Invite in Zulu

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Good news for people learning Zulu from this blog. The English word murmur is the same as me-ma, which means invite in Zulu. Well, not exactly, pronunciation is the same. Try and invite these people.

Me-ma u-Bill Gates kwi Facebook.
Me-ma u-Donald Trump ku-Twitter.
Me-ma u-Beyonce ku-Instagram.

Just kidding. These are famous people who will never ever follow you because they don’t know that you exist and have no intention of following you anywhere.

You invite people when you get married. When your kids get married, they ask you to invite your friends. This sometimes breaks friendships because that is when you know your value.

A best friend that doesn’t invite you to the son’s wedding is obviously not ‘best’. In countries like South Africa, some people invite celebrities they’ve never met.

Our great grandfathers never printed invitation cards because traditionally, everyone was invited to weddings. Europe is a different kettle of fish.

If you live in Canada or Germany, and receive an invitation, please don’t bring two of your friends who happened to be in the neighbourhood. Tables, food and drink are reserved for a certain number.

Africans have adopted the strictly by invitation weddings by holding them in hotels and guest houses because they know their guests have cars. It’s not like in townships and rural areas where people say, ‘I saw a cow at Cele's place. Let me walk over there and say Hi.’

ZULUENGLISH
Me-ma abangani bakho.Invite your friends.
Ngizo-mema u-Phila no-Bongiwe.I will invite Phila and Bongiwe.
Nga-ba-mema kodwa a-ba-fikanga.I invited them but they didn’t show up.
Nga-khohlwa u-ku-mema umfundisi.I forgot to invite the pastor.
Ngi-yaku-mema. Ngiyashada.I’m inviting you. I’m getting married.
U-zomema abantu abangaki?How many people will you invite?
Ngi-zomema wonke umuntu.I will invite everybody.
Ngi-zomema bonke othisha.I will invite all teachers.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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