Bigger/Senior in Zulu

Something big is -khulu in Zulu. A good starting point for you, as a Zulu student is the family and age.

l Baba is father in English, right? Grandfather is baba-mkhulu.

l Mama is mother in English right? Grandmother is simply khulu.

l Your mother’s elder sister however, is mam’khulu.

African American filmmakers like Tyler Perry like using characters called ‘big mama’ which means grandmother. In Africa however, if I say she is mam’khulu, I mean she is my mother’s elder sister.

Back to -khulu. It means big, or too much. The sun is hot or I love you very much. I have to be careful with the jerk sauce from Jamaica, otherwise the food will the too hot.

The U.S. President tweets a lot (u-tweeter kakhulu). The Middle East is very angry for Trump’s assassination of military commander Qassem Soleimani.

Khu-lu. You say the first part like cook and the second part like look.
Ka-khu-lu. You say the first part like Kamala Harris, the second like cook and the third part like look.

ZULU	ENGLISH
I-Iran idinwe ka-khulu.	Iran is very angry.
U-baba u-dinwe ka-khulu.	Father is very angry.
Musa u-kufaka u-sawoti ka-khulu.	Do not put too much salt.
Musa u-kufaka upelepele ka-khulu.	Do not put too much chilli.
Bathandana ka-khulu.	They love each other a lot.
Ilanga lishisa ka-khulu manje.	The sun is too hot now.
Ku-shisa ka-khulu e-Dubai.	Dubai is very hot.
Kubanda ka-khulu e-Moscow.	Moscow is very cold.
U-phuza ka-khulu u-Zephania.	Zephania drinks too much.
U-dla ka-khulu u-Zanele.	Zanele eats a lot.
U-Tim u-funda ka-khulu.	Time reads a lot.
Ingane ikhala ka-khulu ubusuku.	The baby cries a lot at night.
Mude ka-khulu.	He is very tall.
Umuzi wakhe mu-khulu.	Her house is very big.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

A big house (u-muzi om-khulu)

Photo: Nonqaba waka Msimang.