{"history":[],"article":{"id":"d0b99c24-da0f-4b69-b9ec-e8fc51f70feb","title":"Sotho parts of speech","slug":"sotho-parts-of-speech","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \nThe **[Sesotho](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho) parts of speech** convey the most basic meanings and functions of the words in the language, which may be modified in largely predictable ways by [affixes](https://bliptext.com/articles/affix) and other regular morphological devices.\nEach [complete word](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-grammar) in the Sesotho language must comprise some \"[part of speech](https://bliptext.com/articles/part-of-speech).\"\nThere are basically twelve parts of speech in Sesotho.\nThe six major divisions are purely according to [syntax](https://bliptext.com/articles/syntax), while the sub-divisions are according to morphology and semantic significance.\nAs a rule, Bantu languages do not have any [prepositions](https://bliptext.com/[articles](https://bliptext.com/articles/article-grammar)/preposition) or [articles](https://bliptext.com/articles/article-grammar).\nIn Sesotho, locatives are inflected substantives and verb imperatives are treated as interjectives.\nThe division of the four qualificatives is dependent solely on the [concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) that they use.\n[Cardinals](https://bliptext.com/articles/) are nouns but are given a separate section below.\nIn form, some parts of speech (adjectives, enumeratives, some relatives, some possessives, and all [verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs)) are radical stems which need affixes to form meaningful words; others (copulatives, most possessives, and some ad[verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs)) are formed from full words by the employment of certain formatives; the rest ([nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), pro[nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), some relatives, some ad[verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs), all ideophones, conjunctives, and interjectives) are complete words themselves which may or may not be modified with affixes to form new words.\nTherefore, the term \"[word classes](https://bliptext.com/articles/word-class)\" instead of the somewhat more neutral \"parts of speech\" would have been somewhat of a misnomer.\n\n# Nouns\n\n# Pronouns\nThere are four main types of [pronouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/pronoun) in Sesotho: absolute, demonstrative, quantitive, and qualificative.\nEach pro[noun](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) is a complete word and may stand in place of the [noun](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) or right next to it (for emphasis).\n**Concords are NOT pronouns**.\nConcords are usually mandatory in certain places while pronouns are often not.\nPronouns cannot be used in place of concords.\nPronouns are complete words while concords are strictly affixes.\n\n## Absolute pronouns\nThese merely stand in place of nouns and say nothing else about them.\nThey are formed from the [pronominal concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) of the noun (Doke & Mofokeng claims that the [pronominal concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) is actually derived from the absolute pronoun) plus the suffix -na.\nNote that any affixes attached to the pronoun do not change its form.\nThe tone pattern is **[** _ ¯ **]**.\nWhen a verb has two objects, the second object cannot be indicated in Sesotho by a concord:\n\n## Demonstrative pronouns\nSesotho has three positional types of pronouns (1 less than many other Bantu languages; the missing one being the 3rd. form \"this here\") each in two forms.\nWhen the relative concord is used to form the demonstrative pronouns it appears with a more natural high tone instead of the irregular extra-high allotone.\nHowever, in the rarely used first form of the first demonstrative it appears with a low tone.\n\n### The first demonstrative\nThe first demonstrative signifies \"this\" indicating proximity to the speaker.\nIt corresponds to Bantu 1st.\nposition.\nThe first form has tone pattern **[** _ ¯ **]** and is formed by suffixing the [relative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) with the vowel in the class prefix (the exception being [class 1(a)](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) using eo, due to its irregular concords, and [class 9](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) uses ee).\nThis pronoun is not very commonly used.\nIn common speech they are often simply shortened to the first syllable, and there is at least one commonly used formation where the pronoun for the first person singular is used as an [enclitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/enclitic).\nThe second form has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and is formed by suffixing -na to the relative concord (the exception being class 1(a) enwa, but it appears as ona in non-standard speech).\nThese words have an irregular stress which falls on the final syllable.\n\n### The second demonstrative\nThe second demonstrative signifies \"that\" indicating relative distance from the speaker.\nIt corresponds to Bantu 2nd.\nposition.\nThe first form has tone pattern **[** ¯ _ **]** and suffixes -o to the relative concord.\nThis form is the one employed in indirect relative constructions\nThe second form has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and suffixes -no to the relative concord.\n\n### The third demonstrative\nThe third demonstrative signifies \"that yonder\" indicating distance from both parties.\nIt corresponds to Bantu 4th.\nposition.\nThe first form has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and is formed by suffixing -ane to the relative concord.\nIn this case the a interacts strongly with the vowel in the concord.\nThe second form has tone pattern **[** ¯ _ **]** and is formed somewhat irregularly from the relative concord.\nThe suffix is -la which changes to -le if the concord ends with an a.\nClass 1(a) has an irregular pronoun with elwa (but it appears as ole in non-standard speech).\nIn common speech -le is used throughout.\n\n## Quantitative pronouns\nWhile many other Bantu languages have several quantitative pronouns, Sesotho only has the -hle ('all') form.\nIt has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and is formed from the pronominal concord for nouns (singular persons use class 1's concords and plural persons use [class 2](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns)'s concords).\n\n## Qualificative pronouns\nQualificative pronouns are qualificatives used substantivally in a sentence.\nThey are basically formed when a qualificative is used without the substantive, or if it appears before the substantive.\n\n# Adjectives\nAdjectives are qualificatives used with the [adjectival concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nIn the Bantu languages, the adjectives form a [closed class](https://bliptext.com/articles/closed-class) (with some languages having no proper adjectives at all).\nSesotho has a rather large number of adjectives due to the included colour adjectives.\nIt has about 50 adjectives which may be divided into two categories:\n\n## Common adjectives\nCommon adjectives are miscellaneous in nature and number about 20.\nThe numbers 2 to 5 belong to this category.\nMany of these adjectives are very ancient and exist in almost every Bantu language (sometimes as relatives).\n\n## Colour adjectives\nColour adjectives are a bit more numerous and indicate basic colours and animal colour patterns.\nThese are responsible for the unusually large number of adjectives in Sesotho, since most other Bantu languages have the colours as relatives instead.\nNotes:\n

The adjective -tala means \"green/blue\", while the relative -tala (pronounced exactly the same) means \"unripe.\"\nThe two meanings are related.\n
The s of the adjective -sootho and the r of the adjective -rolo are never [nasalized](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-phonology) with [class 8](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), [9](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), and [10](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) nouns.\n
Adjectives beginning with ⟨hl⟩ do not undergo nasalization either.\n
-fubedu is nasalized irregularly to -kgubedu, though it is very common to hear just the nasalized form used with all nouns.\n
The adjective -ng is not to be confused with the enumerative -ng ('one') which has a different tone.\nLike the enumerative, it is also irregular.\nIt appears nasalised as -nngwe with class 9 (it is simply -ng for all other classes).\nAlso, for the di- / di[N]- classes it uses the irregular (though normal in [Setswana](https://bliptext.com/articles/setswana)) concord tse di[N]- instead tse [N]-.\n

