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)