Zulu Lesson Nothing

Nothing is lutho in Zulu.

What’s wrong? Characters in movies like saying it’s nothing when clearly something is bothering them.  I don’t mind the question.  It is only when it is asked three times that I freak out.

Women used to be on their feet 24/7.  Not anymore and some men are not pleased at all, like a character in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? The man told his friends that his new young wife doesn’t know anything.  ‘She doesn’t cook, doesn’t clean.’

You enter a room.  Friends stop talking. What’s the matter? Nothing.  Somebody answers.  Busted. They were talking about you.

Lu-tho.  The first part is pronounced like loom the second one like tall.  The noun is u-tho, something. You say the first part like ooze and the second part like tall.

ZULU	ENGLISH
A-nga-zi lu-tho.	I know nothing.
Zenith, u-ba-ni o-su-zi-le?	Zenith who farted?
A-nga-zi lu-tho.	I don’t know anything.
Yi-ni-ndaba?	What’s the matter?
A-ku-lutho.	It’s nothing.
Boris, yi-ni ndaba, wathula?	Boris what’s the matter?  You are quiet.
Lu-tho.	Nothing.
Samuel, yi-ni ndaba a-wu-dli?	Samuel, what’s the matter?  You are not eating.
Lu-tho.	Nothing.
A-ka- lutho.	He is nothing. She is nothing.
U-Thoko a-ka-zi lu-tho nge-bho-dwe.	Thoko knows nothing about cooking.
U-Daisy a-ka-zi lu-tho nge-nga-di.	Daisy knows nothing about gardening.
A-ku-kho lu-tho e-khanda.	There’s nothing in the brain.  He/She is dumb.
A-ku-kho lu-tho e-kha-ya.	There’s nothing to eat at home.
A-ku-kho lu-tho pha-ka-thi kwe-thu.	There’s nothing between us (lovers denying the affair).
Ku-no-tho.	There’s something.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.