Adjectives
From Setswana
Aim - use adjectives to describe things - the TALL man, the NEW car
Contents
Soft Adjectives
When using these adjectives, add the subject prefix to the start of the adjective.
- -ntle (beautiful) mosadi montle, basadi bantle, le@@ lentle, etc
| -ntle | beautiful |
| -tona | big |
| -kima | fat |
| -sesane | slim |
| -nnye | small/young/little |
| -leele | long/tall |
| -khutshwane | short |
| -ntsi | many/plenty |
| -sweu | white |
| -ntsho | black |
| -tala | blue/green |
| -hibidu | red |
Strong/Hard Adjectives
These adjectives stay the same whatever the noun is.
- monate (nice/enjoyable) @@@ monate, ba@@ monate, le@@ monate, etc
| monate | nice/enjoyable/tasty |
| maswe | ugly/bad |
| turu | expensive |
| chipi | cheap |
| thata | hard/strong/very much |
| motlhofo | weak/lightweight/simple |
| leswe | dirty |
| sekono | clean |
| bokete | hard/heavy |
Use in simple sentences
- nna ke montle - I am beautiful
- mosadi o montle - the woman is beautiful
- Batswana ba bantsi mo Botswana - Batswana are many in Botswana
- Batswana ga ba bantsi mo UK - Batswana are few (not many) in the UK
- mosese o mohibidu - the dress is red (or "the red dress" see below)
More complex sentences
using the adjective in normal sentences requires use of the "adjectival concord", related to the relative construction see later.
- mosadi yo montle o bidiwa Sara - the beautiful woman is called Sarah
here "yo" is the adjectival concord for noun mosadi
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