Very Old in Zulu

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Old is guga in Zulu.

 U-blanket o-gu-gile (an old blanket).

Umuntu o-gu-gi-le (an old person).
Gu-ga is used in a negative way, especially for human beings. For example, Brigitte Trogneux-Macron (66), is older than her husband Emmanuel Macron (41), the President of France. 

People who don’t like the idea say u-gu-gi-le for him.  Her fans say she is older than him (mda-la ku-na-ye), which is factual about the age difference.  They don’t say ugu-gi-le, which is disparaging.
Clothes get old, collars crack and armpits get worn-out, a concept that is hard to comprehend in Europe, Canada and the U.S. because clothing is so cheap, people buy new things before old clothes get old, if I may put it that way.

They have to be cheap, since they are made with cheap labour in non-dollar and non-Euro countries like China, India and Sri Lanka.  Old however, is also a fashion statement, where jeans are ripped apart by a machine and sold for $70.  ‘Distressed jeans,’ that’s what they call them.
Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
Most poor families use one car for years until it falls apart and say: ‘I’m done.’ That car is old (i-gu-gi-le).  Rich people however have more than two cars and they love preserving their old vehicles, showing them off at vintage car shows.  The word old does not apply to them.
Gu-ga. The first part is pronounced like good and the last like garden.

ZULU
ENGLISH
U-go-go u-gu-gi-le. U-no 90.
Grandmother is very old. She is 90.
U-Prince Philip u-gu-gi-le u-no 97.
Prince Philip is very old.  He is 97.
U-Prince Philip wa-ye-sha-ye-la no-ma e-gu-gi-le.
Prince Philip still drove a car although he was old.
U-Professor we-thu u-gqo-ka i-bha-ntshi e-li-gu-gi-le.
Our professor wears an old jacket.
U-gu-gi-le na-mhla-nje sisi, u-su-no 21.
You are really old today sister.  You are 21. (jokingly).
Cha mama a-ngi-gu-gi-le.  Ngi-no-21 ku-phe-la.
No mama. I’m not old.  I’m only 21.
Mi-na ngi-qo-me u-mu-ntu one moto e-gu-gi-le? Ngeke!
Me! Date somebody with an old car?  Never.
Fu-na i-ndo-da.  U-nga-gu-ge-li e-kha-ya.
Find a husband so that you don’t get old in your parents’ house (advice to girls all over the world).
Ba-gu-gi-le ko-dwa ba-sa-tha-nda-na. Ba-ba-mba-na i-za-ndla.
They are old but they are still in love.  They walk hand in hand.

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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