Taanerimwe: Shona Lyrics
(Appendix: Vocabulary and Grammar)
Penina Patchett
This appendix supplements Chapter 5 of the book, Zimbabwean Mbira Music on an
International Stage: Chartwell Dutiro’s Life in Music. The appendix contains all the
words used in the songs on Taanerimwe.
Verbs
All verbs are given here as verb stems to which prefixes, infixes, extensions and so on are
added. For example, the infinitive of the verb consists of ‘ku’ plus the verb stem: for the
verb ‘go’, the verb stem is ‘-enda’ and the infinitive is ‘kuenda’. This appendix presents
verbs in their simplest form. Some of them are used in more complex forms, for example
with several extensions, in the songs; these constructions are explained below, in the
section on grammar.
-baya
-chema
-da
-dya
-enda
-endeya
-era
-ita
-kanda
-kanga
-kanyaira
-nanga
-nonga
-nzi
-ona
-oneka
-pira
-rima
-rwa
-shaya
-siya
prick, stab, pierce
weep, cry
want, like, love
eat
go
go round
be sacred (intransitive); reverence, abstain from
(transitive); weigh things together
do
throw, fling
roast, fry
swagger, strut
aim, point to
pick up, harvest
be said, be told. Passive of irregular verb -ti (say,
tell)
see, look
say goodbye, bid farewell
make ritual offering (from -pa, give)
plough, cultivate land
fight
fail to obtain
leave
2
-swera
-tamba
-tenga
-tevera
-tora
-uraya
-uya
-wana
spend the day
dance, play
buy
follow
take
kill, damage
come
find, obtain, get
Nouns
Nouns in Shona are divided between 21 ‘noun classes’. Most of these have their own
prefixes. For example, nouns in class 7 begin ‘chi-’. In sentences, verbs and adjectives
must agree with the class of the relevant noun, and each class has its own set of prefixes
and concords which are attached to other words to make them agree. Most noun classes
are paired to give singular and plural (for example, the plurals of singular nouns in class 3
will be in class 4, so that muti (tree) is in class 3, and miti (trees) is in class 4. In the list
below, the class to which each noun belongs is given after it in brackets. As with the
verbs, these nouns are given in simple forms; some, for example, appear in the songs with
an extra prefix (perhaps locative), as explained later.
amai (1a)
ambuya (1a)
bani (5)
basa (5)
bhutsu (9)
chikwama (7)
chuma (7)
churu (7)
derere (5)
dhumbu (5)
fere (5)
gudo (5)
huva (9)
hwahwa (14)
madzihwa (6)
manyere (6)
mari (9)
mbeva (9)
midzimu (4)
moyo (3)
mukwasha (1)
munda (3)
muremani (3)
musha (3)
mother
grandmother
stretch of treeless grassland
work, employment
shoes, footwear
purse
beads, wealth, dowry
anthill
okra
skin apron made of strips
cattle melon
baboon
shelf or low ridge in hut for storing pots and pans
on
beer
mucus
panpipes, webs between fingers (variegated colours)
money
edible mouse, small rat
ancestral spirits
heart
son-in-law (affectionate term); someone looking for
something (from -kwasha, look for)
field (plural minda (4))
lemon tree
village, homestead
3
musoro (3)
muti (3)
mutsambati (3)
mutserendende (3)
mutsvanzwa (3)
muzezuru (1)
muzhanje (3)
mwana (1)
ndari (9)
ndiro (9)
nhasi (1a)
nhanga (5)
nhengure (9)
nzira (9)
poto (9)
purazi (5)
sadza (5)
Sekuru (1a)
shangwa (5)
surudzo (5)
tombi (1a)
vana (2)
head
tree
fruit tree lannea edulis
slide, game of sliding, slippery slope
sour plum tree
Zezuru person
fruit tree uapaca kirkiana
child
beer brewed for selling
plate
today
pumpkin
drongo
path, route (plural (10) is identical)
metal cooking pot (from the English)
field (from the Portuguese ‘prazos’) (plural
mapurazi (6))
stiff porridge, e.g. made from maize. Staple food.