\nE.g.:\n\n# Relatives\nRelatives are qualificatives used with the [relative concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nIn the Bantu languages, the relatives form an [open class](https://bliptext.com/articles/open-class-linguistics) and are the primary qualificatives used.\n[Relative clauses](https://bliptext.com/articles/relative-clause) are also used with the relative concords.\nThere are two types of relative stems:\nExamples of both types follow below:\nThe relative -tala is not to be confused with the adjective -tala.\nE.g.:\nVerbs can be used in very short relative clauses, although these are not considered proper relative stems:\n\n# Enumeratives\nIn the Bantu languages, enumeratives are a category of qualificatives generally having some significance of enumeration.\nThey are distinguished from other qualificatives by the fact that they use the [enumerative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nIn many Bantu languages the first five numerals belong to this category, but in Sesotho only the numeral 1 is an enumerative (the second to fifth are adjectives).\nSesotho has three basic enumeratives, divided into two types (\"weak\" or \"strong\"):\nThe strong enumerative stems use the strong form of the enumerative concord, and the weak stems use the weak form.\nThe numeral -ng has a special form with class 9 nouns where it appears as -nngwe (thus the numeral).\nIt is always preceded by one of two constructions:\n

The participial copulative\n
the relative\n

\nThis stem should not be confused with the adjective -ng ('some') which has a high tone and is used as a normal adjective:\nThe other enumeratives are used regularly using the enumerative concord:\n-fe may also be used in a particular construction (repeated and with the conjunctive [enclitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/enclitic) le-) to mean \"any\":\n\n# Possessives\nPossessives are qualificatives used with the [possessive concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\n\n## The direct possessive\nThe direct possessive occurs when the concord agrees with the possessee, while the stem indicates the possessor.\nPronominal possessive stems agree with the possessee.\nSesotho has these only for the singulars of the first and second persons and class 1(a) (third person) nouns; the other nouns and persons used the full [absolute pronouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/) to indicate possession.\nE.g.:\n-eso ('of my people'), -eno ('of your people'), and -bo ('of his/her people') indicate collective possession.\nThe vowels in the stems coalesce with the vowel in the possessive concord, changing the vowel quality:\nPrefixing ha- to these stems gives -heso ('of my family/community'), -heno ('of your family/community'), and -habo ('of his/her family/community').\nCoalescence occurs again:\n\n## The possessive concord with nouns\nThe possessive concord with nouns is used to directly indicate the possessor.\nThe construction is possessee, concord + possessor.\nThe concord may also be used with [demonstrative](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and [qualificative pronouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/).\nE.g.:\n\n## The descriptive possessive\nThe descriptive possessive occurs when the concord agrees with the possessor of some descriptive quality, which cannot be prononomial.\nIn this case the possessor, being a noun, is used to describe the possessee.\nThis happens less commonly in Sesotho than in many other Bantu languages (the relative use being preferred instead), but there are still numerous instances of its use:\n\n# Cardinals\n[Bantu languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/bantu-languages) tend to use a [quinary](https://bliptext.com/articles/quinary) counting system with six basic numbers, the other four being miscellaneous.\nHere is a comparison between the first ten cardinals in some Bantu languages:\nNotes:\n\n# Verbs\n\n# Copulatives\nA [copulative](https://bliptext.com/articles/copula-linguistics) is a word which does the work of a predicative, and which is formed from some other part of speech by modification of a prefix or concord, or by means of some formative addition.\nComplete predicates and sentences may be formed with substantives, qualificatives, or adverbs without employing any verbs, according to definite rules.\nThese copulatives generally take the place of the verb \"to be\" in English.\nIn Sesotho, there are also conjugations of the copulative using verbs ( -ba, -le, and -na, as well as their inflected forms) giving meanings of \"to become\" and \"to have.\"\n\n## Forming the copulative\nThere are six basic rules, used in differing situations to form the most basic copulatives.\nThe first two rules do not use any verbs (the [zero copula](https://bliptext.com/articles/zero-copula)) using only changes in tone and/or the copulative formative ke-.\nThe other rules employ the irregular verb -le.\nThe rules may be classed into 3 categories (plain predication or zero copula, participial, past relative clause participial) and each category may be further divided into 2 groups (all persons with qualificatives and adverbs and 1st. and 2nd. persons substantives, versus 3rd. person substantives).\nEach rule further has its own unique negative.\nSC indicates the [subjectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords), CB is the copulative base, RC is the [relative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sotho-concords), and DE is the demonstrative element.\nThis is one instance where the relative concords for the 1st.\nand 2nd.\npersons may be used.\nNote that the participial sub-mood is the basis for all relative clause constructions (used in rules 3 to 6).\n

**Rule 1**: To form copulatives from [qualificatives](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and [adverbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/), with all persons and classes as subjects, and from substantives with 1st.\nand 2nd.\nperson subjects, the subjectival concord is prefixed to the unchanged word or word-base.\nThe prefix ha is used in the negative.\nIt also has a definite tone pattern which avoids ambiguity with plain uses of qualificatives.\nIn the case of adjectives, the subjectival concord takes the place of the \"relative\" part of the [adjectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) (that is, with the exception of the di[N]- classes, the adjective assumes the class prefix of the noun).\nNote that there is no downstep between the two words and that high toned subjectival concords cause any following noun prefix to be raised to a high tone (due to High Tone Doubling, see [Sesotho tonology](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-tonology)).\nContrast the last example with batho ba baholo **[** _ _ **!** ¯ _ ¯ _ **]** ('the large people'), where the relative concord has an irregular extra-high tone and does not raise the second low tone ba, and there is a downstep between the two words which is not heard in the copulative.\nIn the case of relatives, the subjectival concord takes the place of the relative concord and the relative stem functions as the copulative.\nContrast the last example with batho ba botswa **[** _ _ **!** ¯ _ ¯ **]** ('the lazy people'), with a downstep and extra-high tone on the relative concord.\nWith the enumerative ng ('one') the subjectival concord is prefixed to the enumerative with the [enumerative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nThe other enumeratives are not used in this way.\nWith (mainly locative) adverbs the subjectival concord is simply prefixed to the adverb.\nThe first and second persons are only used with substantival bases in using this rule.\nThe negative of all these formations may be formed by simply prefixing the low toned ha-.\nThis is exactly the same way that the negatives of most verbs in most tenses and moods are formed.\nAdditionally, just as with verb negatives, the subjectival concord for class 1 nouns becomes a-, and all subjectival concords are high toned (not just third persons and noun classes).\nNote that the subjectival concord does not affect the tones of the base as in the positive.\n
\n
**Rule 2**: To form copulatives from substantives with a third person or noun class noun, the high toned prefix ke- is used in the positive and hase- in the negative.\nThis -se- should not be confused with the verb -se (used in the negatives of rules 3 to 6).\nContrast the last example with ke motho **[** _ _ _ **]** ('I am a person').\n
\n
**Rule 3**: To form [participials](https://bliptext.com/articles/participle) of copulatives of qualificatives and adverbs with all persons and classes as subject, and from substantives with 1st.\nand 2nd.\nperson subjects, the subjectival concord is prefixed to the verb -le preceding the copulative base.\nThe negative uses the irregular negative -se of the verb.\nThis is the usual way of using the enumerative -ng ('one').\n
\n
**Rule 4**: To form participials of copulatives from substantives with a 3rd.\nperson or noun class subject, the [indefinite concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) e- is prefixed to the verb -le.\nThe negative uses the irregular negative -se of the verb.\n
\n
**Rule 5**: To form relative clauses in present time of copulatives falling under rule 3, employ the direct relative concord and suffix -ng to -le (-se in the negative).\n
\n
**Rule 6**: To form relative clauses in present time of copulatives falling under rule 4, employ the indirect relative construction with a demonstrative element followed by the subjectival indicator e-, preceding the verb -le ( -se in the negative), with the relative suffix -ng.\n

