Language/Lingala/Grammar/Create-simple-sentences-in-the-negative
No one likes to be negative, but it happens. And in Lingala, it couldn’t be much easier. As you already know from the helper word list, that brief bit at the very beginning and the imperative conjugation examples, the Lingala word for ‘no’ or ‘not’ is ‘te’.
To say something isn’t happening, simply add ‘te’ after the verb. The same will apply to longer sentences, which will come later.
Here are the first person singular forms of each of the 10 starter verbs, first with in the affirmative, and then in the negative.
- nazali – I am
- nazali te – I am not
- nazali na… – I have…
- nazali na… te – I do not have…
- nalingi – I want or I like
- nalingi te – I do not want or I do not like
- nasali – I work or I make
- nasali te – I do not work or I do not make
- nasombi – I buy
- nasombi te – I do not buy
- nakanisi – I think or I hope
- nakanisi te – I do not think or I do not hope
- nalobi – I speak
- nalobi te – I do not speak
- nayebi – I know
- nayebi te – I do not know
- nakoki – I am able to
- nakoki te – I am not able to
- nasengeli – I have to
- nasengeli te – I do not have to
As you can see, in each of these very short, two-word examples, te comes at the end of the sentence.
But the same holds true for longer and more complex sentences: again, te almost always comes at the end of whatever you’re trying to say.
Using the examples from above, for koloba, it will be:
- Nalobi Lingala. – I speak Lingala.
- Nalobi Lingala te. – I do not speak Lingala.
- Nalobaki Lingala. – I spoke Lingala.
- Nalobaki Lingala te. – I did not speak Lingala.
- Nakoloba Lingala. – I will speak Lingala.
- Nakoloba Lingala te. – I will not speak Lingala.
- Loba Lingala! – Speak Lingala!
- Koloba Lingala te! – Do not speak Lingala! (Remember that for the negative imperative, the infinitive is used.)
- Nasombi ndunda. – I buy vegetables.
- Nasombi ndunda te. – I do not buy vegetables.
- Nasombaki ndunda. – I bought vegetables.
- Nasombaki ndunda te. – I did not buy vegetables.
- Nakosomba ndunda. – I will buy vegetables.
- Naksomba ndunda te. – I will not buy vegetables.
And again, the infinitive is used for the negative imperative:
- Somba ndunda! – Buy vegetables!
- Kosomba ndunda te! – Do not buy vegetables!
- Mosala na ngai ezali malamu. – My work is good.
- Mosala na ngai ezali malamu te. – My work is not good.
- Mosala na yo ezali malamu. – Your work is good.
- Mosala na yo ezali malamu te. – Your work is not good.
- Mosala na ye ezali malamu. – Her work is good.
- Mosala na ye ezali malamu te. – Her work is not good.
And for some of the additional examples:
- Nazali na mwasi. – I have a wife.
- Nazali na mwasi te. – I do not have a wife.
- Osombaki ndunda mabe. – You bought bad vegetables.
- Osombaki ndunda mabe te. – You did not buy bad vegetables.
- Tolingi mbuma. – We like fruit.
- Tolingi mbuma te. – We do not like fruit.
- Akosala na ndako na biso. – He is going to work at our house.
- Akosala na ndako na biso te. – He is not going to work at our house.
- Balobi Lingala malamu. – They speak Lingala well.
- Balobi Lingala malamu te. – They do not speak Lingala well.
- Ozali malamu. – You are good.
- Ozali malamu te. – You are not good.
Now let’s add a few of the helper words and make some longer sentences using the words and verbs from the first section.
Remember, pe means ‘and’, kasi means ‘but’, soki means ‘if’, tango mosusu means ‘maybe’, and ebele means ‘many’ or ‘a lot’. And just to note, the ‘ba’ in the third example is a prefix indicating the plural form of ‘Anglais’. This is a common construction used to indicate various groups, including nationalities. For example, more than one Congolese would be ‘ba Congolese’.
- Nazali na mwasi pe alingi mbuma. – I have a wife and she likes fruit.
- Tozali ba Anglais, kasi tolobi Lingala, pe. – We are English, but we speak Lingala, too.
- Soki ayebi yo, alingi yo. – If she knows you, she likes you.
- Nakosomba mbuma na yo tango mosusu. – Maybe I will buy your fruit.
- Bazali na ndunda ebele. – They have a lot of vegetables.
And here are a few examples using the negative construction. Remember that po means ‘because’, to means ‘or ’and boye means ‘so’ or ‘thus’, or in this case ‘then’.
- Balobi Lingala te po bayebi te. – They cannot speak Lingala because they do not know.
- Bazali na mayi ebele te. – They do not have a lot of water.
- Nasali te kasi osali. – I do not work but you work.
- Olingi mbuma to ndunda te. – You do not like fruit or vegetables.
- Soki alobi te, boye ayebi te. – If he does not speak, then she does not know.
Take some time to dive into these other pages after completing this lesson: Present Tense, Verb to be, Using Commands in Context & Singular and Plural Nouns.
Source[edit | edit source]
https://lobalingala.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/23042014-loba-lingala.pdf
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Irregular verbs – koya – to come
- Verb to be
- Personal pronouns
- Plurals
- Using infinitive verb forms
- Prepositions
- Conditional Mood
- Adjectives
- Negation
- Irregular verbs – kolia – to eat
- The Past Tense To Be
- Simple present tense
- Subject pronouns
- Present Tense