Zulu Lesson Thorns

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Photo Credit: Online pic.

Thorns, ameva in Zulu. One thorn is iva, but we will concentrate on the plural, ameva.

A-me-va. You say the first part like Anna, the second like mess and the last part like Vancouver, the main city in British Columbia, one of the Canadian provinces.

Zulu language has a few proverbs about thorns. For example: wife, sisters, mother and aunties have gone to church. Men shout pray for us, as they sit under a tree or veranda sipping something. So early in the morning! “Hang over man. You use a thorn to take out another thorn.” The original proverb is: iva likhishwa ngelinye.

Your boss? No. She’s not a thorn in the flesh. She just wants you to do your part so that her boss on the 6th floor is not a thorn in her flesh. Roses. Why are they guarded by thorns? Men give women roses to stop them for being thorns in the flesh, about marriage.

ENGLISH

ZULU

Thorns protect roses.

Ameva avikela imbali.

I stepped on thorns.

Ngihlatshwe ameva.

Help me take out these thorns.

Ngisize ngikhiphe lameva.

Careful! Lots of thorns here.

Qaphela! Kunameva amaningi lana.

Marriage is thorns.

Umendo ameva.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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