\n\n## The indefinite concord ho-\nIndefinite copulative construction is achieved by using the [class 17](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) concord ho- prefixed to the subject.\nExcept with adverbs of manner, this always gives a locative implication to the construction.\nA more common form in the positive uses ho na le- instead of ho-.\nThe negative of this is ha ho na\n\n## Conjugation\nJust like verbal conjugation, the conjugation possibilities of copulatives are varied and complex, with most tenses needing [deficient verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-deficient-verbs) and/or [infixed verbal auxiliaries](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-grammar).\nWhat follows is only a brief overview of some points.\nThere is a two way division between direct and associative forms of the conjugation.\nThe direct forms generally mean \"to become\" while the associative forms mean \"to have.\"\nIn the direct form the verb -ba is commonly employed.\nThis verb is [inceptive](https://bliptext.com/articles/inceptive) and (when used as a transitive verb) means \"become\" (not \"is\", which is indicated by the direct non-verbal copulative).\nThus there are two main aspects of the direct copulative conjugation, the inceptive and the stative.\nIn the former -ba appears; in most multi-verbal tenses of the latter the verb -le is used, though not all tenses may conjugate in this aspect.\nIn all there are about than 35 basic tenses in the direct inceptive, and 13 in the stative.\nThe associative form of the copulative conjugation generally signifies \"to have\" (lit. 'to be with').\nIt too shares a division between inceptive and stative aspects, the former using -ba with the conjunction le- (conjunctive [import](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs)), and the latter using -na with le- (in the positive; the negative has no le-).\nThis conjunctive le-, which is a prefix attached to the verb's object, is not to be confused with the copulative verb -le.\nIn all there are about 30 basic tenses in the inceptive and 10 in the stative.\nA few more examples follow.\n\n# Adverbs\n[Adverbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/adverb) are words which describe qualificatives, predicatives, or other adverbs with respect to time, place, or manner.\nAs in many other Bantu languages, there is a close relationship in Sesotho between adverbs and nouns, with many adverbs appearing as normal nouns and locatives of nouns being used as adverbs.\nHowever, the function of an adverb is always clearly distinct from that of a noun.\nThough adverbs are obviously usually used with a predicative, there are some cases where the predicative does not appear and the adverb may be assumed to be describing a [covert](https://bliptext.com/articles/covert-linguistics) copulative.\n\n## Adverbs of place\nGenerally all adverbs of place are \"locatives\", which are inflected nouns and pronouns.\nThese are formed by certain rules of inflexion listed below.\nThey generally indicate the place at, on, in, into, from etc. which the action takes place.\nWhen used with nouns indicating time they may denote time rather than place.\nThe actual meaning of a locative is determined by the verb used or the context.\nThe locative merely indicates the place brought into relationship with the verb, thus the many [prepositions](https://bliptext.com/articles/prepositions) used in English are completely unnecessary in the Sesotho language.\nThese are the rules for forming the locative from nouns:\n

Most nouns except those of class 1a suffix a low tone -ng.\nThis suffix comes from original Proto-Bantu ***-nî** which results in [vowel raising](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-phonology)\n
Non-class 1a nouns ending with a replace it with -eng.\nMohla ('day') is an exception with mohlang, though its plural has a regular locative with mehleng\n
Non-class 1a nouns ending with the syllabic nasal suffix -ng as usual, resulting in two consecutive syllabic nasals nng\n
Class 1a nouns assume the high tone prefix ho-.\n
Nouns indicating persons (except those in class 1a) may use either the prefix or the suffix\n
Many nouns, such as place names and nouns indicating times are used without any modification\n

\nWhile ho- is used to mean \"at\", its possessive form ha- is used to indicate \"at the place of\"\nLocatives may be formed from pronouns (except the [quantitative](https://bliptext.com/articles/)) by prefixing ho- and its possessive form ha-\nFurthermore, there are [class 16](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), [17](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), and [18](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) nouns, certain forms with the prefix ko- (an irregular unchanged Proto-Bantu class [17](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) prefix ***ku-**, possibly from the [Serolong](https://bliptext.com/articles/serolong) dialect of [Setswana](https://bliptext.com/articles/setswana)), and some other nouns, all used uninflected as locative adverbs.\nThe adverbs indicating \"here,\" \"there,\" and \"yonder\" are simply class 18 demonstrative pronouns, using class 18 concords (instead of the more usual class 15 concords used by the three locative classes).\nThe relative concord used to form these words does not seem to be weakened (it appears as mo- instead of the o- used with class 3).\n\n## Adverbs of time\nApart from certain locative formations with a temporal implication, many nouns and seemingly radical adverbs may be used as adverbs of time.\nSome use the high tone prefix ka- to form adverbs of time.\nThese nouns include days of the week and months of the year.\nCertain other nouns which accept the suffix -ng may also take this prefix instead.\n\n## Adverbs of manner\nSome adverbs of manner are radical in formation; others are miscellaneous formations from nouns.\nThere are also several ways of forming adverbs of time from other parts of speech by using affixes ha-, the conjunctive le-, ka-, jwale ka- (which is a complete word followed by a prefix), the copulative ke-, etc.).\nAdditionally, in slightly non-standard speech, absolute pronouns may be inflected to form adverbs meaning \"on X's own\" by prefixing the instrumental ka- and the [class 14](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) noun prefix bo- to the pronoun.\n\n## The interrogative\nThe high tone adverb na may be used to mark or emphasise questions.\nIt, and its variant forms, may appear before, after, or both before and after the complete sentence.\n\n# Ideophones\nAn [ideophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/ideophone) is a word, often [onomatopoeic](https://bliptext.com/articles/onomatopoeic) in nature, which describes the qualities of a predicative, qualificative, or adverb.\nIn the Bantu languages ideophones form a distinct part of speech, which resembles to a certain extent the adverb in function, but unlike which it may (in some languages) be used as a predicate.\nIn Sesotho there are two ways of using ideophones; one involves the use of the verb ho re (\"[verbum dicendi](https://bliptext.com/articles/verbum-dicendi)\") which in this case means \"to express\" instead of the usual \"to say.\"\nThe other way involves simply placing the ideophone after a verb or qualificative with the aim of intensifying its meaning.\nOften when using ideophones in speech, the speaker may accompany the utterance with an action (indeed, with the ideophone mpf \"of being finished completely\" the action — running ones index finger very close in front of the lips — is necessary to pronounce the word properly).\nThe verb -re when used with ideophones may take a direct object (indicated by an [objectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords)).\nIt is this verb which carries all forms of inflexion on behalf of the ideophone.\nIts mood, transitivity, tense, objects, aspect, etc. are all reflected in the verb -re, while the ideophone itself does not in any way change.\nThis illustrates that the ideophone itself is neither transitive nor intransitive, etc., and they are usually translated to English with the construction \"of....\"\nMany Sesotho ideophones are radicals, and many of them are shared by many Bantu languages (such as Sesotho tu! and isiZulu du! / dwi! 'of silence'), though many are formed from other parts of speech.\nIndeed, it is common for a speaker to intensify the meaning of a descriptive word or verb by improvising ideophones and placing them after the word, or by simply leaving the listener to surmise the meaning from the context or accompanying action.\nIdeophones are often created from verbs by simply replacing the final vowel -a of the basic verb with a high toned -i.\nIdeophones, being very emotional in nature, tend to not follow the phonetic rules of the language and may be pronounced in peculiar ways.\nFor exa**mp**le, **the** stress may fall on **the** last or first syllable of all ideophones regardless of length, vowels may be indefinitely leng**the**ned (po... of being cold), syllabic r may be heard ( **the**rr 'of frying'), syllables may have [codas](https://bliptext.com/articles/syllable-coda) ( **the****the**ng**the**ng 'of performing with a stop'), prenasalized consonants may occur ( kga**mp**epe 'of running'), vowels may be [devocalised](https://bliptext.com/articles/voiceless) ( phu** 'of smelling bad'), and various consonants not found in core Sesotho may be used ( **vi... 'of a thrown projectile travelling through **the** air in a hyperbolic path').\nThere is even a case of three syllabic nasals with contrasting tones pronounced with three separated air breaths (not as a very long nasal with an undulating tone) nnng **[** _ ¯ _ **]** ('of refusing outright').\n\n# Conjunctives\nConjunctives introduce or join up sentences.\nSesotho conjunctives may be studied from two aspects: form and function.\nThere are four forms of conjunctives:\nThere are four functions of conjunctives:\n\n## Forms\n

