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
Strong/Hard Adjectives
These adjectives stay the same whatever the noun is.
- monate (nice/enjoyable) @@@ monate, ba@@ monate, le@@ monate, etc
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
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 tswa 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.
Nnake o bidiwa Rob, o na le dingwaga tse 19. O santse a tsena sekolo kwa University ya California. O dira ngwaga wa bobedi.
Rotlhe re rata Rob thata ka gore re akanya gore ke mosimane yo monnye, gape o botlhale thata. Ke akanya gore ngwaga e, Rob o tlaa nketela. Fa a tla, re tlaa ya kwa Chobe go bone diphologolo. Kwa Chobe go monate ka gore go na le diphologolo, dinonyane le metsi a mantsi.
Nkoko le ntatemogolo ba tlhokafetse. Ke na le rakgadi le malome. Rakgadi o bereka mo shopong. Go a na bana, o nna a le nosi. Fa ke fetsi tiro ya me mono, ke tlaa nna le rakgadi kwa Pensylvania. Malome ene o na le bana ba le babedi. Bo-Ntsalake ba tsena mo High School, ke basetsana botlhe. Ke a ba rata, gape ke eletsa gore le bone ba nketele fa dikolo tsa bone di tswalwa.
Jaanong araba dipotso tse: (now answer these questions:)
- Leina la mokwadi ke mang?
- Dingwaga tsa gagwe di kae?
- O tsaletswe kae?
- Rragwe o dira eng?
- Leina la mogolowe ke mang?
- Rob ke mang?
- Rob ke ngwana wa bokae mo lapeng?
- Botlhe ba rata Rob ka goreng?
- Rob o dira ngwaga wa bokae kwa University?
- Kwa Chobe go monate kagoreng?
- Sara o ikaelela go dira eng fa a fetsa tiro ya gagwe mono?
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