Zulu: Singular and plural

In Zulu, there are 15 noun classes. The first 13 classes have specific patterns for pluralization. Classes 14 and 15 do not have plural forms and therefore, we will not discuss them in this particular blog post. All singular and plural markers are prefixes and in the cases in which the standard prefix has a VCV pattern, the final V is dropped if the stem it attaches to begins with a vowel, e.g. singular in Classes 3-4.

Classes 1-2: Persons

Label	um-/umu-	aba-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

The singular prefix has two forms due to phonological reasons: umu- appears only before monosyllabic stems.

example:

um-ngoma                           aba-ngoma

SING.witchdoctor                 PLURAL.witchdoctor

witchdoctor                           witchdoctors

Classes 1a-2a: Proper nouns, Kinship terms

Label	u-	o-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

example:

u-baba                                    o-baba

SING.father                            PLURAL.father

father                                      fathers

Classes 3-4: Trees, Rivers, Other nouns

Label	um-/umu-	imi-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

The singular prefix has two forms due to phonological reasons: umu- appears only before monosyllabic stems.

example:

um-fula                       imi-fula

SING.river                  PLURAL.river

river                            rivers

Classes 5-6: Parts of the body, other nouns

Label	i-	ama-/am-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

example:

i-khala                         ama-khala

SING.nose                   PLURAL.nose

nose                            noses

Classes 7-8: Heterogeneous nouns

Label	isi-/is-	izi-/iz-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

isi-phingi                                izi-phingi

SING.adulturer                      PLURAL.adulterer

adulterer                                adulterers

Classes 9-10: Animals and miscellanea

Label	im-	izim-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

im-puku                      izim-puku

SING.mouse               PLURAL.mouse

mouse                         mice

Class 11: Long things (things that are longer than they are wide)

Label	u-	izim-
Meaning	SING	PLURAL
Position	prefix	prefix
Selection	N	N
Category	Ø	Ø

example:

u-siba                          izim-siba

SING.pen                    PLURAL.pen

pen                              pens

References:

http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Zulu.html

Zulu Vocabulary and Phrase Book with Grammatical Notes, Samuel Gibbs, 1884

Scholar’s Zulu Dictionary, G.R. Dent and C.L.S Nyembezi, 1969