**Conjunctions** are very rare, and many may have originated from simpler forms.\n
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**Other parts of speech unchanged** including nouns, pronouns, adverbs, and deficient verbs (used with the [indefinite concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) e-) may be used as conjunctives.\n
\n
**Inflected forms of conjunctives and other parts of speech** may be used as conjunctives.\nThis may be done with certain words through the use of a handful of prefixes and suffixes.\n
\n
**Compounds** may also be used as conjunctives.\n

\n\n## Functions\n

**Non-influencing conjunctives** do not affect the mood of the following predicate.\nThey are co-ordinating and merely form compound sentences.\n
\n
**Conjunctives which govern the indicative mood** are followed by clauses in the indicative mood.\n
\n
**Conjunctives which govern the subjunctive mood** are followed by (subordinate) clauses in the subjunctive mood.\n
\n
**Conjunctives which govern the participial sub-mood** are followed by clauses in the participial sub-mood.\nNote that some of these conjunctives are followed by a pure participial form, while others are followed by a relative construction (since all relative clauses in Sesotho are in the participial sub-mood).\n

\n\n# Interjectives\nInterjectives are isolated words or groups of words of an exclamatory nature, used to express emotion, or for the purpose of calling attention, giving commands, or conveying assent or dissent.\nThey may themselves also constitute complete sentences, without the use of predicates.\nIn the Bantu languages interjectives may be divided into three types:\n\n## Interjections\nInterjections have no grammatical or concordial bearing on the sentence; they are merely attached as appendages.\nAs with ideophones, their emotional nature causes some of them to be pronounced in peculiar ways, but these irregularities are not as great as those exhibited by ideophones.\n\n## Vocatives\nVocatives are formed in Sesotho from nouns and 2nd.\nperson pronouns (since all proper vocatives are naturally addressed to \"the second person\").\nNo change in form takes form in the noun.\nA suffix/clitic -towe and its plural equivalent -ting may be used to indicate an insult\nThe adverbial instrumental prefix ka- is used to form interjectives of oath\n\n## Imperatives\nImperatives have neither subjects nor [subjectival concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nThey are 2nd.\nperson forms, and have the same force as other interjectives, but, being verbal, they may also take objects and assume extensions.\nThe rules for the formation of the singular imperative are as follows:\n

Verbs with more than one syllable are used without any modification\n
Most monosyllabic verbs may either suffix -a or prefix e-\n
The verbs -re ('say'), -ya ('go'), and -ba only use the prefix\n
The imperative of the verb -tla ('come') is tloo\n

\nSometimes an [epenthetic](https://bliptext.com/articles/epenthetic) h or y may be inserted between the two as or os for emphasis.\nThe negative may be formed in several ways:\n

By prefixing se- to the basic verb and changing the final -a to -e\n
By using se- with the infix -ka- with no change in the verb's final vowel\n
A commonly used negative, although technically not an interjective (as it contains a subjectival concord) is made by employing the (inflected) [Group IV](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-deficient-verbs) deficient verb -ke in the subjunctive mood (that is, with the \"auxiliary concord\" prefixed to the main verb).\nThe above negative is most probably a contraction of this form (hence the final vowel was not changed due to the contracted concord)\n

