Lesson 001 - Greetings
Posted by Kudzai on Jul 17, 2009 in Lessons • 20 commentsPodcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:22 — 4.9MB)
Shona is a language spoken in the great country of Zimbabwe, Africa. The Shona people are a very loving, lively group, and have a beautiful language which reflects the rich culture of Zimbabwe. My name is Kudzai and I am you host for this Shona language podcast. Today we’ll begin with an introduction, that will help us dive right in to our lesson by learning greetings.
Because shona is such a diverse language, there are many ways to say hello. In this lesson, we’ll learn 3 ways which can be used at anytime.
Lets begin!
Mhoro - This means “hello” and is used when greeting a close friend, or young person who is not yet an adult. For example, if you’re walking down the street and see a child coming from school, you say “Mhoro.” Or if you meet your good friend Fungayi at the store you say “Mhoro Fungayi.”
Now, we’ve learned our first greeting, but so far, we only know how to greet close friends and young people. How do we say Hello to someone who is an adult? We simply ad “yi” (that is the letters yi) to the greeting, and suddenly, the greeting is very respectful and appropriate in greeting an adult.
Mhoroyi - This means “hello”. In shona, when addressing adults, you speak in plural form, as if you were addressing more than one person. So when you see a man walking down the street you say “Mhoroyi.”
Here’s a quiz: You see you friend Tatenda taking a jog down Harare drive. What do you say? ”Mhoro Tatenda”
You’re introduced to a little girl name Rumbi. How do you greet her? ”Mhoro Rumbi.”
You pass by a woman carrying a baby on her back while skateboarding down samora Machel avenue, you say? ”Mhoroyi.”
Very good. Now here’s a good one. You see two children playing soccer and you want to greet them. What do you say? There are 2 of them, not one. How do you greet these children? Guess what, you say “Mhoroyi.” That’s right. Remember we said “Mhoroyi” is the plural of Mhoro. Its used to address more than one person or an adult.
So if you see 2 women, 5 girls, 10 people, 20 children, you simply say “Mhoroyi.” Adding “yi” that is Y - I to mhoro, makes it plural. So shona addresses adults as if they’re more than one person! Isn’t that nice.
One more quiz question: You meet the CEO of a major corporation, what do you say? ”Mhoroyi”. Then you turn around and see all of his employees sitting in a large auditorium, what do you say. ”Mhoroyi”. Great job! You’re well on your way to speaking and understanding Shona!
Now I promised you 3 ways to say hello, and so far we’ve learned 2. Mhoro, and Mhoroyi. Now lets learn one more.
This one is very casual, and can be used when addressing anyone. Of course like in any language, casual greeting are good in a casual atmosphere. For example, you wouldn’t say “Whats up!” to the queen of england. You would most likely say “Hello.” Keep this in mind when learning a new language.
Our last greeting is “Zvirisei”
This is literally translated - “How is it?”. And is a shona equivalent for “What’s up.”
Let’s practice:
Zvirisei Fungai
Zvirisei Tatenda
Zvirisei Rumbi
That’s it for today. Practice those 3 greetings, and we’ll be back again next time, and with much more in lesson 2.
Let’s recap:
Mhoro - Saying hello to a close friend or a young child
Mhoroyi - Saying hello to an adult or to two or more people
Zvirisei - Saying “Whats up” to anyone. A casual greeting.
Until next time. Toonana. Oh by the way, Toonana means goodbye. I’ll throw that one in as a bonus. Toonana.
I am African American and I am proud of my heritage being a descendant of Africa…I want to learn Shona and Swahili. I have a little sister who is from Zimbabwe name Prisca Manokore.
Hi Dennis. Its great to hear from you, and I’m happy to hear you’re learning Shona. You won’t believe this, but Prisca is actually a friend of mine. We grew up in the same neighborhood in Mabelreign, Harare. Tell her Kudzi says hi, and I hope she’ll help you in your Shona learning!
Hi Kudzai! I’m from Montreal, Canada and I’m having an african party for the new year! Every family that are invited had to pick an african country and I choose Zimbabwe! Since a only speak french and english, I didn’t know how to pronounce the words correctly! Your Shona Lessons really helped me! Thanks a lot!
This is wonderful news! I hope you have a great party, and I’m glad to hear you picked Zimbabwe to be the country you’ll represent. Perhaps you’ll visit one day! Enjoy your 2010.