grandfather, uncle, respectful term for older man
hunger, famine, drought
cooking soda
young girl
children
Other
-refu
-mwe
mire mire
tsve
apo
paya
uyo
pasi
here
-ko
-wo
iwe
imi
(adjective) tall
(adjective) one, other, another
(ideophone) standing for a short time waiting
impatiently for something
(ideophone) putting something down quickly
(far demonstrative to agree with noun class 16
(locative)) that
(precised far demonstrative) that over there
(far demonstrative to agree with noun class 3) that
underneath, below
interrogative—turns statement into a question, with
yes/no answer implied
(1) interrogative suffix—emphasizes question (may
also be used as a separate word); (2) please.
also
(personal pronoun) you (singular)
(personal pronoun) you (plural)
4
Notes on grammar
There follow some explanatory notes on selected grammatical constructions in Shona,
specifically relating to the usage in this set of songs, and concerning the formation of
verbs, possessive concords and pronouns, adjectival agreement, and the uses of ‘na’, ‘ne’,
and ‘no’.
Verbs
Where the verb has a subject (for example, in the indicative mood), this is described in
the prefix. This may be the basic subject concord or the past subject concord; each of
these is fixed for each noun class, and also for personal pronouns:
Personal
st
1 person singular
2nd person singular
3rd person singular
1st person plural
2nd person plural
3rd person plural
Basic subject concord
ndiuatimuva-
Noun classes (selected)
Noun class
Prefix to nouns
1
mu2
va1a (respectful)
2a (respectful)
vana3
mu4
mi5
6
ma7
chi8
zvi9
10
13 (diminutive)
ka16 (locative)
pa17 (locative)
ku18 (locative)
mu-
Past subject concord
ndawaatamava-
Basic subject concord
avavavauiriachizviidzikapakumu-
Past subject concord
avavavawayaraachazvayadzakapakwama-
All other aspects of the verb, such as tense and mood, are indicated by the nature of the
prefixes and any infixes. The following explanations relate to usages in the songs
discussed in this study.
5
Present habitual tense
This uses the basic subject concord (hereafter ‘BSC’) to give the subject, and the infix ‘–
no–‘ to indicate the tense (placed between the BSC and the verb stem).
e.g. ndinoenda = BSC ‘ndi’ + infix ‘-no-’ + verb stem ‘-enda’ = I go
ndinodya
anodya
unodya
tinodya
munodya
vanodya
I eat
he/she eats
you (s) eat
we eat
you (pl) eat
they eat
In the Maungwe dialect (a form of the Manyika dialect of the eastern highlands), the infix
‘-no-’ becomes ‘-ngo-’.
Sometimes, the present tense form is contracted; this form is particularly used in a
narrative context, where it can add the meaning, ‘then…’ . It is used a lot in these songs.
