Entegwa

This is the page about the Entegwa language. This language is part of the Yárima Bantu language group. This language has most in common in term of vocabulary and some grammatical features with Entesi but it also has some aspects in common with Fangwa although this influence is less prevalent.The word order is SOV but it is head initial.

This is the first description: of the language:

Pronouns
inzé = I

inó = you (sing)

iná = he/she

itó = we

ivó = you (plural)

ivá = they

The pronouns also have short versions like in Entesi: nze = I, o = you, a = he/she, to = we, vo = you (plur), va = they

The first person plural doesn't distinguish between inclusive and exclusive like Entesi and is in this respect more like Fangwa.

Verbs
In Entesi all verbs end with the suffix  go  like in the verb vona go  = to see. The conjugation has 3 tenses (present, past, future) and 3 aspects (perfect, habitual and progressive continuous)

Tenses
nze vona ya  = I see (present)

nze vona di  = I saw (past)

nze vona la  = I will see (future)

Aspects
nze vona me  = I have seen (perfect)

nze vona ga  = I used to see (habitual)

nze vona so  = I am seeing (progressive)

This system is elaborate but not all the conjugations are used in everyday speech, the progressive is being expressed as being 'in the act' of doing something: nze  nwe vona = I am seeing (lit: I am in the act of seeing) and the perfect is also expressed using a shortened form of the verb  maza go (to finish): nze  mali vona = I used to see ( mali  is the short form of  mazali  ( the past tense form). This new idiom has also sparked a present tense of the habitual aspect:

nze  maya  vona = I usually see ( maya  being the short form of  mazaya  (present tense form of to finish)

Numbers
1) mohe 2) bede 3) taso 4) nyei 5) tonu 6) tonu no mohe 7) tonu no bede 8) tonu no taso 9) tonu no nyei 10) koma 100) gime 1000) gale 1000.000) fugo

The numbers between 10 and 50 are: koma bede = 20; koma taso = 30; koma nyei = 40; koma tonu = 50

The number for 60 was borrowed from Oseroa: konshande because the native form  koma tonu no koma  is too long and a bit confusing. But Oseroa uses base 6 to count and  Entegwa  uses base 10, so for that reason the numbers for 70, 80, 90 were borrowed from Entesi: somboma = 70; nonoma = 80; kendoma = 90

The same strategy was used for the multiples of 100 and 1000: the number for 200, 300, 400 and 500 are form using the native construction gime+numeral (2/3/4/5), the number for 600 was borrowed (with a sound change) from Oseroa, the numbers 700, 800, 900 were borrowed from ''Entesi. In the same way the numbers 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 are formed using the native method, the number 6000 was borrowed (with again a sound change) from Oseroa, and the numbers 7000, 8000, 9000 were borrowed from Entesi. ''

So gime bede = 200; gime taso = 300; gime nyei = 400; gime tonu = 500;  zanshande  = 600; somb ime  (in analogy to  gime  {100}); nonime = 800; kendime = 900

gale bede = 2000; gale taso = 3000; gale nyei = 4000; gale tonu = 5000;  ngushande  = 6000; sombale = 7000; nonale = 8000; kendale = 9000.