\nIf the first person is included in the plural subjects, the hortative prefix ha- is used in the subjunctive mood.\nThis is an example of the [cohortative mood](https://bliptext.com/articles/cohortative-mood) (a form of the subjunctive)\nAgain in the subjunctive mood, an object may be specified in all of the above forms by an [objectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nThis is in the subjunctive mood, and so the final vowel of the verb changes to e (in the positive) e (in the negative) when the deficient verb -ke is not used\nExcept for forms employing subjectival concords, the plural is formed by adding the suffix -ng to the verb (or the deficient verb -ke when it is used).\nThis -ng may regularly result in [vowel raising](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-phonology) if the verb ends with the open vowel e\nWhen subjunctive tenses are used \"imperatively\" they are not interjectives since they have subjectival concords (and have more typical verbal tonal patterns), but note that in this case there is a distinction between singular, [dual](https://bliptext.com/articles/dual-grammatical-[number](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-number)), and plural [number](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-number) in the 1st.\nperson.\nIn this case dual number is marked by the hortative prefix ha- and 1st.\nplural subjectival concord, and plural is marked by the prefix, the concord, and the suffix -ng to the verb (or the deficient verb -ke if it is used).\nAll imperatives addressed to the 2nd.\nperson (even if that person is included in a 1st. person plural) may be strengthened by using the [enclitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-grammar) -bo.\nThis formative leaves the stress in place, thus resulting in words with stress on the antepenultimate syllable.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T09:29:35.071Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T09:29:35.071Z","search_vector":"'part':2 'sotho':1 'speech':4","search_content":" \n \n\n# \nThe **[Sesotho](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho) parts of speech** convey the most basic meanings and functions of the words in the language, which may be modified in largely predictable ways by [affixes](https://bliptext.com/articles/affix) and other regular morphological devices.\nEach [complete word](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-grammar) in the Sesotho language must comprise some \"[part of speech](https://bliptext.com/articles/part-of-speech).\"\nThere are basically twelve parts of speech in Sesotho.\nThe six major divisions are purely according to [syntax](https://bliptext.com/articles/syntax), while the sub-divisions are according to morphology and semantic significance.\nAs a rule, Bantu languages do not have any [prepositions](https://bliptext.com/[articles](https://bliptext.com/articles/article-grammar)/preposition) or [articles](https://bliptext.com/articles/article-grammar).\nIn Sesotho, locatives are inflected substantives and verb imperatives are treated as interjectives.\nThe division of the four qualificatives is dependent solely on the [concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) that they use.\n[Cardinals](https://bliptext.com/articles/) are nouns but are given a separate section below.\nIn form, some parts of speech (adjectives, enumeratives, some relatives, some possessives, and all [verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs)) are radical stems which need affixes to form meaningful words; others (copulatives, most possessives, and some ad[verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs)) are formed from full words by the employment of certain formatives; the rest ([nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), pro[nouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), some relatives, some ad[verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs), all ideophones, conjunctives, and interjectives) are complete words themselves which may or may not be modified with affixes to form new words.\nTherefore, the term \"[word classes](https://bliptext.com/articles/word-class)\" instead of the somewhat more neutral \"parts of speech\" would have been somewhat of a misnomer.\n\n# Nouns\n\n# Pronouns\nThere are four main types of [pronouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/pronoun) in Sesotho: absolute, demonstrative, quantitive, and qualificative.\nEach pro[noun](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) is a complete word and may stand in place of the [noun](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) or right next to it (for emphasis).\n**Concords are NOT pronouns**.\nConcords are usually mandatory in certain places while pronouns are often not.\nPronouns cannot be used in place of concords.\nPronouns are complete words while concords are strictly affixes.\n\n## Absolute pronouns\nThese merely stand in place of nouns and say nothing else about them.\nThey are formed from the [pronominal concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) of the noun (Doke & Mofokeng claims that the [pronominal concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) is actually derived from the absolute pronoun) plus the suffix -na.\nNote that any affixes attached to the pronoun do not change its form.\nThe tone pattern is **[** _ ¯ **]**.\nWhen a verb has two objects, the second object cannot be indicated in Sesotho by a concord:\n\n## Demonstrative pronouns\nSesotho has three positional types of pronouns (1 less than many other Bantu languages; the missing one being the 3rd. form \"this here\") each in two forms.\nWhen the relative concord is used to form the demonstrative pronouns it appears with a more natural high tone instead of the irregular extra-high allotone.\nHowever, in the rarely used first form of the first demonstrative it appears with a low tone.\n\n### The first demonstrative\nThe first demonstrative signifies \"this\" indicating proximity to the speaker.\nIt corresponds to Bantu 1st.\nposition.\nThe first form has tone pattern **[** _ ¯ **]** and is formed by suffixing the [relative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) with the vowel in the class prefix (the exception being [class 1(a)](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) using eo, due to its irregular concords, and [class 9](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) uses ee).\nThis pronoun is not very commonly used.\nIn common speech they are often simply shortened to the first syllable, and there is at least one commonly used formation where the pronoun for the first person singular is used as an [enclitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/enclitic).\nThe second form has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and is formed by suffixing -na to the relative concord (the exception being class 1(a) enwa, but it appears as ona in non-standard speech).\nThese words have an irregular stress which falls on the final syllable.\n\n### The second demonstrative\nThe second demonstrative signifies \"that\" indicating relative distance from the speaker.\nIt corresponds to Bantu 2nd.\nposition.\nThe first form has tone pattern **[** ¯ _ **]** and suffixes -o to the relative concord.\nThis form is the one employed in indirect relative constructions\nThe second form has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and suffixes -no to the relative concord.\n\n### The third demonstrative\nThe third demonstrative signifies \"that yonder\" indicating distance from both parties.\nIt corresponds to Bantu 4th.\nposition.\nThe first form has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and is formed by suffixing -ane to the relative concord.\nIn this case the a interacts strongly with the vowel in the concord.\nThe second form has tone pattern **[** ¯ _ **]** and is formed somewhat irregularly from the relative concord.\nThe suffix is -la which changes to -le if the concord ends with an a.\nClass 1(a) has an irregular pronoun with elwa (but it appears as ole in non-standard speech).\nIn common speech -le is used throughout.\n\n## Quantitative pronouns\nWhile many other Bantu languages have several quantitative pronouns, Sesotho only has the -hle ('all') form.\nIt has tone pattern **[** ¯ ¯ **]** and is formed from the pronominal concord for nouns (singular persons use class 1's concords and plural persons use [class 2](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns)'s concords).\n\n## Qualificative pronouns\nQualificative pronouns are qualificatives used substantivally in a sentence.\nThey are basically formed when a qualificative is used without the substantive, or if it appears before the substantive.\n\n# Adjectives\nAdjectives are qualificatives used with the [adjectival concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nIn the Bantu languages, the adjectives form a [closed class](https://bliptext.com/articles/closed-class) (with some languages having no proper adjectives at all).