The noun concord system is the most striking feature of the Bantu language family. The exact number of concord types differs from language to language, and traces of this system (and the noun class system) are even found in some Niger–Congo languages outside the narrow Bantu family.

Concord types

There are seven basic sets of concords. Each noun class has concords in each set, and the first and second persons have unique concords in some of the sets (the third person uses the class 1 and 2 concords). The exact number of concords differs from language to language, but all Bantu languages have at least the subjectival and objectival concords. In form, the concords closely resemble the class prefixes, and it is not unreasonable to assume that originally the other parts of speech were made to agree with the noun by simply prefixing them with the noun's class prefix. Today, in Sesotho, the vowels and consonants of the prefixes have been modified slightly in largely predictable ways. In addition to these seven concords, there are two further immutable concord-like prefixes used in certain situations with verbs. Sesotho is a pro-drop language in that in most situations separate words (such as absolute pronouns) do not need to be used with verbs to indicate the subject and object (they may be inferred from the subjectival and objectival concords). Notes on the tables: In the following discussion, weakening a prefix means removing the m nasal from the class 1, 3, and 6 prefixes, leaving only the vowel. The class 9 prefix is weakened to e-. In the examples, the noun is in bold, the concord is bold and underlined, and the word or clause which concords with the noun is underlined (nom. ... conc. + base ). The pronominal concords are used in the formation of the absolute pronouns. In form they very roughly appear to be the weakened prefix followed by the open-mid back vowel o. They all have a low tone. Doke & Mofokeng, using evidence from Setswana, claims that in fact the pronominal concords are derived from the absolute pronouns. The relative concords are used to concord with relatives and relative clauses. In form, for the noun classes, they appear to be the weakened prefixes coalesced with the close-mid front vowel. This coalescence has the effect of moving the close and near-close front vowels and to close-mid front, moving the near-close back vowel to the close-mid back , and alveolarizing the consonant to. The class 9 concord is e- and class 1(a) has an irregular concord ya- (which appears as a- in non-standard speech) suggesting an inherent close-mid front vowel. This is one instance of the high toneme appearing as the extra-high allotone without immediately following another high tone (see Sesotho tonology). Most other instances of seemingly tonemic extra-high tones are found in ideophones, which have a tendency of not following the phonological laws of the language. The relative concords for the 1st. and 2nd. persons resemble the subjectival concords and are only rarely used, and only for relative clauses (never with relative stems). The 1st. and 2nd. persons usually use the class 1(a) and 2(a) concords instead. The adjectival concords are used with adjectival stems. In form they appear to be the relative concords followed by the class prefix. Class 1(a) has an irregular concord e mo- (but it appears as in non-standard speech). The di[N]- classes have irregular concords tse [N]- instead of the expected *tse di[N]-, though this is their form are in Setswana. The nasalization does not affect adjectives beginning with. The nasalization caused by the class 8 adjectival concord is probably due to false analogy with the class 10 forms (in isiXhosa, for example, the class 8 concord does not cause nasalization). Being formed from the relative concord followed by the class prefix, they therefore have tonal pattern [ ¯ _ ]. The first and second persons use the class 1(a) and 2(a) adjectival concords. The enumerative concords are used with the enumerative stems. In form, the weak concords appear to simply be the weakened form of the prefix, while the strong concords are just the class prefixes. The weak concord for class 9 has the form e-. They have a low/null tone. The possessive concords are used with possessives. In form they appear to be formed from the subjectival concord by addition of the vowel a with various regular phonological side effects. They all have a high tone. The subjectival concords concord with the subject of a verb. They are placed near the beginning of the verbal complex, before any possible infixes verbal auxiliaries and the objectival concord, but after any pre-initial morphemes. In a multi-verbal conjugation they appear before every deficient verb (with the exception of contractions) as well as the main verb. The subjectival concord is needed even if the subject is explicitly stated. In form they appear to simply be the weakened prefix (class 9 [N] weakening to e-). The forms given above are only for the positive indicative mood. In the indicative negative, the subjunctive, the potential, and the participial moods class 1(a) becomes a-. In the potential mood (using the infix -ka- in the positive) 1st. pers. sg. is N ( nka- and nke ke). In the past subjunctive an assimilated infix -a- affects all the concords, resulting in what is sometimes called the "auxiliary concord." The positive indicative concords are low (or alternatively, null) toned, and those for the noun classes are high toned. In the past subjunctive all the concords are low toned. The objectival concords concord with the object of a verb. They are placed right next to the main verb stem. In a multi-verbal conjugation they are used only with the main verb. Usually they do not appear on a verb if the object is explicitly stated (unlike subjectival concords, which have to appear in every predicative), but they can be used with the object to emphasise it and the action, or if the object appears before the verb (which also emphasises it). In form they resemble the subjectival concords, differing only in the 1st. pers. sg. and class 1(a). Before verb stems beginning with a b the mo- + b- combination contracts to mm- due to the middle vowel being elided. If the following verb stem is of more than one syllable, they cause the following syllable (the stem's first syllable) to have a high tone and appear with a low tone. However, if the verb stem is only one syllable long then it is the concord itself which is pronounced with a high tone. The reflexive prefix is used to form reflexive verbs. It is not a concord in that it does not agree with any noun prefix, but it exhibits concord-like behaviour. It is simply the close vowel i with the additional effect of nasalizing the verb to which it is attached. Thus its form is i[N]-. In form and function it behaves like the objectival concord (therefore it cannot be used with the objectival concord), including the behaviour of raising the tone of the first syllable of the verb stem. However, unlike the objectival concord, it can also be used to form non-infinitive nouns from verbs. When used with causative verbs it often has the meaning of "pretend to be" The indefinite concord is used in certain copulative constructions. It only exists as a subjectival concord and appears in form to be the subjectival (and "auxiliary") concord of class 9. It is only used as the subjectival concord for 3rd. persons and noun classes in the direct tense of the copulative employing the verbs -ba, -le, and -se (including multi-verbal conjugations), when the copulative base is a noun or pronoun.