ZUF 3AA3

LECTURE 3
Conjunctions
 DOKE AND VAN WYK’S CONTRIBUTION

• They laid a foundation to the study of Zulu grammar

• Proposed word classification and word identification.
• Criticisms
 PARTS OF SPEECH

• Substantive (noun and pronouns)

• Descriptive (adjective and relative)
• Predicative (verb and copulatives)
• Qualificative (adverb and ideophone)
• Interjections
• Conjunctions
 WHAT ARE CONJUNCTIONS
(IZIHLANGANISO)?

• Conjunctions are connecting words that join two or

more sentences into a single sentence.
 The two basic types of
conjunctions
 CO-ORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

• Co-ordinating conjunctions join two words, sentences

or ideas. They are mainly used to form compound
sentences.
• Examples of co-ordinating conjunctions:
- kodwa (but) - ngakho-ke (therefore)
- noma (or) - futhi (and/also)
- ngoba (because)
 SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

• Subordinating conjunctions join the main clause to the subordinate clause. They
are mainly used in forming complex sentences.
• Examples of subordinating conjunctions:
- uma (if/when) -ukuze (so that)
- ngenkathi (at the time when) -ukuba (so that)
- emva (after) -anduba (before)
- ukuthi (in order/so that)
 sentences and
conjunctions
 WHAT TYPE OF SENTENCES ARE THESE? HOW CAN
WE MAKE THEM TO BE SINGLE SENTENCES?

1. Umfana udlala ibhola. Abazali bakhe abathandi

‘The boy plays soccer. His parents deplore’
2. UKhethiwe ucele uxolo. UKhethiwe ufuna ukukhuluma nabazali bakhe
‘Khethiwe asked for forgiveness. Khethiwe wants to speak
to her parents’.
3. Ngizofundela ubuthishela. Ngizofundela ubunesi
‘I am going to study teaching. I am going to study
nursing’.
 COMPOUND SENTENCE (UMUSHO OMBAXA)

• A compound sentence is a sentence that carries two independent sentences.

These two sentences are generally joined by co-ordinating conjunctions.
• More examples:
uSiphokazi wenze i-Brazilian hair kodwa akasebenzi
‘Siphokazi has done Brazilian hair but she is not working’
Ngiyakukhuza ngoba ngiyakuthanda
‘I am reprimanding you because I love you’
 COMPLEX SENTENCE (UMUSHO
OMAGATSHAGATSHA)

• A complex sentence is a sentence that has an independent

clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
• The subordinate clauses depend on the independent clause
for their meaning and they sometimes consist of subordinate
conjunctions.
 IDENTIFY THE MAIN CLAUSES AND THE
SUBORDINATE ONES IN THE SENTENCES BELOW

a. Ngibona abantu abasebenza eGoli.

‘I see people who are working in Johannesburg’
b. Umfana uzofunda ukuze aphumelele.
‘The boy will study so that he succeeds’
b. Ubaba uzosebenza uma evuka.
‘The father will work when he wakes up’
The morphological analysis of
conjunctions
 WHAT IS MORPHOLOGY?

• The study of how words are structured.

 MORPHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF
CONJUNCTIONS

• We shall classify conjunctions according to the number

of their syllables.
• They cannot be divided into different parts like nouns
and verbs.
• We thus have disyllabic and trisyllabic conjunctions.
 DISYLLABIC CONJUNCTIONS

• These are conjunctions that are made up of two

syllables.
• For instance, ko/dwa (but), ngo/ba (because), fu/thi
(and), no/ma (or), u/ma (if)
• Most of these are coordinating conjunctions.
 TRISYLLABIC CONJUNCTIONS

• They have three syllables

• For instance, nge/nka/thi (the time), e/m/va (after),
u/ku/ba (so that).
• Most are co-ordinating conjunctions.
 SYNTAX OF CONJUNCTIONS

• Conjunctions can start the sentence. Consider the example below:

Uma ngimbona, ngizokhuluma naye.
‘When I see him, I will talk to him/her.
Ngoba ngiyamthanda, ngizokhuluma naye.
‘Because I love him/her, I will talk to her.
• They tend to appear after nouns in sentences. For instance:
Ngipheka ukudla ukuba sidle ebusuku.
‘I am cooking food so that we can eat in the evening’
• The subordinate conjunction can sometimes be followed by a
verb that is in a situative mood. For instance:
Uma ekhala, uvusa izingane
‘When he/she is crying, she/he wakes up children’
ACTIVITY

• Give a brief definition of what conjunctions are.

• Give and describe the morphological classifications of conjunctions.
• Create your own 10 sentences and use different conjunctions.