Shona English

hold

verb, transitive cut

verb try

hide

tired

hard

push

chew

kiss

fear

bury

mother

grandmother (paternal or maternal), mother-in-law

father

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

noun cave

knife

banana

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

proverb (tsumo) What’s good is good — milk can’t be made into a ball. (You can never add anything to what is already perfect.)

sweet

pronoun what?

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

chest

noun liver

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

Goodbye

noun spider

true (not false)

noun belly (lower part of body, abdomen), stomach

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

elbow

noun mountain (not hill)

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

eagle

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

noun cloud (not fog), year

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

dust

wind

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

adjective big

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

noun smoke (of fire)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

pronoun this

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

pronoun 1.sg I

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

noun earth (soil)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

verb (infinitive) help

verb (infinitive) save (money)

verb (infinitive) dig

verb (infinitive) want, need

verb (infinitive) pass the night

verb (infinitive) fall

verb (infinitive) feed

verb (infinitive) go

verb (infinitive) die

verb (infinitive) make, prepare

be fast, hurry

verb (infinitive) scratch

become tired

verb (infinitive) see

verb (infinitive) vomit

verb (infinitive) choose

verb (infinitive) yawn

verb (infinitive) raise

verb (infinitive) take

verb (infinitive) burn

verb (infinitive) killed, be

verb (infinitive) know (facts)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

verb (infinitive) recognize

verb (infinitive) lie (on side, recline)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

verb (infinitive) wash self

east

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

ponds

crabs

diarrhea

caves

enemy

Speaker: Reggemore Marongedze

numeral one

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

fruit

proverb (tsumo) Where you chase away baboons is where you discover mushrooms. (In solving a problem, opportunities arise.)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

son-in-law

phrase How are you? (literal: Are you happy?)

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

village

noun hunter

Speaker: Reggemore Marongedze

noun water

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

proverb (tsumo) The son of a king loses his honour in a foreign land (literally becomes just a servant elsewhere)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

smell

because

yesterday

seven

noun horn (of bull etc.)

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

noun claw, claws

noun elephant, elephants

pipe

Excuse Me

when

proverb (tsumo) It’s when you are about to give up that you get a breakthrough

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

noun monkey, monkeys

rope

thin

father-in-law

vein, veins

verb mosquitoes

intestines

noun hair (on head of humans)

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

noun hair (on head of humans)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

verb owl

thumbs

sticks