Zulu Lesson To Send

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To send something or someone is -thuma in Zulu, a language spoken predominantly in South Africa and some parts of Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Thu-ma. You say the first part like too, the second like money.

Thu-me-la. Means sending someone e.g. I will send my son or I will send it by courier. You say the first part like too, the second like mess and the last like lark.

It’s good news if the phone says ping! It means the bank is sending us an alert that some money has entered the account. There are many alerts this weekend because of Black Friday sales. Credit cards are working overtime.

Oops! Alerts can also be bad news that the account has $50 left. Worse still, it could be an alert that the account is empty because $800 has been withdrawn. How? When? Giving boyfriends our bank cards and passwords. The things we do for love.

To send is -thuma in Zulu. Grandparents love sending grandchildren to the store, neighbors or post office. Before cellphones, boys hid near trees and sent little girls to go call their elder sisters. They send direct messages (DM’s) in the digital age.

ZULU

ENGLISH

Thuma ingane.

Send a child.

Thuma u-Robert.

Send Robert.

Thuma u-Anastasia.

Send Anastasia.

Ngi-zo-thuma bani?

Who will I send?

Ngi-zo-thuma izi-ngane zami.

I will send my kids.

Ngi-zo-thumela u-Pierre no-Fleur.

I will send Pierre and Fleur.

Ba-thume-la ama-sotsha.

They send soldiers.

Ba-thume-la ama-sela.

They send thieves.

Thuma mina Jesu.

Jesus, send me.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

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