\nSesotho has a rather large number of adjectives due to the included colour adjectives.\nIt has about 50 adjectives which may be divided into two categories:\n\n## Common adjectives\nCommon adjectives are miscellaneous in nature and number about 20.\nThe numbers 2 to 5 belong to this category.\nMany of these adjectives are very ancient and exist in almost every Bantu language (sometimes as relatives).\n\n## Colour adjectives\nColour adjectives are a bit more numerous and indicate basic colours and animal colour patterns.\nThese are responsible for the unusually large number of adjectives in Sesotho, since most other Bantu languages have the colours as relatives instead.\nNotes:\n The adjective -tala means \"green/blue\", while the relative -tala (pronounced exactly the same) means \"unripe.\"\nThe two meanings are related.\n The s of the adjective -sootho and the r of the adjective -rolo are never [nasalized](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-phonology) with [class 8](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), [9](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), and [10](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) nouns.\n Adjectives beginning with ⟨hl⟩ do not undergo nasalization either.\n -fubedu is nasalized irregularly to -kgubedu, though it is very common to hear just the nasalized form used with all nouns.\n The adjective -ng is not to be confused with the enumerative -ng ('one') which has a different tone.\nLike the enumerative, it is also irregular.\nIt appears nasalised as -nngwe with class 9 (it is simply -ng for all other classes).\nAlso, for the di- / di[N]- classes it uses the irregular (though normal in [Setswana](https://bliptext.com/articles/setswana)) concord tse di[N]- instead tse [N]-.\n \nE.g.:\n\n# Relatives\nRelatives are qualificatives used with the [relative concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nIn the Bantu languages, the relatives form an [open class](https://bliptext.com/articles/open-class-linguistics) and are the primary qualificatives used.\n[Relative clauses](https://bliptext.com/articles/relative-clause) are also used with the relative concords.\nThere are two types of relative stems:\nExamples of both types follow below:\nThe relative -tala is not to be confused with the adjective -tala.\nE.g.:\nVerbs can be used in very short relative clauses, although these are not considered proper relative stems:\n\n# Enumeratives\nIn the Bantu languages, enumeratives are a category of qualificatives generally having some significance of enumeration.\nThey are distinguished from other qualificatives by the fact that they use the [enumerative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nIn many Bantu languages the first five numerals belong to this category, but in Sesotho only the numeral 1 is an enumerative (the second to fifth are adjectives).\nSesotho has three basic enumeratives, divided into two types (\"weak\" or \"strong\"):\nThe strong enumerative stems use the strong form of the enumerative concord, and the weak stems use the weak form.\nThe numeral -ng has a special form with class 9 nouns where it appears as -nngwe (thus the numeral).\nIt is always preceded by one of two constructions:\n The participial copulative\n the relative\n \nThis stem should not be confused with the adjective -ng ('some') which has a high tone and is used as a normal adjective:\nThe other enumeratives are used regularly using the enumerative concord:\n-fe may also be used in a particular construction (repeated and with the conjunctive [enclitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/enclitic) le-) to mean \"any\":\n\n# Possessives\nPossessives are qualificatives used with the [possessive concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\n\n## The direct possessive\nThe direct possessive occurs when the concord agrees with the possessee, while the stem indicates the possessor.\nPronominal possessive stems agree with the possessee.\nSesotho has these only for the singulars of the first and second persons and class 1(a) (third person) nouns; the other nouns and persons used the full [absolute pronouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/) to indicate possession.\nE.g.:\n-eso ('of my people'), -eno ('of your people'), and -bo ('of his/her people') indicate collective possession.\nThe vowels in the stems coalesce with the vowel in the possessive concord, changing the vowel quality:\nPrefixing ha- to these stems gives -heso ('of my family/community'), -heno ('of your family/community'), and -habo ('of his/her family/community').\nCoalescence occurs again:\n\n## The possessive concord with nouns\nThe possessive concord with nouns is used to directly indicate the possessor.\nThe construction is possessee, concord + possessor.\nThe concord may also be used with [demonstrative](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and [qualificative pronouns](https://bliptext.com/articles/).\nE.g.:\n\n## The descriptive possessive\nThe descriptive possessive occurs when the concord agrees with the possessor of some descriptive quality, which cannot be prononomial.\nIn this case the possessor, being a noun, is used to describe the possessee.\nThis happens less commonly in Sesotho than in many other Bantu languages (the relative use being preferred instead), but there are still numerous instances of its use:\n\n# Cardinals\n[Bantu languages](https://bliptext.com/articles/bantu-languages) tend to use a [quinary](https://bliptext.com/articles/quinary) counting system with six basic numbers, the other four being miscellaneous.\nHere is a comparison between the first ten cardinals in some Bantu languages:\nNotes:\n\n# Verbs\n\n# Copulatives\nA [copulative](https://bliptext.com/articles/copula-linguistics) is a word which does the work of a predicative, and which is formed from some other part of speech by modification of a prefix or concord, or by means of some formative addition.\nComplete predicates and sentences may be formed with substantives, qualificatives, or adverbs without employing any verbs, according to definite rules.\nThese copulatives generally take the place of the verb \"to be\" in English.\nIn Sesotho, there are also conjugations of the copulative using verbs ( -ba, -le, and -na, as well as their inflected forms) giving meanings of \"to become\" and \"to have.\"\n\n## Forming the copulative\nThere are six basic rules, used in differing situations to form the most basic copulatives.\nThe first two rules do not use any verbs (the [zero copula](https://bliptext.com/articles/zero-copula)) using only changes in tone and/or the copulative formative ke-.\nThe other rules employ the irregular verb -le.\nThe rules may be classed into 3 categories (plain predication or zero copula, participial, past relative clause participial) and each category may be further divided into 2 groups (all persons with qualificatives and adverbs and 1st. and 2nd. persons substantives, versus 3rd. person substantives).\nEach rule further has its own unique negative.\nSC indicates the [subjectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords), CB is the copulative base, RC is the [relative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sotho-concords), and DE is the demonstrative element.\nThis is one instance where the relative concords for the 1st.\nand 2nd.\npersons may be used.\nNote that the participial sub-mood is the basis for all relative clause constructions (used in rules 3 to 6).\n \n \n **Rule 1**: To form copulatives from [qualificatives](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and [adverbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/), with all persons and classes as subjects, and from substantives with 1st.\nand 2nd.\nperson subjects, the subjectival concord is prefixed to the unchanged word or word-base.\nThe prefix ha is used in the negative.\nIt also has a definite tone pattern which avoids ambiguity with plain uses of qualificatives.\nIn the case of adjectives, the subjectival concord takes the place of the \"relative\" part of the [adjectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) (that is, with the exception of the di[N]- classes, the adjective assumes the class prefix of the noun).\nNote that there is no downstep between the two words and that high toned subjectival concords cause any following noun prefix to be raised to a high tone (due to High Tone Doubling, see [Sesotho tonology](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-tonology)).\nContrast the last example with batho ba baholo **[** _ _ **!** ¯ _ ¯ _ **]** ('the large people'), where the relative concord has an irregular extra-high tone and does not raise the second low tone ba, and there is a downstep between the two words which is not heard in the copulative.\nIn the case of relatives, the subjectival concord takes the place of the relative concord and the relative stem functions as the copulative.\nContrast the last example with batho ba botswa **[** _ _ **!** ¯ _ ¯ **]** ('the lazy people'), with a downstep and extra-high tone on the relative concord.