"Njoo nyumbani"

Translation: Come home

[DiegoJaviUnlam]

Etymology (-ja)

From Proto-Bantu *-jìja. Compare Zulu -za.

Verb

-ja (infinitive kuja)

1) to come

Conjugation (imperative)

Affirmative

njoo! (singular)

_je! (singular) ‡

tuje (plural, first person)

njooni! (plural, second person)

_jeni! (plural, second person) ‡

Negative

usije! (singular) ‡

tusije (plural, first person)

msije! (plural, second person) ‡

‡Imperatives that take an object use the second form

Usage notes

Has an irregular imperative form: njoo ‎(singular), njooni ‎(plural)

From Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ja

[5vZSXEt5]

That's a bit complicated for me, but do you know if it's possible to say "kuja nyumbani"?
Thanks

[Martin633120]

I'm, no authority. My supposition is that you may not say "Kuja nyumbani", because as DL points out in their lesson tips, "kuja" is an irregular verb that has, as its imperative, "Njoo!" (sing.) and "Njooni!" (plural).

[5vZSXEt5]

Actually I have asked a Kenyan friend in the meantime.
He says both kuja and njoo are fine, while njoo is more formal.

[Martin633120]

That's interesting to hear. Thanks!

[5vZSXEt5]

No problem!
Hakuna problem (or how would you express that?) :-D

[Martin633120]

A very nice exposition on the verb, thanks. But can you or anyone else give an example or several of the imperative "Njoo!" taking an object? I can't think of any.

[Phmeza]

While 'ja' seems comparable with the Zulu 'za', the resulting "njoo" makes me want to compare it more with the Sotho 'tla'.
From "tla" we get "tloho"
The same way we get "njoo" from "ja".