Kamza’s HCLV021 Study Guide!
[Conversational Language in Tshivenda]
Things that will be focused on:
1. Noun Classes & Concords
✓ Singular & Plural Nouns
✓ Correct Concords
✓ Tense (Past, Present & Future)
2. Pronouns
✓ Personal Pronouns
✓ Possessive Pronouns
✓ Demonstrative Pronouns
3. Verbs
✓ Irregular Verbs
4. Conjunctions
5. Prepositions
6. Most used Words for Connection
➢ The concord is a [little word] that comes at the end of the subject.
(“u”) Tshivenda → (“o”) Sepedi
e.g:
• Monna→ Munna,
• Motho→ Muthu
• Moswiri→Muswiri
(“i”) Tshivenda → (“e”) Sepedi (“Ndi”) Tshivenda → (“ke”) Sepedi
e.g: [Ri→ Re]
➢ This one is not mostly used but it appears in many places.
(“vha”) Tshivenda → (“ba”) Sepedi
(“na”) Tshivenda → (“le”) Sepedi → (“and”) English
(“kh”) Tshivenda → (“kg”) Sepedi
[They are still many of them, you will see them as you continue to Learn]
Singular & Plural Nouns
“Munna u khou gidima” (Tshivenda) → “Monna o a Kitima” (Sepedi)
[Try to Check the Difference THERE using this two Sentences.]
“Vhanna vha khou gidima.” (Tshivenda) → “Banna ba a Kitima” (Sepedi)
Munna na Musadzi vha a funana. Tshivenda
Monna le Mosadi ba a Ratana. Sepedi
The man and the woman love each other. English
Correct Concords
• Here’s a table of noun classes and their matching concords with some examples.
• The first line shows you the singular form and the second line is plural.
• As always, the best way to learn these is to practice using them.
Concord Singular Plural Examples Sepedi English
u Mu Vha Musadzi u … Mosadi o … The Woman is …
vha Vhasadzi vha … Basadi ba … The women are ...
u Mu Mi Mutshelo u … enywa e … Fruit is …
i Mitshelo i … dienywa di … Fruits are …
Li Li Ma Lito li … Leihlo le … Eye is …
a Mato a … Maihlo a … Eyes are …
tshi Tshi Zwi Tshikolo tshi … Sekolo se … School is …
zwi Zwikolo zwi … Dikolo di … Schools are …
I N Dzi Kholomo I … Kgomo e … Cow is …
dzi Dzikholomo dzi … Dikgomo di… Cows are …
Tenses (Past,Present & future)
Past Tense
▪ To speak about something in past tense, essentially all you do is put an o at the end of
the present tense concord.
▪ So tshi becomes tsho, and zwi becomes zwo.
▪ I become yo, because if you say “i” and “o” together quickly, that’s what it sounds
like.
Present Tense
Concord Singular Plural
u Mu Vha
vha
u Mu Mi
i
Li Li Ma
a
tshi Tshi Zwi
zwi
I N Dzi
dzi
Future Tense
➢ Future tense is easy: just put “do” after the present-tense concord and before the
verb.
➢ Do functions like the English word “will” in this case.
e.g:
In Sepedi we use the word: Nwana u do lindela badani. Tshivenda
“u do”→“o tla” The child will wait at the road. English
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
• This is the most important kind of pronouns to know.
• They’re the ones that can function as nouns.
• The subject pronoun is used in the subject of the sentence, and the object pronoun is
used in the object. Remember this: Subject (S) + Verb (V) + Object (O)
Object Pronoun Subject Pronoun English meaning
Nne Ndi Me (I)
Rine Ri Us (We)
Vhone Vha Them (They)
Ene U Him/Her (He/She)
Inwi Ni You
Iwe U You
U la na rine. Ri nwa na ene.
He eats with us. We drink with him.
➢ If you know Sepedi, just try to convert Tshivenda using Sepedi because some other
words have the same Tone.
e.g Ni vhala bugu na vhone naa? No vhala bugu na vhone naa?
Le bala buku le bona naa? Leya go bala puku le bona naa?
possessive Pronouns
❖ These pronouns tell you who the noun belongs to.
❖ There are five suffixes, depending on whose exactly it is.
First person Second person Third person
Singular -anga -anu -awe
Plural -ashu -anu -avho
e.g:
Mmbwa yawe i khou vhulaha khuhu yawe.
Mpsha ya gagwe e bolaya kgogo ya gagwe.
His dog is killing his chicken.
• Verbs normally end in a, and when they’re in their infinitive form (ie. when you’re
talking about them instead of using them) they’re preceded by a u.
• To imply something is happening now now, the verb modifier khou is used in front of
the verb.
The word for Action:
• Without khou, it’s not as clear when the action is happening.
“khou” (-ing) [English]
Irregular Verbs
▪ Of course, there are a few verbs that don’t follow these rules.
❖ Uri means to say. The command form is iri.
Uri a nwale nga hafha. Iri ndo livhuwa.
He says to sign here. Say thank you.
▪ Pfi refers to someone’s name.
Ndi pfi Mpho.
My name is Mpho.
▪ Mphe means gimme.
Use u fha or u nea when talking about “give” in other contexts.
Conjunctions
• Na is a very versatile word that can join words or clauses together.
• It means “and” or “with”.
• Kana means “or” or “nor”.
• Mara means “but” or “except”.
• Zwino means “so” or “now”.
Preposition
➢ You must use a preposition that functions like “of” when describing association or
possession.
➢ Precisely which one you use depends on the noun class of what’s being described.
➢ Two other important prepositions are nga and kha.
➢ Nga means “by” or “at” while kha means “to”.
Singular (noun class) Plural (noun class) Preposition (singular) Preposition (Plural)
Mu Vha wa vha
Mu Mi wa ya
Li Ma la a
Tshi Zwi tsha zwa
N Dzi ya dza
Most used Words for Connection
Important Phrases English Translation
Ee! Yes
Hai! No
Khamusi. Maybe
Zwavhudi. Good
Ndaa. Hello. (Spoken by men)
Aa. Hello. (Spoken by women)
NB: This Study guide is only trying to help you to understand some content, but it doesn’t
outline the Full content for Translations & information such as (Adjectives, Adverbs,
Negation & etc).
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