Lesotho Sesotho Nouns & Noun classes

In Sesotho, like many other African languages, the nouns are divided into various noun classes. The noun class determines the subject concord for instance - this is very important in the construction of a sentence. For further reference also see the South African Sesotho (SASe) noun class list - this page lists information using only the Lesotho Sesotho (LSe) orthography.

Class Prefix Subject 
concord		 Example Translation
of example
1 mo- o mosali woman
2 ba- ba basali women
1a - o ntate father
2a bo- ba bo-ntate fathers
3 mo- o mose dress
4 me- e mese dresses
5 le- le leleme tongue
6 ma- a maleme tongues
7 se- se sefate tree
8 li- li lifate trees
9 n- e nku sheep
10 li- li linku sheep
Classes 11, 12 and 13 are mainly used in languages such as isiZulu and isiXhosa
14 bo- bo bohobe bread
15 ho- ho ho tsamaja to walk
16 fa fa fatshe down
17 ho- ho hodimo up
18 mo- o mose abroad

Classes 16, 17 and 18 are called locative classes and they mainly indicated a place or a space.

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© J. Olivier (2009)