Shona Language Guide

Official language in
Zimbabwe
Also spoken in
Botswana, Zambia, South Africa
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

Shona is one of the sixteen languages that Zimbabwe's constitution recognises as officially recognised languages, alongside languages including English and Ndebele. It is also spoken in neighbouring Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa. Shona comprises several dialects — Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika, Korekore, and Ndau — which provide their speakers with ethnic identity.

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Script & pronunciation

Shona is written in the Latin alphabet. Because Shona has sounds that plain Latin letters do not cover, its orthography also uses two-letter combinations such as bh, ch, dh, mh, nh, ng, ny, sh, sv, vh, zh, and zv. Shona syllables are typically shaped consonant-vowel, and consonant clusters such as the prenasalized mb and nd are treated as filling a single onset position rather than being split across two syllables. This app's romanization follows the same syllable boundaries: Ndinofara kukuona ("I am happy to see you") is romanized Ndi-no-fa-ra ku-ku-o-na, and Fambai zvakanaka ("Go well") is romanized Fa-mbai zva-ka-na-ka, both keeping the prenasalized cluster within a single syllable.

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Grammar essentials

Shona nouns are sorted into an extensive system of noun classes — 21 are distinguished in one standard count — each ordinarily marked by a prefix that typically takes the shape of a consonant plus a vowel. Even a noun whose class prefix has no audible content, such as shumba ("lion"), is still assigned to its class through the agreement of the other words that go with it in a sentence. This app's cards show the same kind of agreement: in Zuva rakanaka! ("Have a good day!"), rakanaka carries what the card's own note describes as ra-class agreement with zuva ("sun/day"); and ruregerero in Ndinokukumbira ruregerero ("I beg your pardon / Excuse me") itself opens with ru-, one of the prefixes of Shona's noun class system.

An analysis of a basic Shona sentence shows the subject placed before the verb, which is placed before the object, and shows the verb itself combining a subject-agreement prefix, a tense marker, an aspect marker, and the verb stem into a single word. This app's card for asking to exchange money, Ndinoda kuchinja mari. ("I'd like to exchange currency."), romanized Ndi-no-da ku-chi-nja ma-ri., uses the same verb stem -da ("want/like") after the subject-agreement prefix ndi- ("I"), before the object mari ("money").

Negation is marked on the verb itself — combining a negative prefix with the subject-agreement prefix before the verb root, and changing the verb's final vowel — rather than by adding a separate negative word. This app's card Handitauri chiShona ("I can't speak chiShona") shows this: as the card's own note explains, the verb taura ("speak") takes the negative prefix handi- for the first person, and its final vowel changes from -a to -i in Handitauri.

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