Ndebele is a term used to refer to a collection of many different African cultures in Zimbabwe.

Many of the natives that were colonized by the Matabele were assimilated into Mzilikazi's kingdom to create a version of isiZulu.

[8] To prominent Nguni linguists like Anthony Trevor Cope and Cyril Nyembezi, Northern Ndebele is a dialect of Zulu.

Southern Ndebele, while maintaining its Nguni roots, has been influenced by the Sotho languages.

The Northern Ndebele noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem.

The following table gives an overview of Northern Ndebele noun classes, arranged according to singular-plural pairs.

[15] The object marker attaches closer to the verb root when it occurs (with the following notations: A - augment vowel; 1 - class 1 nominal prefix, etc.