\nWith the enumerative ng ('one') the subjectival concord is prefixed to the enumerative with the [enumerative concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nThe other enumeratives are not used in this way.\nWith (mainly locative) adverbs the subjectival concord is simply prefixed to the adverb.\nThe first and second persons are only used with substantival bases in using this rule.\nThe negative of all these formations may be formed by simply prefixing the low toned ha-.\nThis is exactly the same way that the negatives of most verbs in most tenses and moods are formed.\nAdditionally, just as with verb negatives, the subjectival concord for class 1 nouns becomes a-, and all subjectival concords are high toned (not just third persons and noun classes).\nNote that the subjectival concord does not affect the tones of the base as in the positive.\n \n \n **Rule 2**: To form copulatives from substantives with a third person or noun class noun, the high toned prefix ke- is used in the positive and hase- in the negative.\nThis -se- should not be confused with the verb -se (used in the negatives of rules 3 to 6).\nContrast the last example with ke motho **[** _ _ _ **]** ('I am a person').\n \n \n **Rule 3**: To form [participials](https://bliptext.com/articles/participle) of copulatives of qualificatives and adverbs with all persons and classes as subject, and from substantives with 1st.\nand 2nd.\nperson subjects, the subjectival concord is prefixed to the verb -le preceding the copulative base.\nThe negative uses the irregular negative -se of the verb.\nThis is the usual way of using the enumerative -ng ('one').\n \n \n **Rule 4**: To form participials of copulatives from substantives with a 3rd.\nperson or noun class subject, the [indefinite concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) e- is prefixed to the verb -le.\nThe negative uses the irregular negative -se of the verb.\n \n \n **Rule 5**: To form relative clauses in present time of copulatives falling under rule 3, employ the direct relative concord and suffix -ng to -le (-se in the negative).\n \n \n **Rule 6**: To form relative clauses in present time of copulatives falling under rule 4, employ the indirect relative construction with a demonstrative element followed by the subjectival indicator e-, preceding the verb -le ( -se in the negative), with the relative suffix -ng.\n \n\n## The indefinite concord ho-\nIndefinite copulative construction is achieved by using the [class 17](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) concord ho- prefixed to the subject.\nExcept with adverbs of manner, this always gives a locative implication to the construction.\nA more common form in the positive uses ho na le- instead of ho-.\nThe negative of this is ha ho na\n\n## Conjugation\nJust like verbal conjugation, the conjugation possibilities of copulatives are varied and complex, with most tenses needing [deficient verbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-deficient-verbs) and/or [infixed verbal auxiliaries](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-grammar).\nWhat follows is only a brief overview of some points.\nThere is a two way division between direct and associative forms of the conjugation.\nThe direct forms generally mean \"to become\" while the associative forms mean \"to have.\"\nIn the direct form the verb -ba is commonly employed.\nThis verb is [inceptive](https://bliptext.com/articles/inceptive) and (when used as a transitive verb) means \"become\" (not \"is\", which is indicated by the direct non-verbal copulative).\nThus there are two main aspects of the direct copulative conjugation, the inceptive and the stative.\nIn the former -ba appears; in most multi-verbal tenses of the latter the verb -le is used, though not all tenses may conjugate in this aspect.\nIn all there are about than 35 basic tenses in the direct inceptive, and 13 in the stative.\nThe associative form of the copulative conjugation generally signifies \"to have\" (lit. 'to be with').\nIt too shares a division between inceptive and stative aspects, the former using -ba with the conjunction le- (conjunctive [import](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-verbs)), and the latter using -na with le- (in the positive; the negative has no le-).\nThis conjunctive le-, which is a prefix attached to the verb's object, is not to be confused with the copulative verb -le.\nIn all there are about 30 basic tenses in the inceptive and 10 in the stative.\nA few more examples follow.\n\n# Adverbs\n[Adverbs](https://bliptext.com/articles/adverb) are words which describe qualificatives, predicatives, or other adverbs with respect to time, place, or manner.\nAs in many other Bantu languages, there is a close relationship in Sesotho between adverbs and nouns, with many adverbs appearing as normal nouns and locatives of nouns being used as adverbs.\nHowever, the function of an adverb is always clearly distinct from that of a noun.\nThough adverbs are obviously usually used with a predicative, there are some cases where the predicative does not appear and the adverb may be assumed to be describing a [covert](https://bliptext.com/articles/covert-linguistics) copulative.\n\n## Adverbs of place\nGenerally all adverbs of place are \"locatives\", which are inflected nouns and pronouns.\nThese are formed by certain rules of inflexion listed below.\nThey generally indicate the place at, on, in, into, from etc. which the action takes place.\nWhen used with nouns indicating time they may denote time rather than place.\nThe actual meaning of a locative is determined by the verb used or the context.\nThe locative merely indicates the place brought into relationship with the verb, thus the many [prepositions](https://bliptext.com/articles/prepositions) used in English are completely unnecessary in the Sesotho language.\nThese are the rules for forming the locative from nouns:\n Most nouns except those of class 1a suffix a low tone -ng.\nThis suffix comes from original Proto-Bantu ***-nî** which results in [vowel raising](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-phonology)\n Non-class 1a nouns ending with a replace it with -eng.\nMohla ('day') is an exception with mohlang, though its plural has a regular locative with mehleng\n Non-class 1a nouns ending with the syllabic nasal suffix -ng as usual, resulting in two consecutive syllabic nasals nng\n Class 1a nouns assume the high tone prefix ho-.\n Nouns indicating persons (except those in class 1a) may use either the prefix or the suffix\n Many nouns, such as place names and nouns indicating times are used without any modification\n \nWhile ho- is used to mean \"at\", its possessive form ha- is used to indicate \"at the place of\"\nLocatives may be formed from pronouns (except the [quantitative](https://bliptext.com/articles/)) by prefixing ho- and its possessive form ha-\nFurthermore, there are [class 16](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), [17](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns), and [18](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) nouns, certain forms with the prefix ko- (an irregular unchanged Proto-Bantu class [17](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) prefix ***ku-**, possibly from the [Serolong](https://bliptext.com/articles/serolong) dialect of [Setswana](https://bliptext.com/articles/setswana)), and some other nouns, all used uninflected as locative adverbs.\nThe adverbs indicating \"here,\" \"there,\" and \"yonder\" are simply class 18 demonstrative pronouns, using class 18 concords (instead of the more usual class 15 concords used by the three locative classes).\nThe relative concord used to form these words does not seem to be weakened (it appears as mo- instead of the o- used with class 3).\n\n## Adverbs of time\nApart from certain locative formations with a temporal implication, many nouns and seemingly radical adverbs may be used as adverbs of time.\nSome use the high tone prefix ka- to form adverbs of time.\nThese nouns include days of the week and months of the year.\nCertain other nouns which accept the suffix -ng may also take this prefix instead.\n\n## Adverbs of manner\nSome adverbs of manner are radical in formation; others are miscellaneous formations from nouns.\nThere are also several ways of forming adverbs of time from other parts of speech by using affixes ha-, the conjunctive le-, ka-, jwale ka- (which is a complete word followed by a prefix), the copulative ke-, etc.).\nAdditionally, in slightly non-standard speech, absolute pronouns may be inflected to form adverbs meaning \"on X's own\" by prefixing the instrumental ka- and the [class 14](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-nouns) noun prefix bo- to the pronoun.\n\n## The interrogative\nThe high tone adverb na may be used to mark or emphasise questions.\nIt, and its variant forms, may appear before, after, or both before and after the complete sentence.