Tshivenda Language Guide

Official language in
South Africa, Zimbabwe
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

Tshivenḓa is one of the official languages of South Africa. It is also one of the languages listed as officially recognised in Zimbabwe. Within South Africa's Limpopo province, Tshivenḓa is named, together with Sepedi and Xitsonga, among the three most spoken languages.

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Script & pronunciation

Tshivenḓa is written in Latin letters. A learner's grammar explains that a small cap under d, l, n or t means the sound is made with the tongue touching the teeth. This app's cards keep these marks, as in ṱoḓa in Ndi khou ṱoḓa kamara ("I need a room") and in ḽi ṋama in A thi ḽi ṋama ("I do not eat meat"). The same grammar describes ṅ as a separate letter that typically comes before w, and the app's card Ṅwana u khou eḓela ("The child is sleeping") shows it.

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Grammar essentials

A learner's grammar says that a Tshivenḓa subject noun is followed by a concord, a little word that depends on the noun's class, and that the concord u works for people. In this app's cards the child is followed by u in Ṅwana u khou eḓela ("The child is sleeping"), while the rain is followed by a different concord, i, in Mvula i khou na ("It is raining").

The same grammar says that khou placed before the verb implies that something is happening now. It appears in Ndi khou ṱoḓa kamara ("I need a room"). To say "I do not" the grammar gives A thi in place of Ndi, and, when khou is not used, the final -a of the verb changes to -i. This app's cards show the pattern in A thi pfesesi ("I don't understand") and A thi ṱoḓi ("I do not want it").

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Politeness & etiquette

The learner's grammar describes several ways of saying "you", with vhone the most respectful and iwe the least, and it says that elders are expected to be addressed with vhone. For requests, it says that a command ending in -ni is rather impolite, and that it is more polite to change the verb ending to -e, adding Kha vha at the start when speaking to an elder. This app's cards use the pattern in Kha vha lindele ("Please wait") and Kha vha ntendele ("Excuse me (please allow me)"), where the card describes Kha vha as a respectful request form.

The grammar lists Ndaa as a greeting spoken by men and Aa as one spoken by women, and it lists greetings that depend on the time of day, such as Ndi matsheloni (morning), Ndi masiari (afternoon) and Ndi madekwana (evening). This app's cards give the same time-of-day greetings, and the morning-greeting card says that adding Vho- and a name after it makes it more respectful.

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