The BSC and the infix ‘-no-’ are contracted so that they form just one syllable together:
ndinodya
tinodya
ndinoenda



ndodya
todya
ndoenda
(then) I eat
(then) we eat
(then) I go
Simple past tense: recent and remote
The recent past tense is used to refer to anything that has happened today; the remote past
refers to anything that happened yesterday or earlier. The simple recent past tense is
formed by prefixing the verb stem with the past subject concord:
ndaenda
waenda
aenda
taenda
maenda
vaenda
I have gone
you (s) have gone
he/she has gone
we have gone
you (pl) have gone
they have gone
The remote past tense consists of the past subject concord, followed by the infix ‘-ka-‘,
followed by the verb stem:
ndakarima
wakarima
akarima
takarima
makarima
vakarima
I cultivated
you (s) cultivated
he/she cultivated
we cultivated
you (pl) cultivate
they cultivated
6
The above examples all use personal subjects. Verbs are constructed in exactly the same
way when ordinary nouns are the subject, so that the basic or past subject concord for the
appropriate noun class is used as a prefix. For example:
o Gudo rinokanyaira – the baboon swaggers
o Ambuya vabika sadza – grandmother has cooked sadza
(Note: ‘-bika’ is the verb ‘cook’)
o Nhengure yakaona vakomana – the drongo saw the boys
(Note: ‘mukomana’ means ‘boy’, and the plural is ‘vakomana’)
Note: in ‘Gudo’, the prefix ‘Zva-’ to the verb ‘takarima’ makes it into an indirect relative
clause. The prefix in question is the past (or possessive) of noun class 8. Noun classes 7
and 8 (singular and plural) are both used for objects and things, and can be used to stand
for the unspecified and impersonal. Here, therefore, ‘zva’ functions as the object of the
verb ‘takarima’ (we cultivated), meaning ‘those things’: ‘those things which we
cultivated’. A similar usage can be found in ‘Zimbabwe’: ‘zvamunoda’, ‘those things that
you want’. In this case, the unspecified things are used as the object of the next verb:
‘munozviwana’, ‘you receive them’ (the object concord, here, ‘zvi’ from class 8, is
identical in form to the BSC).
Hortative mood
The hortative mood of the verb is used to suggest a course of action, to incite or to
encourage: ‘Let us…’. It is formed from the prefix ‘ha-’ or ‘nga-’, followed by the BSC
for the first person plural (‘ti’), followed by the verb stem with the ending ‘-ei’. For
example:
o hatitambei – let’s dance, or let’s play
o ngatiridzei mbira – let’s play mbira
o ngatiteverei makudo – let’s follow the baboons
The hortative form of ‘-enda’ (‘go’), which is ‘hatiendei’ (‘let’s go’), is often shortened
colloquially, to give ‘hande’ or ‘handei’ (informal and polite versions), or ‘hende’ or
‘hendei’.
Imperative mood
There are two forms of the imperative: singular/informal and plural/formal. The singular
is formed by simply using the verb stem on its own:
Tevera
Enda
Uya ne…
follow
go
come with, i.e. bring
The plural (honorific/formal) version is the same as this, but it ends with ‘i’:
Teverai
Uyai
follow
come
7
Note: in ‘Mukanga poto’ both these forms of the imperative are used, ‘Huyai’ and
‘Huya’, as the wife is addressed first as ‘Mai vomwana’ (lit. child’s mother) and then as
‘tombi’ (little girl). The initial ‘h’ indicates a more emphatic pronunciation of the word.
Conditional
The conditional looks a little like a remote past tense verb, because it uses the infix
‘-ka-’; however, the prefix is the BSC rather than the past subject concord. This form of
the verb is used in ‘Zimbabwe’:
mukapira
if you (pl.) make a ritual offering
Infixes: verb incorporation
Other than the verbal infixes that indicate tense, there are many that add semantic
meaning to the verb. They are placed after the tense, and before the verb stem. The
infixes used in these songs are listed, with examples, below:
-ndo-
-no-bviro-ngo-
indicates purpose, or result of going. Often
accompanied by a verb of going, but this may be
understood. From ‘-enda’ (‘go’).
another form of -ndo- (see above)
gives sense that one has come to a place just to do a
given thing. From ‘-bva’ (‘come from’).
just, only
Examples:
o enda unotora – go and take
o tonoswera – we are going to spend the day (‘to-’ here is a contraction
of ‘tino-’; in full, the verb would be ‘tinonoswera’)
o kungobvirodya – to have come just to eat, to just be there to eat, to just
have to eat (uses both ‘ngo’ and ‘bviro’).
Extensions
Further semantic meaning can be added to a verb by placing certain extensions at the end
of it. For example:
-wa, -iwa, -hwa
-era, -ira
-isa, -esa
passive extension: changes the verb from active to
passive
applicative extension: denotes an action done for
someone or something
causative extension: denotes causing an action or
state
These extensions are sometimes adjusted, depending on the ending and number of
syllables of the original verb. Extensions may be used in combination.
Examples:
8
Ndabairwa
Ndabaya
Ndabaira
Ndabaiwa
Ndabairwa
from -baya (pierce, stab, kill)
I have stabbed
I have stabbed for (applicative extension)
I have been stabbed (passive extension)
I have been stabbed for (applicative and passive
extensions)
Chingouraisa
Chingouraya
Chingouraisa
from -uraya (kill, damage)
It kills, it damages (-ngo- = -no-, present tense)
It causes death/killing, it causes damage (causative
extension)
Hadzirwirwi
Dzinorwa
Dzinorwira
Dzinorwiwa
Dzinorwirwa
from -rwa (fight)
They fight (subject: class 10 noun, i.e. plural)
They fight for (applicative extension)
They are fought (passive extension)
They are fought for (applicative and passive
extensions)
They are not fought for (negative; applicative and
passive extensions)
Hadzirwirwi
Note: Ha- is a negative prefix. For the present tense, in the negative the infix
‘-no-’ is omitted, and the last vowel is changed to ‘i’.
Inflections
The endings of the verbs can be inflected for various reasons, including the use of an
interrogative suffix. This is where an interrogative word such as ‘where?’ or ‘for what’ is
introduced into the verb itself, in a contracted form. For example:
tonoswerepiko? as a contraction of:
tinonoswera kupi ko?
where are we going to spend the day?
vatengeiko? as a contraction of:
vatenga chii ko?
what did he buy?
Note that a similar contraction can be applied to nouns with an interrogative:
mutii? as a contraction of:
muti wei?
what kind of tree?
Possessives
The possessive pronoun
As in the English ‘my’, ‘your’, and ‘its’. This is formed in Shona from a possessive
concord (prefix), agreeing with the thing that is possessed, and a possessive stem,
agreeing with the possessor. The possessive concords are identical to the past subject
concords for all noun classes, except class 1 in which the possessive concord is ‘wa-’
instead of ‘a-’. The possessive stems for noun classes consist of the second syllable of the
9
pronoun for each class; these will not be listed here. For personal possessive pronouns,
the possessive stems are as follows:
st
1 person singular (my)
2nd person singular (your)
3rd person singular (his/her)
1st person plural (our)
2nd person plural (your)
3rd person plural (their)
Possessive stem
-ngu
-ko
-ke
-edu*
-enyu*
-vo
* With ‘-edu’ and ‘-enyu’, the vowel of the possessive concord is omitted: e.g. ‘wa’ +
‘edu’ becomes ‘wedu’; ‘cha’ + ‘enyu’ becomes ‘chenyu’.
Examples:
mwana wangu
mwana wako
mwana wake
mwana wenyu
mwana wedu
mwana wavo
my child
your (s) child
his child
our child
your (pl) child
their child
chuma changu
chuma chako
chuma chake
chuma chenyu
chuma chedu
chuma chavo
my wealth
your (s) wealth
her wealth
our wealth
your (pl) wealth
their wealth
With a noun possessor
With a noun rather than a pronoun possessor, the possessive concord is used as a prefix to
the noun itself. However, unless the possessor is a noun of class 1a or 2a (in which case
the possessive concord is unaltered), the vowel of the possessive concord is changed from
‘a’ to ‘e’. For example:
o vanhu vemuZimbabwe - people of (in) Zimbabwe. In the song
‘Zimbabwe’, the word ‘vanhu’ (people) is not stated but is understood.
o musoro wembeva – the head of a mouse
o sadza rambuya – grandmother’s sadza. Note that ‘ambuya’ is from
class 1a, so that the possessive concord ‘ra-’ is not changed to ‘re-’.
