominal Copula.
In agreement with nouns of the omuntu class : —

SING. PLUR.

wa, of. ba, of.

wani (wa ani) ? Whose ? bani (ba ani) ? Whose ?

ye, he is. be, they are.

4 6

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

e.g. Muntu wani? Whose man.
Ye mukazi, she is a woman.

Bantu bani ? Whose men ?
Be bakazi, they are women.

In agreement with nouns of the ' ekintu ' Class : —

SING.

kya, of.

kyani (kya ani) ? Whose ?

kye, it is.

e.g. Kintu kyani? Whose thing?
Kye kibya, it is a bowl.
Kya mukazi, it is the woman's.

PLUR.

bya, of.

byani (bya ani) ? Whose ?

bye, they are.

Bintu byani ? Whose things.
Bye bibya, they are bowls.
Bya mukazi, they are the
woman's.

Mu and Ku.
mu means ' inside ' ; but with the plural it may also mean : —
(a) ' In the quarter of,' e.g. : —

mu bakazi, in the women's quarter,
mu babumfei, in the potter's quarter.

This use is obviously confined to persons.

{b) 'To look for,' ' to fetch ' with things ; e.g.:—
agenze mu muli, he has gone for reeds,
ku means ' upon ' ; but with the plural it may also mean * some
of,' e.g.—

ku badu, some of the slaves,
ku bibya, some of the bowls.

Exercise.— The readers are good. The bad readers are boys. The bowl
is small. Which bowl? Whose girl? Whose man? Which forest? They
are not messengers. They are not good readers. In the hole. ^ Upon the
root. In the slaves' quarter. Some of the roots. In the men's quarter.
The messenger is not old. The girl is not young. In the pools. What is
this ? It is a bowl. What are these ? They are holes. They are forests.
What is this ? it is not pretty. In the boys' compound. Some of the words.
In the women-slaves' compound. It is a crowd in the forest. They are boys
in the pool. It is a hole in the foot. He is the slave of the messenger.
They are the words of the messenger. It is the potter's sherd.

V. Place or Position.
Place or position is indicated thus : —

Wa, place generally. Ku, upon (place upon).

Wano, here (this place).

Wali, there (that place).

Awo, there (near at hand).

Mu, in (place inside).

Muno, inside this.

Muli, inside that.

Omwo, inside that (near place).

ebintu biri mu kinya muli : the things are in that hole.

Kuno, upon this (place).
Kuli, upon that (place).
Okwo, upon that (near place).

PLACE : KI CLASS 47

Wa drops its ' a ' before a vowel following : —

genda womubumbi, go to the potter's place,
twala womukaai, take it to the woman.

In Lesson X. sec. I. we had the words -fe, us; -mwe, you; -bwe, them:
joining those to wa (and adding ' e ' to denote place ' at '), we have : —
Ewafe, at our place.
Ewamwe, at your place.
Ewabwe, at their place.

Similarly we get : —

Ewange, at my place.
Ewuwo, at thy place.
Ewuwe, at his place.

For * it is * and ' they are ' before mu and ku we must use : —
kiri, it is. biri, they are.

luwa, meaning ' where,' we get
ekibya kiruwa ? Where is the bowl : kiri mu kinya, it is in the
hole : kiri muli, it is inside that : kiri okwo, it is upon that
(near).

Similarly biri wano, they are here : biri muli, they are in that, etc.

Exercise. — Summary of words from Section I. : —

Nyo, very. Ndaga, show me.

Kwata, take hold. Leta, bring.

Genda, go. Genda olete, go and bring.

Nonya, look for. Genda ononye, go and look for.

Saba, ask for. Genda osabe, go and ask for.

Soka oleke, just wait a bit.

Exercise. — Where is the forest? it is there. Take hold of some of the
roots. Show me the sherds ; they are in that hole. Look for the man in
that (near) forest. It is at your place. Where is the foot ? Go and ask for
a bowl. It is at your place, in the men's quarter. Look just there. They
are upon that (near). Go in the forest and look for the boy. It is upon
that root. It is at our place. Go to the little man and ask for a potsherd ;
it is at his place. Go and bring the very young girl. In that hole Upon
this potsherd. Upon that (near) foot. Where is the bowl ? It is (over)
there. Where is the pool ? It is in the forest. Whose words ? The boys'.
Whose girl ? Of the reader who sleeps [asula] at our place. Whose feet ?
Of the girls. Some of the bad boys. The bowl is in the young boys'
quarter. Adult readers. A short boy. A large pool. A brave slave. A
dry potsherd. Look for a soft root. Bring some of the small bowls. T hey
are inside there. Show me the foreign women. They are over there. Go
to the man's place and bring a sherd. Go into the forest and look for the
girl.

