Copulative Concords, Kukho and Khona: “It is X”, “There is X”, and “X is here”

Copulative Concords

Let’s take a look at Copulative Concords (CCs): little prefixes we attach to Nouns to create the clause “It is X” (where X is the Noun, of course). For example:

inja: “a/the dog”
Yinja: “It is a/the dog.” (The CC is y-.)
Asiyonja: “It is not a/the dog.”  (The CC is asiyo-.)

umhlobo: “a/the friend”
Ngumhlobo: “It is a/the friend.”  (The CC is ng-.)
Asingomhlobo: “It is not a/the friend.” (The CC is asingo-.)

Pretty simple, huh? Exactly!

Here are the Copulative Concords for each of the Noun Classes (which we looked at together when we did Subject Concords, if you need a refresher):

Class 1a: ng- / asingo-
Class 2a: ng- / asingo-

Class 1: ng- / asingo-
Class 2: ng- / asingo-

Class 3: ng- / asingo-
Class 4: y- / asiyo-

Class 5: l- / asilo-
Class 6: ng- / asingo-

Class 7: s- /asizo-
Class 8: z- / azizo-

Class 9: y- / asiyo-
Class 10: z- / asizo-

Class 11: l- / asilo-
Class 14: b- / asibo-
Class 15: k- / asiko-

The first Concord given is the positive, and the second the negative.

Imibuzo
(Questions)

Guqulela esiXhoseni: (Translate into Xhosa)

1. It is a stadium.
2. It is not money.
3. He is the husband.
4. It is not a mountain.
5. It is not a language.
6. It is not beer.
7. They are groceries!

Guqulela esiNgesi: (Translate into English)

1. Ngumntwana!
2. Asingobhuti.
3. Asingomanzi.
4. Asiyotafile namhlanje!
5. Ligumbi.
6. Ndifunda ukuba ngumfundisi.
7. Asiyondlela.

Kukho & Khona

Kukho and -khona allow us to express “There is X” and “X is (not) here”, respectively.

To state, “There is/are X”, simply say: Kukho X. X can be any Noun.
For example: Kukho imali. “There is money.”

To state, “The money is (not) here”, takes a little bit more.
For example: Ikhona imali. “The money is here.” OR Ayikho mali. “The money is not here.”

(In other words, we add the Subject Concord to –khona and follow it with the Noun. But in the negative, we add the negative SC to -kho (i.e. we drop the -na).

So kukho and -khona help us express something similar to the Copulative Concords, in that they all declare the presence of a Noun. There are, however, some meaningful, differences:

Copulative Concords state, “It is (not) X”, or in the plural form, “They are (not) X”.
For example: Ngabantwana. “They are children.”
OR Asingobantwana. “They are not children.”

Kukho states, “There is/are X”.
For example: Kukho abantwana. “There are children.”

-Khona states, “X is/are here.”
For example: Bakhona abantwana. “The children are here.”
OR Abakho bantwana. “The children are not here.”

Iimphendulo
(Answers…)

Try the questions first, okay?

1. Sisiteyidiyum.
2. Asiyomali.
3. Asingomyeni.
4. Asiyontaba.
5. Asilolwimi.
6. Asiyobhiye.
7. Asiyogrosari!

And now the next lot:

1. He/she is/they are a child!
2. He’s not a brother.
3. It’s not water,
4. It’s not a table today!
5. It’s a room.
6. I want to be a priest.
7. It’s not a road/street/the way.