Lingala verb conjugation is simpler than you think. Learn the patterns, tenses, and common irregular verbs that will make you sound more natural in conversation.
Good news: Lingala verbs are simpler than you think
If you have ever tried to learn French or Spanish, you will remember the conjugation tables — dozens of endings to memorise, irregular verbs that follow no pattern, and the constant fear of choosing the wrong one. Lingala works differently, and the difference is liberating.
In Lingala the verb itself barely changes. Instead, a small prefix tells you who is acting, and the shape of the ending tells you when. Learn those pieces once and they work across the whole language.
Every verb starts with ko-
The dictionary form of a Lingala verb — the infinitive — begins with ko-. It is the equivalent of "to" in English:
kokende — to go
kolia — to eat
komona — to see, to find
koyeba — to know
kosala — to work, to do, to make
kosomba — to buy
koloba — to speak, to say
kolinga — to love, to like, to want
kozala — to be
komela — to drink
You can say a surprising amount with infinitives alone, because Lingala lets you chain them directly to a noun:
kosomba mayi — to buy water
kosomba mbuma — to buy fruit
kozala na ndako — to have a house
kokoka koloba — to be able to speak
The six subject markers
To say who is doing something, replace ko- with a subject marker:
Na- — I
O- — you (one person)
A- — he / she
To- — we
Bo- — you (more than one person)
Ba- — they
That is the entire set. There is no separate list for different verb groups, and no irregular tables to memorise alongside it.
Talking about now
Attach the marker and you have a sentence:
Nazali malamu — I am well
Ozali malamu? — Are you well?
Lingala ezali pete — Lingala is easy
Nalambi ndunda — I cook vegetables
Nazali na nzala — I am hungry (literally: I am with hunger)
Notice Nazali and Ozali: the same verb, the same shape, only the first letter changing to show who is speaking. That pattern repeats everywhere.
Talking about the past
For the past, the ending changes to -aki:
Nazalaki malamu — I was well
Ayebaki kombo na ngai — He knew my name
Azalaki kosala — She was working
Basombaki mayi — They bought water
Tozalaki kosomba mbisi — We were buying fish
Compare Nazali (I am) with Nazalaki (I was). The subject marker stays put; the ending carries the time.
Talking about the future
The future is the easiest of the three, because the verb does not change at all. You attach the subject marker to the infinitive exactly as the dictionary gives it — ko- and all:
Nakozala malamu — I will be well
Nakolia mbuma — I will eat fruit
Akoyeba kombo na ngai — He will know my name
Bakosomba mayi — They will buy water
Tokolinga mama — We will love mum
So Nakozala is simply Na- placed onto kozala: the marker for "I" attached to "to be", with the infinitive left intact. The ko- you see here is the same infinitive marker from the start of this article, doing its ordinary job — it is not a separate future ending.
This is worth getting right, because it explains the shape of every future sentence you will meet: whatever the verb, you look it up, keep it whole, and put the subject marker in front.
Saying no
Negation is where Lingala is kindest to beginners. There is no equivalent of the French ne… pas wrapped around the verb, and nothing like the English "do not" helper. You add te at the end of the sentence:
Nayebi te — I do not know
Nalingi te — I do not want
Nayoki malamu te — I do not feel well
Tozali na mayi te — We do not have water
Kosomba te! — Do not buy!
One word, always last. Say the positive sentence, add te, and you have the negative.
Giving instructions
To tell someone to do something, drop the ko- and use the bare verb:
Landa ngai! — Follow me!
Pesa ngai mayi! — Give me water!
Limbisa ngai! — Forgive me!
The whole system on one page
Take kozala (to be) and watch it move:
Nazali malamu — I am well
Nazalaki malamu — I was well
Nakozala malamu — I will be well
Three tenses, one verb, no new vocabulary. Swap Na- for To- and you are talking about your group instead of yourself. That economy is why many learners find they can hold a simple conversation in Lingala far sooner than they expected.
Two habits worth building early
Listen for the first syllable. English and French speakers are trained to listen for pronouns as separate words. In Lingala the pronoun is fused to the front of the verb, so the information you need arrives faster than you are used to. Train your ear on that opening syllable and comprehension improves quickly.
Wait for the last word. Because te comes at the end, a sentence can reverse its meaning on the final syllable. Beginners often answer before the speaker has finished. Let the sentence land.
Where to practise
Reading about conjugation is not the same as producing it under time pressure. Every example above is drawn from our own lessons, so you can meet these patterns again in context:
Work through short interactive exercises in Yekola, where these verbs appear with audio.
Look up any verb in the Lingala dictionary to see its meaning in English and French.
Hear the patterns in real speech through Congolese music, where conjugated verbs are everywhere once you know what to listen for.
Start with kozala, kolinga and koyeba. Those three carry an enormous share of everyday conversation, and each one you can move through past, present and future is a sentence you can build without thinking.