Locatives

a) The locative has to do with the location or place. Therefore an adverb of location or place. The locative is usually indicated in Sesotho by adding -ng as a suffix to nouns. 

For example: 
bese (bus) - beseng (in the bus) 
bethe (bed) - betheng (on the bed) 
buka (book) - bukeng (in the book) 
dikereke (churches) - dikerekeng (to/in the churches) 
kereke (church) - kerekeng (to/in church) 
lebenkele (shop) - lebenkeleng (to/in shop) 
naha (field) - naheng (in the field) 
ntlo (house) - tlung (to/in the house) 
polasi (farm) - polasing (to/on the farm) 
sekolo (school) - sekolong (to/in school) 
setulo (chair) - setulong (on the chair) 
tafole (table) - tafoleng (on the table) 
thaba (mountain) - thabeng (to the mountain) 
toropo (town) - toropong (to/in town) 

b) Any noun can by changed into a locative, refer to point d) for the exceptions. If the noun ends with an -a it changes to -eng. Yet when a noun ends in an -e or -o just -ng is added. 

c) When refering to people the word ho is added before the personal noun: 
Ke ya ho ntate. (I am going to father.) 
Motswalle wa ka o tswile ho malome. (My friend came from uncle.) 

d) Similar to ho is ha. The word ha is used to say "place of", in other words ha ntate would mean "father's place". 
Ke ya ha ntate. (I am going to father's place.) 
Motswalle wa ka o tswile ha malome. (My friend came from uncle's place.) 

d) The -ng is not added to some place names, wind directions, seasons, names for the months of the year, and words such as "monyaku" (door), "kgotla" (court) and "lewatle" (ocean). 
Wind directions: leboya (north), botjhabela (east), bophirimela (west) and borwa (south) 
Seasons: lehlabula (summer), hwetla (fall), mariha (winter), and selemo (spring). 

e) By adding ka before the locative the meaning changes from "in" or "to" to "into". For example: Ke tsamaya lebenkeleng.(I am going to the shop.) and Ke tsamaya ka lebenkeleng. (I am going into the shop.) 

f) Other words that indicate a location that do not take the locative suffix -ng are: 
fatshe - down 
hare - middle 
haufi - nearby 
hodumo - up 
hole - far 
morao - behind 
pele - infront 

Examples of usage: 
Ke ya toropong. (I am going to town.) 
O ngola bukeng. (You are writing in the book.) 
Baithuti ba tsamaya sekolong. (The students are walking to school.) 
Mme o dula setulong. (Mother is sitting on the chair.) 
Nkgono o ya ho ntatemoholo. (Grandmother is going to grandfather.) 
Ngaka e tjhaka ha mokudi. (The doctor is visiting the patient's place.) 
Re rata ho sesa lehlabula. (We like to swim in the summer.) 
Letsatsi le tjhaba botjhabela. (The sun rises in the east.) 
Mosadi o kena ka tlung. (The woman enters into the house.) 
O tshela tee ka koping. (You pour the tea into the cup.) 

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