Shona English

save

fall

bark (dog)

do

fry

awake

finish

kiss

gather

open

proverb (tsumo) Pools have become shallow crossings.

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

phrase he broke his leg playing ball

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

mother

noun wing

branch

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

fly

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

finger, thumb, toe

pronoun what?

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

proverb (tsumo) The cow-hide eating expert was choked by a calf’s hide.

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

chin

noun liver

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

noun liver

noun

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

noun spider

axe

mud

noun lizard

fence

baboon

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

noun bark (of tree)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

hat

noun earth (soil)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

noun tortoise

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

verb (infinitive) tear

verb (infinitive) save (money)

verb (infinitive) want, need

verb (infinitive) drunk, get

verb (infinitive) feel warmth

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

verb (infinitive) return

verb (infinitive) press

verb phrase sit down

verb (infinitive) wash someone

verb (infinitive) sneeze

verb (infinitive) snore

verb (infinitive) comb

become tired

verb (infinitive) understand

verb (infinitive) fight

verb (infinitive) laugh

verb (infinitive) talk, speak, say

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

verb (infinitive) buy

verb (infinitive) frighten

verb (infinitive) kill

bananas

crabs

crocodiles

noun jackals

years

Dialect: English loanword

puddles

lungs

branches

chicken eggs

rib

raw

noun impala, impalas

buck

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

elands

nose

Speaker: Reggemore Marongedze

full moon

bulls

fruit

priest

elderly

male

noun head (anatomic)

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

noun head (anatomic)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

language

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

because

noun feather (large, not down)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

noun horn (of bull etc.)

Speaker: Emmanuel Chabata

noun horn (of bull etc.)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

noun elephant, elephants

ground

left

flower

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

noun river, rivers

noun forest

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

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

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

maternal grandfather

paternal grandfather

five

father-in-law

proverb (tsumo) Signs are not the same as results

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

adjective red (colour)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni

phrase what are you doing? (informal)

Speaker: Ignatius Mabasa

summer (rainy season)

tooth (front, rather than molar)

Speaker: Ignatius T. Mabasa

noun tooth (front, rather than molar)

Speaker: Moenda Pureni