VI. The ki (or 'thing') Class.

N.B. — In this and the following chapter, it is assumed that Section
I., Lessons VII.— XXVII. will be referred to.

Ekibajo, a chip. Ekibatu, palm of hand.

Ekibamvu, a trough. Ekibo, a basket.

Ekibegabega, the shoulder. Ekifananyi, a likeness.

Ekibanja, a building site. Ekifo, a place.

4 8

ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

Ekifuba. the chest.
Ekifulukwa, a deserted place.
Ekifumvu, a mound.
Eki'go, a fort.
Ekigongo, the backbone.
Ekiguli, a cage.
Ekika, a clan.
Ekikajo, sugar-cane.
Ekikande, an over-run garden.
Ekikere, a frog.
Ekikonde, the fist.
Ekikonge, a stump.
Ekikusu, a parrot.
Ekikuta, a peeling.
Ekikwaso, a pin.
Ekimuli, a flower.
Ekirabo, a present.
Ekirato, a sheath.
Ekiwempe, a coarse mat.
Ekiremba, a head-cloth.
Ekirevu, a beard.
Ekiro, night.
Ekisa, kindness.
Ekisakate, a fence.
Ekisanikizo, a cover.
Ekisansa, a small mat-work
cover for cups, etc.

Ekisasiro, rubbish.
Ekisenge, a partition, wall.
Ekisera, a space of time.
Ekisikirize, shade, shadow.
Ekiswa, an ant-hill.
Ekita, a gourd.
Ekitabo, a book.
Ekitanda, a bedstead.
Ekitibwa, glory.
Ekitogo, papyrus.
Ekitole, a piece.
Ekituli, an aperture.
Ekitundu, a part.
Ekiwawatiro, a wing.
Ekire, a cloud.
Ekiwero, a rag, duster.
Ekiwomvu, a valley.
Ekiwundu, a wound.
Ekizikiza, darkness.
Ekizinga, an island.
Ekyalo, a garden.
Ekyejo, insolence
Ekyenyi, the forehead.
Ekyoto, a fire-place.
Ekyoya, a feather.
Ekyuma, a piece of iron.

Ekyoya — mostly Plur., ebyoya — denotes any growth, such as down,
hair (on a goat), feathers (on a bird) which appears on the skin.

Ekisasiro — nearly always Plur., ebisasiro. The singular would only
mean ' a single piece of rubbish ' ; just as ekyuma means ' a single piece
of iron.' True, ekyuma may be a complex machine of many pieces, but
the combination forms one piece, and is therefore called ' ekyuma.'
Ebisaniko — the leaves used to cook food in — is used if the ' rubbish ' is
of that nature.

Ekisa and Ekitibwa are only used in the singular.

Nouns beginning with 'ky' are 'y Stem' nouns ; i.e. they are formed
from a root beginning with ' y ' ; e.g. yota, warm, makes ekyoto (eki yoto),
a place to warm at. Their plurals are ebyoto, ebyuma, etc.

(a) Adjective.

Exercise. — The shaving is short. The building-site is good. The fence is
bad. Where is the sound bowl ? Show me the large wound. Where is the
good book ? Go and ask for a nice pin. Go and look for the small pictures
(photographs). Bring a sound bowl. Bring the short part. It is not
whole. Go and look for the young parrot. Go and ask for a building-
site. Where is the large hole ? Where is the new fort ? Where is the
old fence? The wall is short. The fences are new. Is the duster dirty?
Where are the hard coarse-mats ? The palms are hard, they are not large.
Go and ask for a clean [lungi] cover. Bring a strong [gumu] basket.

o
a

meani

n g

'I'

'thou'
'he'

'we'

mu
ba

'ye'

' they '

TENSES OF VERB 49

Where are the dry mounds-? Where is a small valley? Where is a good
place.

(b) Demonstrative and Adjective.

