Home > Setswana
 | | | |
Learn more about "Setswana"
|
|
|
Tswana language
File:South Africa Tswana speakers proportion map.svg|thumb|Geographical distribution of Setswana in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks Setswana at home.
File:South Africa Tswana speakers density map.svg|thumb|Geographical distribution of Setswana in South Africa: density of Setswana home-language speakers.
Tswana (''Setswana'' or ''Sitswana''), is a Bantu languages|Bantu language written in the Latin alphabet. English is the national and majority language of Botswana, whose people are the Batswana (singular Motswana). Although English is the official language of Botswana, the majority of speakers also understand Setswana. There are also speakers in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. Internationally there are about 4 million speakers. Before South Africa became a multi-racial democracy, the bantustan of Bophuthatswana was set up to cover the Tswana speakers of South Africa.
Tswana is a Bantu languages|Bantu language, belonging to the Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo language family. It is most closely related to two other languages in the Sotho languages|Sotho language group, Sesotho language|Sesotho (Southern Sotho) and Northern Sotho language|Northern Sotho (''Sesotho sa Leboa''). It has also been known as Beetjuans, Chuana (hence Bechuanaland), Coana, Cuana, and Sechuana.
Phonology
Consonants
Tswana has the following consonant inventory.[Tables based on ''The Sound System of Setswana'', University of Botswana 1999 (2001)]
- The close lax vowels and open and tense slightly to provide allophones and in stressed position; eg ''wikt:koloi|koloi'' "wagon".
- The mid vowels can be distinguished from the close lax vowels in writing by use of the circumflex, so is while <ê> is . Unfortunately for the learner, this distinction is not usually maintained in modern writing, except in some dictionaries and learning materials, or if there would otherwise be confusion.
Tone
Tswana is a tonal language, with a distinction between high tone and the more common "null" or low tone. Tone is phonemic, distinguishing between words on a lexical level, as well as having a grammatical function.
Stress
Tswana is a fixed-stress language, with stress always falling on the penultimate syllable of a word.
Syllables must end in a vowel (unless they are syllabic consonants), and there are no diphthongs: thus ''wikt:dia|dia'' "to delay" is bisyllabic ; and ''wikt:dintshi|dintshi'' "eyelashes" is trisyllabic .
Some simple Tswana phrases
- ''Dumela, rra/mma'' - Hello, Sir/Madam.
Formal inquiry after health:
- ''O tsogile jang?''—How are you? (literally, 'how did you awake?').
- ''Ke tsogile sentle, rra/mma. Wena, o tsogile jang?''—I'm well, Sir/Madam. How are you? OR I'm well/okay. How are you?
(Replace ''tsogile'' with ''tlhotse'' for afternoon greetings.)
Informal inquiry after health:
- ''Le kae?''—How are you? (literally translated ''Le kae''? also means ''Where are you''? when referring to more than one person)
- ''Re teng, rra/mma''—We're well, Sir/Madam. (Ke teng, rra/mma for I am well.)
Casual slang:
- ''O a re eng?'' (pronounced wah-reng)—How's it going?
- ''Ga ke re seppe.'' (pronounced hah kay ray seppay)—It goes well.
- ''Eitha'' (pronounced ate-uh)—Hey
- ''Go jwang?'' (pronounced hoe jwang)—what's up?
- ''Mari ke sharp'' (pronounced mare keh shap)—I'm good.
- ''Sharp!'' (pronounced shup)—Bye
Other useful phrases:
- ''Ke a leboga, rra/mma.''—Thank you, Sir/Madam (formal)
- ''Ke itumetse, rra/mma." and "tanki" (slang)—Thanks, Sir/Madam (informal)
- '' Ke _____''—I'm _____.
- ''Leina la me ke _______.''—My name is _____.
- ''Leina la gago ke mang?''—What is your name? (formal)
- ''O mang?''—What's your name? (informal)
- ''Ke tshwerwe ke tlala.''—I'm hungry (literally, ''I'm held by hunger'')
- ''Ke tshwerwe ke lenyora.''—I'm thirsty (literally, ''I'm held by thirst'')
- ''Ke rata ___.''—I like ___.
- ''Ga ke rate___.''—I don't like ___.
- ''Ke batla ___.''—I want ___.
- ''Ga ke batle ____''—I do not want ____
- ''Dijo tse di monate!''—This food is good!
- ''Lekgolo''—One Hundred
- ''A re tsamaye!''—Let's go!
- ''Kokelwana e ko kae?'' —Where is the clinic?
- ''Ke nako mang?''—What time is it?
- ''Ke kopa thuso, tswee-tswee.''—I need help, please.
- ''A nka go thusa?''—May I help you?
- ''A o ya ko ____?''—Are you going to _____?
- ''____ ke eng ka Setswana?''—What is _____ in Setswana?
Farewells:
- ''Robala sentle.''—Sleep well.
- ''Boroko!''—Good night!
- ''Tsamaya sentle.''—Go well (said to the person/group leaving).
- ''Sala sentle''—Stay well (said to the person/group staying).
Food:
- ''Morogo''—Vegetables
- ''Motogo''—Soft Porridge
- ''Bogobe''—Porridge (Pap)
- ''Nama''—Meat
- ''Dinawa''—Beans
Notes
As opposed to the Northern Ndebele language|Northern and Southern Ndebele language|Southern Ndebele languages spoken in Zimbabwe and South Africa, respectively, there are no significant differences between standard Tswana as spoken in South Africa and standard Tswana as spoken in Botswana.
External links
-
- PanAfrican L10n page on Tswana
- African Languages page on Setswana (Tswana)
Software
- Spell checker for OpenOffice.org and Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox web-browser, and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Tswana
- Translate.org.za Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into all the official languages of South Africa including Tswana
- Keyboard with extra Tswana characters
References
Category:Sotho-Tswana languages
Category:Languages of Botswana
Category:Languages of South Africa
Related Images
Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
 |
Welcome to Start Learning Now.
Explore to your heart's content, and we hope you enjoy reading the material we
have assembled for you here! |
 |
| | | | |
Related News
|
|
Further Resources
|
|
Related Resources
search
|
|
