Wipe in Zulu

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Please wipe your feet.
Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang

The Zulu class of 2020 is frustrated because lessons are not as frequent as they used to be. Thanks for your interest in learning this African language, which will help you, as you travel in most countries, south of Africa.

Lessons are less now because of translation. I try and find words that are almost similar to English like murmur. Inviting somebody in Zulu is me-ma, the same way you say murmur.

Therefore, if you don’t see a lesson, it means we are in a gridlock, thousands of Zulu words to be taught but few English equivalents. Good news today.

Thanks to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its advice on containing COVID-19: wash your hands. Supermarkets in Canada have sanitizers. They spray them on our hands and give us shopping carts, that are sprayed with sanitizer after every customer.

TODAY’S LESSON
Wipe is su-la in Zulu. Past tense is su-li-le.

When you get back home after grocery shopping, you wash and dry your hands. Su-la. You say the first part like Suriname, a country near Brazil and Guyana, and the second like luck.

Lots of snow in Canada so there are notices on the main entrance to wipe our feet. The rainy season in other countries brings in a lot of mud, so you wipe your feet on a grass mat at the door.

ZULUENGLISH
Sula izandla.Wipe your hands.
Sula izitsha.Wipe the dishes.
Sula um-lomo.Wipe your mouth.
Nonqaba sula phansi.Nonqaba wipe/wash the floor.
Yebo mama ngizosula.Yes mama I will wipe/wash floor.
Usulile phansi?Did you wash floor?
Yebo mama ngisulile.Yes mama I washed the floor.
Yoshito, sula ubuso.Yoshito, wipe your face.
Olof, sula izinyawo.Olof, wipe your feet.
Paulos, sula imoto.Paulos, wipe/wash the car.
Yebo mama, ngi-zo-yi-sula.Yes mama. I will wipe/wash it.
Ngizosula ngani?What will I use to wipe?
Sula nge-Tshirt endala.Wipe with an old T-shirt.
Sula nge-face towel.Wipe with a face towel.
Ithawula lokusula inja.Towel to wipe the dog.
Sula izinyembezi.Wipe your tears.
U-Phuma no-Linda ba-si-sula izinyembezi ngo-$2,000.Phuman and Linda washed our tears with $2,000.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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