Thanks so much Kudzai! I’m from Cornwall in the UK, trying to teach myself Shona with a little help from Shona friends.This is such a great site and particularly helpful with pronunciation. Please keep going! Makorokoto egore idzva!
Thanks Louisa, and happy new year to you too! Will definitely keep going with the lessons, and hoping for a lot more features this year too. I’m now settled after the Christmas/New Year holiday, so will be launching a lesson shortly. Thanks again!
This is so helpful. I have a bit of trouble remembering certain words but I guess if I keep practicing I can turn that around. Thank you so much Kudzai.
Can someone please tell me how to say “I miss you”?
Alicia, I might be wrong but I think it’s “ndino ku funga” - spelling could be off! Kudzai, please confirm!
i’ve become your number 1 visitor by the way. I love this website!
Lebogang, you’re quite close with “Ndino ku funga,” which means “I think of you,” and also carries the same message of missing someone.
I miss you is “Ndiri kukusuwa”
(also translated “I’m missing you”).
Hi Kudzai,
Thanks for doing these lessons. I am an American man married to a Zimbabwean woman and I am trying to learn how to taora Shona better with mhuri wangu. I have been listening to your lessons and they are very helpful, I was wondering if you could do one on how to pronounce and say the possessives of the verbs.
like: amai vangu
amai vako
amai vake
amai vave
I was just wondering if you could do a podcast on how to use the possevives prorperly cause that would be awesome. wazvita!
Ndinoda kutaoro Shona fluently someday.
toonana
Hi Blake. Yes that’s definitely a good topic to cover and we can do the pronunciations for those on lesson 010. Lesson 009 is still in progress, and will be up soon.
Something that will also help is Aquilina Mawadza’s Beginner’s Shona book which many Shona learners have handy. If you have this book, in Chapter 5, beginning on Page 82 is where she covers “class nouns” and then Chapter 6 beginning page 102 is where she covers the possesive. Hope this helps, and email me with any questions.
munogara kupi ko.? inini ndogara kuno ku america dayi gara ku zimbabwe ndiri mwana . ndafara pa ndakawana kuti muno tawura chishona ma yitayenu kudzidzisa ndinokutendyi.
please let me know where l need polishing up on the shona its been a while. LOL
Hi Kudzai
Wow I am so happy I found this website of yours. Im engaged to a Zim guy and am so looking forward to surprising him in speaking my vows in Shona. He has tried to teach me but I’m still not quite there yet. Your lessons are truly appreciated.
This is a great site. I have written a Shona book - the first one in the diaspora! It’s called ‘Unomboti Jesu ndiani’ and explores deep bible teachings in the Shona language. Please have a look on the following link: http://poetforchrist.com/books.html. Do you know there is now GOOGLE SHONA on google?
Hi Kudzai. i am a new zealand born white owns. i have a Zim born boss who can and will teach me Shona. i can speak no other language. shame on me . i wish to learn shona because of the politeness and courtesy that the dialect demands. shona can only make me a better human being. my boss can help me with pronouncation cos he said you can mean something nice and say something rude. i am determined to TRY to master this. i thank you for taking the time to help lost causes like me , like my boss did. my poor euro tongue battles with this dialect. but practice makes perfect . tatenda shamwari
@ Ollata - Ndinogara kuno kuAmerica sewe. Shona yako yakanaka chaizvo!
@ Tebogo - Thanks so much Tebogo! Glad to hear from you
@ Pastor Ruvimbo - Makadini mufundisi. Ndafara kunzwa nezve basa ramakaita nebhuku reShona rino paridza shoko raMwari! Mwari akuwedzerei makomborero.
@Rich Deslauriers- Wow that’s wonderful! You’re doing something that’s very awesome. I can see you’ll be speaking in Shona easily in no time. Thanks!!
I think i am in love with a shona guy so i just want to suprise him, taking to him with his Language and its so simple more like Tshivenda my Language. Thanx Kudzai.
im going to zimbabwe and south africa for 2 weeks i want to learn shona and ndembele . i really want to know shona this is a very good website.
Hi Kudzai, thanks so much for such a wonderful website. I´ve just found this website and am thrilled. I need to catch up with you in lesson 9 . My love is from Zimbabwe and I need to speak shona. I want to surprise him when we meet. thanks so much for such a wonderful site. YOur voice is great!!!!!!!!!!!!