Location

In this lesson you will learn about locations and how to talk about location (in front of, nearby etc)

Locatives

locatives "ko/kwa", "mo" and "fa" are used to describe location. "mo" usually means "in, on, inside" while "ko/kwa" usually means "to, from, at".

o kae?	where are you/he/she ?
ke bereka mo ofising	I am working in the office
o nna kwa Broadhurt mo Gaborone	he stays at Broadhurst in Gaborone
Festus o ko Francistown	Festus is in Francistown
Ba kwa tirong	They are at work
Sarah o yo	Sarah is here
Sarah ga a yo	Sarah is not here

Note the use of "ofising" and "tirong" above. In general, whenever a noun is used as a location following "ko/kwa/mo/fa" then -ng is added at the end, unless the noun ends in "a" in which case the "a" is replaced by "-eng".

Location nouns

banka	bankeng	in the bank
sepatela	sepateleng	in the hospital
moraka	morakeng	at the cattle post
kereke	kerekeng	in the church
motse	motseng	in the village
tafole	tafoleng	on the table
kopi	koping	in the cup
ofisi	ofising	in the office
lefifi	lefifing	in the dark/darkness
sephiri	sephiring	in secret/privacy
shopo	shopong	in the shop
toropo	toropong	in the town
tiro	tirong	in the workplace
sekolo	sekolong	in the school
maru	marung	in the clouds

see later lesson getting around for how to say "on top of", "underneath" etc

Where is?

A	John o kae ?	Where is John ?
B	O teng	He is here/roundabouts
A	Bese e* kae ?	Where is the bus ?
B	Bese e teng	The bus is here/there

• "e" is the subject marker for the noun "bese" see noun classes later

Conversation

A	Dumela tsala ya me	Hello my friend
B	Dumela Dineo, o tlhotse jang?	Hello Dineo , how have you spent your day ?
A	Ke tlhotse, wena o kae?	Good, how are you ?
B	Le nna ke teng. O ya kae o itlhaganetse jaana ?	I'm fine as well. Where are you going in such a hurry?
A	Ke ya kwa bankeng, ke batla madi go ya kwa dikopelong ka moso	I'm going to the bank, I need money to go to the music competitions tomorrow
B	Ao! Dikopelo di kae ?	Oh! where are the competitions ?
A	Di kwa Mochudi kwa sekolong sa Molefi	They are in Mochudi at Molefi School
B	Ehe! O tlaa boa leng ?	Right! when will you come back ?
A	Ke akanya gore ke tlaa boa ka moso morago ga dikopelo	I think that I will come back tomorrow after the competitions
B	Mme o tsamaya ka eng ?	How are you getting there
A	Ke tlaa tsamaya ka dibese ka gore ke tshaba dilifiti	I will go by buses because I am afraid of lifts
B	Ruri tsala ya me, le nna ke tshaba dilifti. O tsamaye sentle	Certainly my friend, I am also afraid of lifts
A	Ee, rra tlaa bonana fa ke boa	Yes, we will see each other when I come back

This example uses the verbs - future tense and subject marker "di" for noun "dikopelo" which we will see in the next lesson.