Possessives

From Setswana
Revision as of 04:40, 6 May 2007 by Jacob (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

Aim - be able to describe ownership using possessive markers (my/your/our etc).

Possessive expressions are formed using a possessive marker, which depends on the noun class of the thing possessed.

mosadi wa motsomi the wife of the hunter (mosadi = class 1)
molomo wa tau the mouth of the lion (molomo = class 3)
lee la ntshe the egg of the ostrich (lee = class 5)
selepe sa kgosi the axe of the chief (selepe = class 7)
ditlhako tsa ngwana the shoes of the child (ditlhako = class 8)

The possessive markers are formed by taking the subject marker and adding "a" as follows:

Possessive Markers

Class 1 Mosadi o + a wa
Class 2 Batho ba + a ba
Class 3 Molomo o + a wa
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x
x x x x

Personal Possessive

mine - me ngwana wa me my child
your - gago dilepe tsa gago your x
his/her - gagwe baithuti ba gagwe his/her x
our - rona ngwana wa rona our child
your (plural) - lona Ditonki tsa lona x
their - bone ngwana wa bane thier child

Possession with a Person's Name

Possession question - Whose ?

=== Descriptive Possessives