does not have any effect on the meaning of the remaining part of the verb form, or the grammatical structures in which it may be used. For this reason, it is possible to make a preliminary division of the thousands of forms into about 60 'sets'. A SET of forms is defined for purposes of this discussion as including all verb forms which differ from one another only with respect to their bases and their subject and object prefixes.
Which two in each of these groups of three verbs are in the same ‘set‘? (The base of each verb has been underlined.)
| bazootaangura | 'they will begin' | [bazootaangura] |
| bazookora | 'they will do' | [bazookora] |
| bakora | 'they (Will) do' | |
| ndoondera | 'I'm looking for' | [ndoondera] |
| ndora | [ndora] | |
| nzoogeenda | 'I will go' | |
| ntibamesúura | 'they don't launder' | [ntibamesúura] |
| ndaba | 'I live' | |
| ntituvugá | 'we don't speak' | [ntiduvugá] |
| bageenda | 'they go' | |
| bageendé | 'that they should go' | [bageendé] |
| mutaangúre | 'that you should begin' | [mutaangúre] |
There are 21 subject prefixes and 21 object prefixes, plus the possibility of the absence of an object prefix, so that for any given base the number of forms in one set is as large as 21 x 21 or 441. There are over 60 such sets, which means a total of
297