\n\n# Ideophones\nAn [ideophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/ideophone) is a word, often [onomatopoeic](https://bliptext.com/articles/onomatopoeic) in nature, which describes the qualities of a predicative, qualificative, or adverb.\nIn the Bantu languages ideophones form a distinct part of speech, which resembles to a certain extent the adverb in function, but unlike which it may (in some languages) be used as a predicate.\nIn Sesotho there are two ways of using ideophones; one involves the use of the verb ho re (\"[verbum dicendi](https://bliptext.com/articles/verbum-dicendi)\") which in this case means \"to express\" instead of the usual \"to say.\"\nThe other way involves simply placing the ideophone after a verb or qualificative with the aim of intensifying its meaning.\nOften when using ideophones in speech, the speaker may accompany the utterance with an action (indeed, with the ideophone mpf \"of being finished completely\" the action — running ones index finger very close in front of the lips — is necessary to pronounce the word properly).\nThe verb -re when used with ideophones may take a direct object (indicated by an [objectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords)).\nIt is this verb which carries all forms of inflexion on behalf of the ideophone.\nIts mood, transitivity, tense, objects, aspect, etc. are all reflected in the verb -re, while the ideophone itself does not in any way change.\nThis illustrates that the ideophone itself is neither transitive nor intransitive, etc., and they are usually translated to English with the construction \"of....\"\nMany Sesotho ideophones are radicals, and many of them are shared by many Bantu languages (such as Sesotho tu! and isiZulu du! / dwi! 'of silence'), though many are formed from other parts of speech.\nIndeed, it is common for a speaker to intensify the meaning of a descriptive word or verb by improvising ideophones and placing them after the word, or by simply leaving the listener to surmise the meaning from the context or accompanying action.\nIdeophones are often created from verbs by simply replacing the final vowel -a of the basic verb with a high toned -i.\nIdeophones, being very emotional in nature, tend to not follow the phonetic rules of the language and may be pronounced in peculiar ways.\nFor exa**mp**le, **the** stress may fall on **the** last or first syllable of all ideophones regardless of length, vowels may be indefinitely leng**the**ned (po... of being cold), syllabic r may be heard ( **the**rr 'of frying'), syllables may have [codas](https://bliptext.com/articles/syllable-coda) ( **the****the**ng**the**ng 'of performing with a stop'), prenasalized consonants may occur ( kga**mp**epe 'of running'), vowels may be [devocalised](https://bliptext.com/articles/voiceless) ( phu** 'of smelling bad'), and various consonants not found in core Sesotho may be used ( **vi... 'of a thrown projectile travelling through **the** air in a hyperbolic path').\nThere is even a case of three syllabic nasals with contrasting tones pronounced with three separated air breaths (not as a very long nasal with an undulating tone) nnng **[** _ ¯ _ **]** ('of refusing outright').\n\n# Conjunctives\nConjunctives introduce or join up sentences.\nSesotho conjunctives may be studied from two aspects: form and function.\nThere are four forms of conjunctives:\nThere are four functions of conjunctives:\n\n## Forms\n \n \n **Conjunctions** are very rare, and many may have originated from simpler forms.\n \n \n **Other parts of speech unchanged** including nouns, pronouns, adverbs, and deficient verbs (used with the [indefinite concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords) e-) may be used as conjunctives.\n \n \n **Inflected forms of conjunctives and other parts of speech** may be used as conjunctives.\nThis may be done with certain words through the use of a handful of prefixes and suffixes.\n \n \n **Compounds** may also be used as conjunctives.\n \n\n## Functions\n \n \n **Non-influencing conjunctives** do not affect the mood of the following predicate.\nThey are co-ordinating and merely form compound sentences.\n \n \n **Conjunctives which govern the indicative mood** are followed by clauses in the indicative mood.\n \n \n **Conjunctives which govern the subjunctive mood** are followed by (subordinate) clauses in the subjunctive mood.\n \n \n **Conjunctives which govern the participial sub-mood** are followed by clauses in the participial sub-mood.\nNote that some of these conjunctives are followed by a pure participial form, while others are followed by a relative construction (since all relative clauses in Sesotho are in the participial sub-mood).\n \n\n# Interjectives\nInterjectives are isolated words or groups of words of an exclamatory nature, used to express emotion, or for the purpose of calling attention, giving commands, or conveying assent or dissent.\nThey may themselves also constitute complete sentences, without the use of predicates.\nIn the Bantu languages interjectives may be divided into three types:\n\n## Interjections\nInterjections have no grammatical or concordial bearing on the sentence; they are merely attached as appendages.\nAs with ideophones, their emotional nature causes some of them to be pronounced in peculiar ways, but these irregularities are not as great as those exhibited by ideophones.\n\n## Vocatives\nVocatives are formed in Sesotho from nouns and 2nd.\nperson pronouns (since all proper vocatives are naturally addressed to \"the second person\").\nNo change in form takes form in the noun.\nA suffix/clitic -towe and its plural equivalent -ting may be used to indicate an insult\nThe adverbial instrumental prefix ka- is used to form interjectives of oath\n\n## Imperatives\nImperatives have neither subjects nor [subjectival concords](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nThey are 2nd.\nperson forms, and have the same force as other interjectives, but, being verbal, they may also take objects and assume extensions.\nThe rules for the formation of the singular imperative are as follows:\n Verbs with more than one syllable are used without any modification\n Most monosyllabic verbs may either suffix -a or prefix e-\n The verbs -re ('say'), -ya ('go'), and -ba only use the prefix\n The imperative of the verb -tla ('come') is tloo\n \nSometimes an [epenthetic](https://bliptext.com/articles/epenthetic) h or y may be inserted between the two as or os for emphasis.\nThe negative may be formed in several ways:\n By prefixing se- to the basic verb and changing the final -a to -e\n By using se- with the infix -ka- with no change in the verb's final vowel\n A commonly used negative, although technically not an interjective (as it contains a subjectival concord) is made by employing the (inflected) [Group IV](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-deficient-verbs) deficient verb -ke in the subjunctive mood (that is, with the \"auxiliary concord\" prefixed to the main verb).\nThe above negative is most probably a contraction of this form (hence the final vowel was not changed due to the contracted concord)\n \nIf the first person is included in the plural subjects, the hortative prefix ha- is used in the subjunctive mood.\nThis is an example of the [cohortative mood](https://bliptext.com/articles/cohortative-mood) (a form of the subjunctive)\nAgain in the subjunctive mood, an object may be specified in all of the above forms by an [objectival concord](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-concords).\nThis is in the subjunctive mood, and so the final vowel of the verb changes to e (in the positive) e (in the negative) when the deficient verb -ke is not used\nExcept for forms employing subjectival concords, the plural is formed by adding the suffix -ng to the verb (or the deficient verb -ke when it is used).\nThis -ng may regularly result in [vowel raising](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-phonology) if the verb ends with the open vowel e\nWhen subjunctive tenses are used \"imperatively\" they are not interjectives since they have subjectival concords (and have more typical verbal tonal patterns), but note that in this case there is a distinction between singular, [dual](https://bliptext.com/articles/dual-grammatical-[number](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-number)), and plural [number](https://bliptext.com/articles/grammatical-number) in the 1st.\nperson.\nIn this case dual number is marked by the hortative prefix ha- and 1st.\nplural subjectival concord, and plural is marked by the prefix, the concord, and the suffix -ng to the verb (or the deficient verb -ke if it is used).\nAll imperatives addressed to the 2nd.\nperson (even if that person is included in a 1st. person plural) may be strengthened by using the [enclitic](https://bliptext.com/articles/sesotho-grammar) -bo.\nThis formative leaves the stress in place, thus resulting in words with stress on the antepenultimate syllable.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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