Adjectives
Adjectives - that tells more about the noun - are created by adding the prefix of a noun to a particular stem. For example to say "the beautiful woman" it would be "mosadi e motle" [mo+sadi e mo+tle].
Here are concords and prefixes for each class as used with adjectives:
Class | Concord | Prefix |
1 | e | mo- |
1a | ba | ba- |
2 | e | mo- |
2a | ba | ba- |
3 | o | mo- |
4 | e | me- |
5 | le | le- |
6 | a | ma- |
7 | se | se- |
8 | tse | - |
9 | e | - |
10 | tse | - |
14 | bo | bo- |
15 | ho | ho- |
Some useful adjective stems:
English | Stem Class 1-7, 14-15 |
Adjective |
bad | -be | mpe |
beautiful | -tle | ntle |
big | -holo | kgolo |
black | -tsho | ntsho |
blue | -tala | tala |
brown (dark) | -sootho | sootho |
brown (light) | -kgunong | kgunong |
dark | -tsho | ntsho |
different | -sele | disele/esele/disele |
female | -tshehadi | tshehadi |
good | -tle | ntle |
green | -tala | tala |
grey | -putswa | putswa |
huge | -tonana | ditonana/tonana/ditonana |
little | -nyane | nyane |
long | -lelele | telele |
male | -tona | tona |
many | -ngata | ngata |
new | -tjha | ntjha |
pink | -pinki | pinki |
red | -fubedu | kgubedu |
round | -tjhitja | tjhitja |
short | -kgutshwanyane | kgutshwanyane |
small | -nyane | nyane |
tall | -lelele | telele |
thick | -tenya | tenya |
thin | -sesane | tshesane |
white | -sweu | tshweu |
yellow | -sehla | tshehla |
Note that traditionally the same
word is used for blue and green.
The loanword "bolou" is sometimes used for "blue".
Examples:
monna e molelele (the tall man)
sefate se setala (the green tree)
ntja e ntsho (the black dog)
ditelevishene tse ntjha (the new television)
© Jako Olivier (2009)