Purpose
Sometimes the possessive, ‘of’, can be better translated ‘for’:
10
o bhutsu yokutamba shangara – shoes for dancing shangara. Note: ‘ye’
is here changed to ‘yo’ because it is followed by a syllable with the
vowel ‘u’; this is an example of the concept of ‘vowel coalescence’.
o wokuona zvokunonga – for seeing what to pick
Adjectives
In Shona, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe, and they do so by taking on
the same prefix as the noun (where there is a prefix). Noun classes are given in brackets
in the following examples:
mukomana murefu (1)
vakomana varefu (2)
muti murefu (3)
miti mirefu (4)
nhanga nyoro (5)
manhanga manyoro (6)
chikwama chiduku (7)
zvikwama zviduku (8)
ndiro chena (9)
ndiro chena (10)
tall boy
tall boys
tall tree
tall trees
fresh pumpkin
fresh pumpkins
little purse
little purses
white plate
white plates
‘Na’, ‘ne’, ‘no’
These are all basically the same; the vowel changes according to what the next vowel is,
due to vowel coalescence. They are used in many ways, but generally express the sense
‘to have’. ‘Na’ and ‘ne’ in the present tense are simply prefixed by the BSC:
ndine mari
une fere
ana amai
I have money
you have a cattle melon
he has a mother
In other tenses, ‘na’/‘ne’ must be used in conjunction with ‘-va’, the irregular verb
meaning ‘be’ or ‘become’. For example:
ndakava nemari
I had money (simple remote past)
The recent past tense of ‘-va’ is often used to for a state of being that has come about, or
for something that is happening now:
wava nefere
tavanerimwe
you now have a cattle melon
we now have another one
This verb can also convey the sense ‘with’:
o dhumbu rine manyere – the skirt has variegated colours, or a skirt with
variegated colours.
‘With’ is also suggested when ‘na’/‘ne’ is used with the verb ‘-uya’ (‘come’); ‘come
with’ meaning ‘bring’:
o huyai nechikwama changu – bring my purse
11
Used with the locative case, the meaning can be interpreted as ‘there is’ or ‘there are’:
o
o
o
o
Mune makudo muminda – there are baboons in the fields
Pane miti mizhinji – there are many trees
Pasi pendiro pane madzihwa – under the plate there is mucus
Hapana – there is nothing (In the negative, it is always ‘na’)
‘Na’ (etc.) can also be used to indicate the agent of a passive verb to mean ‘by’. For
example:
hanzi namai
it was said by mother.
Note: hanzi is the same as zvanzi – class 8, impersonal.
The title (additional commentary)
The significance of the title has been discussed above. Here is an explanation of the
grammatical construction of the word ‘taanerimwe’, and also of ‘taavamwe’
Taanerimwe
Contracted from: tavanerimwe.
ta|va|ne|ri|mwe
 tava ne-
we have now.
Recent past tense (implying ‘now’) of verb ‘to have’, formed from irregular
verb ‘-va’ and ‘ne’. 1st person plural (past subject concord ‘ta’).
 -riobject concord representing a noun from class 5.
The object of the verb ‘have’.
 -mwe
another, other, one (adjectival stem).
So, put together ‘tavanerimwe’ means ‘we now have another one’; the ‘one’ is not
specified, but could be an album, thus being a comment on the completion of the project,
since a CD album is in class 5.
Taavamwe
Contracted from: tavavamwe
ta|va|va|mwe
 tava
we are now, we have become
Recent past tense of –va, 1st person plural
 vaadjectival concord (= noun class prefix) for
class 2, agreeing with the unstated ‘vanhu’ – ‘people’.
 -mwe
one, other, another
12
Put together, ‘taavamwe’ means ‘we are now one people’, or, ‘we are united, at
last’.
‘Taanerimwe’ could not mean ‘we are united at last’ because the ‘ri’ that is the object of
the verb cannot stand for a person or people. There is, however, the implication of unity
in terms of collective activity inherent in ‘taanerimwe’.