Ozalí na …? Have
you got (or do you have)… ?
ozalí na mbóngo ? - have you got money?
ozali na mwána ? - have you got a child?
ozalí na ndáko ? - have you got a house?
ozalí na likambo ? - have you got a problem?
ozalí na likambo ? - have you got a problem?
Please notice that it is correct in Lingala to omit “moko”(meaning “a”
or “an”) in some cases.
Nalingí… I want or I would like …
nalingí sukáli
- I want sugar / I would like (to have some)
sugar
nalingí kolía - I want to eat / I would like to eat
nalingí kolía - I want to eat / I would like to eat
nalingí kobina -
I want
to dance/ I would like to dance
nalingí kosolola na yó - I want
to talk to you / I would like to talk
to you
to you
10 verbs to learn:
kozala; kozala na: to be; to have, to be with
koloba: to speak
kotánga: to read
kokoma: to write
koyékola: to study, to learn
kotámbola: to walk, to have a walk
kosolola: to have a chat
koseka: to laugh
kokende: to go
koya: to arrive
GREETING AND TAKING LEAVE OF SOMEBODY
How are you? - ozalí ndéngé níni?/ozá ndéngé níni?
You may also hear or say “ndéngé níni?”, which means how are you? How is it? Or how are things?
Ndakisa (Example):
“Ndéngé níni, moningá nangáí?
One possible answer:
Nazalí malámu (nazá malámu) – I am fine.
Furthermore, you can hear people say ‘ozalí malámu?’ or ‘ozá malámu?’, meaning are you ok?
Another usual expression is ‘sango níni?’, which means what is new?
The possible answers to that are:
Sango té – no news; Ça va (from French) – It’s ok.
Nazalí na sango malámu – I have got a good news.
You can also hear people say ‘bóni?’ to mean “how are you?’
Actually ‘bóni’ means ‘how much’.
Greeting – mboté
Hi! – Mboté!
I greet you - mboté na yó, napesí yó mboté
Goodbye - kendé malámu; tíkala malámu
Take care - Omibátelaka, omibátela malámu; Omiléngela malámu.
(Excerpts from “Lingala in 10 lessons”).
For more details please send us an email to rgoma65@gmail.com
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