Adjectives

Aim - use adjectives to describe things - the TALL man, the NEW car

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

Adjectival Concords

Class	Example	Adjectival Concord	Soft Adjective	Subject Marker
Class 1	Mosadi	yo	mo-ntle	o
Class 2	Batho	ba	ba-ntle	ba
Class 3	Molomo	o	mo-ntle	o
Class 4	mesese	e	me-ntle	e
Class 5	legodu	le	le-ntle	le
Class 6	makgowa	a	ma-ntle	a
Class 7	Setswana	se	se-ntle	se
Class 8	dimumu	tse	di-ntle	di
Class 9	koloi	e	ntle	e
Class 10	diphologolo	tse	di-ntle	di
Class 11	lorole	lo	lo-ntle	lo
Class 12	dikgong	tse	di-ntle	di
Class 14	borotha	bo	bo-ntle	bo
Class 15	go ithuta	go	go-ntle	go

Note the adjectival concord is the same as the subject prefix except for class 1 o -> yo and subject prefix di -> tse

Comprehension Exercise

Leina la me ke Sara. Ke fana ka Boardman. Ke twsa kwa California mo Amerika. Ke na le dingwaga di le 23. Batsadi ba me ba nna kwa California. Rre ke ngaka ya meno, mme ene ga a bereke o tlhokomela lelapa. Re bararo, ke na le bo-kgaitsadiake ba babedi, yo motona le yo monnye. Nkgonne o bereka mo restaurenteng, o itse go apaya thata. O tlhola a re apeela pizza, tlhapi le dikheiki. Leina la gagwe ke Paul. O na le dingwaga di le 25. Paul o nyetse. Mosadi wa gagwe o bidiwa Kim. Ba ne le ngwana a le mongwe fela, ke mosetsana.