Milk in Zulu

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Milk in Zulu is u-bi-si.

Babies love milk. They feed and sleep, feed and sleep. They don’t pay taxes at all.  Some cultures use milk in cooking a lot. 
I remember a scene from Mississippi Masala, one of Mira Nair’s films.  The character is at the cashier with big plastic bottles of milk.  The cashier says something like: ‘Are you running a diary?’  The character was not amused.

 U-bi-si. The first part of the noun is pronounced like ooze, the second part like Ibiza and the third part like si, the Spanish si.

ZULU
ENGLISH
I-tiye no-bi-si.
Tea and milk.
I-kho-fi no-bi-si.
Coffee and milk.
I-zi-nko-mo zi-no-bi-si.
Cows have milk.
U-shi-zi we-nzi-wa ngo-bi-si.
Cheese is made with milk.
Ngi-ce-la u-bi-si o-lu-ba-nda-yo.
May I have cold milk please?
Ngi-ce-la u-bi-si o-lu-shi-sa-yo.
May I have hot milk please?
Ludmilla, bilisa u-bi-si.
Ludmilla boil some milk.
Arslan, bilisa u-bi-si.
Arslan boil some milk.
A-ngi-na-lo u-bisi.
I don’t have milk (nursing mothers).
Ngi-no-bi-si o-lu-ni-ngi.
I have a lot of milk (nursing mothers).
By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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