nkwagala
In Luganda, 'I love you' is expressed as nkwagala.
The phrase is an affirmation of romantic feeling. It is important to note that the verb used for love, okwagala, is also the standard verb used to express 'wanting' or 'desiring' something or someone.
Meaning: affirmation of romantic feeling (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The word nkwagala is composed of the subject marker n- (I), the object marker -ku- (you) and the verb stem -agala (love/want).
How does it change in a sentence?
To intensify the expression, you can add the adverb nnyo to the end of the phrase. For example, nkwagala nnyo means 'I love you very much'.
Did you know?
- Because the verb stem -agala is used for both 'love' and 'want', the phrase nkwagala can be interpreted as 'I want you' in a predatory or purely physical sense. This makes the phrase's social meaning highly dependent on the speaker's tone.
- The Luganda language builds the entire meaning of 'I love you' through a single agglutinative word. The single word nkwagala contains the subject 'I', the object 'you', and the verb stem 'love' all fused together.
- If you change just a single prefix in the phrase nkwagala, you could accidentally change the person being loved or the person doing the loving. The identity of the lovers is encoded directly into the word's structure.
Examples in context
- Nkwagala nnyo.I love you very much.
- Nkwagala, mwana wange.I love you, my dear.
Example conversation
A couple is saying goodbye before work.
- KatoNkwagala, Nantongo.I love you, Nantongo.
- NantongoNkwagala n'owe, Kato.I love you too, Kato.
- KatoTunaalabana wekka.We will see each other soon.
- NantongoWebale, tunaalabana.Thanks, see you later.