Exercise. — This fist. That (near) shadow. These wounds. These
mounds. Show me that old stump. Go and bring that (near) basket.
This fort is very old (out of repair). That place is very wide, this is
narrow. Ask for those short coarse-mats. These frogs are young. Those
baskets are empty. These valleys are very long. Take hold of this parrot.
Go and ask for those large dusters. Where are the dusters ? They are on
that small bed. Where are those long pins ? They are in that cover. This
wound is large ; those are small. Show me these hard pieces of sugar-cane.
Those are hard, these are soft. Bring those short pieces of papyrus. This
part is worn out. These likenesses are very good ; those are not good.
This parrot is small. These clouds are large. Go into that deserted-place
and bring some potsherds. Go and look on that large bedstead for the
coarse-mats. The small pins are in that small cover. Go to [mu] the
islands and buy [gula] those bowls.

ndaba, means I see

olaba „ thou seest

alaba „ he sees

tulaba „ we see

mulaba „ ye see

balaba „ they see

The Objective Pronoun always comes immediately before the Verb-
stem, unless it is relative. 1

Similarly, putting ' a ' before ' laba ' we get n a laba, I saw : w a laba,
thou sawest, etc.

Putting ' na. ' before ' laba ' we get tu na laba, we will see (soon): a na
laba, he will see (soon), etc.

Putting ' li ' before 'laba' we get n di raba, I will see : o li raba, thou
wilt see, etc.

The following words are useful : —

Tambula, walk. Gula, buy. Leta, bring.

Gwa, fall. Kola, make. Sula, throw away.

Gyawo, take away. Leka, leave.

Exercise. — The parrot walks very much ; I have seen it. They go very
quickly [mangu]. It is going to fall. We will build it. They took them
away. They have gone. They threw them away. They will bring them.
It will fall. They will fall (soon). They will take hold of them. Tliey
left them. Frogs jump [buka]. Sugar-cane is very nice [woma]. This
wound is very nasty [wunya]. That wall is leaning over [esulise]. This
fence is falling over [bunduse]. The darkness is dense [kute]. The stump
knocks people.

(d) Numeral and Adjective.

The first five numerals have already been given (Section I., Lesson
XIII.). The others do not vary in their agreement. Probably the
numbers, six, seven, eight and nine are really adjectives in agreement

1 For Personal Object Pronoun, see p. 26, Lesson XVIII.

50 ELEMENTS OF LUGANDA

with the word ' omuwendo ' — number — understood, viz. the 'six' number,
the 'seven ' number, etc.

Omukaga, six. Omwenda, nine.

Omusamvu, seven. Ekumi, ten.

Omunana, eight.

N.B. — E'kumi is a substantive of the lima Class.
These numerals follow the same rules for the I.V. as the five first
numerals.

Numeral Adjectives. — /'. e. adjectives which follow the same rules as
numerals with regard to their I.V.

ngi, many. meka ? how many ?

' Great ' as a quality is ' ngi ' : e.g. ekisa ekingi, great kindness. ' Nene '
is great only as to size.

Exercise. — Six bowls. Ten mounds. Eight places. Six books. Nine
covers. Seven fences. Eight gourds. Ten feathers. Nine large books.
Great glory. Great kindness. How many bowls? How many ant-hills?
ten. How many fences? Six whole nights. They threw away a great-
quantity-of [ngi] rubbish. I want six long pieces. They made four nice
bedsteads. Nine large deserted places. These seven dusters are dirty.
Those two white islands. Three large forests. Those six clans.

(e) Possessive.

Take special note how the Subjective Prefix runs through all these
forms. Thus ki for the singular (kitambuds, it has walked) — whence
we get kyange (kiange) my ; ky e (kie) his. For the Demonstrative we
had kino, kiri, etc. So also for the Relative we have ekigwa, which falls ;
kyeyakola (kieyakola), which he made; and for other forms, kitya,
bwekityo, kyona (kiona), etc.

bi, the Plural Objective Prefix in the same way (ya bi kola, he made
them), makes all the forms : by afe (biafe) ; by eyakola (bieyakola), etc.

Exercise. — My sugar-cane. His book. Their aperture. Your coarse-
mat is long His wound is large. Their books are very nice. Show me
his parrot. Their fire-place is small. Whose gourd is this ? Mine. Whose
are the five small bowls ? They are on the wall. Their insolence is great.
Go and look for that nice sheath of mine. That parrot is not thine. Whose
gardens are those ? Ours. His parrot, I saw its foot ; its wings are
small ; its kindness is great. They will bring their books. The books,
their parts. They brought the parrot in its


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