Lesson 2
Basic Sentence Structure
Lingala sentences follow the same order as English: Subject – Verb – Object. The twist is that the subject usually lives inside the verb as a prefix. Learn six prefixes and one verb pattern, and you can already say a lot.
1. Word order: Subject – Verb – Object
2. The pronouns
These are the standalone pronouns — used for emphasis, after verbs, and after words like na (with/and):
| Lingala | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ngai | I, me | Ngai, nalingi kolia. — Me, I want to eat. |
| yo | you (one person) | Nalingi yo. — I love you. |
| ye | he, she | Namoni ye. — I see him/her. |
| biso | we, us | Yaka na biso. — Come with us. |
| bino | you (several people) | Mbote na bino! — Hello to you all! |
| bango | they, them | Nayebi bango. — I know them. |
3. The subject lives inside the verb
Dictionary verbs start with ko- (like English "to"): kolinga = to love/want, kolia = to eat, kozala = to be, koloba = to speak. To use a verb, drop ko- and add a subject prefix:
| Prefix | Who | kolinga → “love / want” |
|---|---|---|
| na- | I | nalingi — I love / I want |
| o- | you | olingi — you love / you want |
| a- | he / she | alingi — he/she loves |
| to- | we | tolingi — we love / we want |
| bo- | you all | bolingi — you all love |
| ba- | they | balingi — they love / they want |
The -i ending marks the present. So the formula for now-statements is:
subject prefix + verb stem + -i
4. Saying no: wrap it with “te”
Negation is easy — keep the sentence exactly the same and put te at the end:
5. Asking questions
For yes/no questions, just raise your voice at the end — no word changes needed. Question words usually go where the answer would go: