African Languages - Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) Page 1 of 7 African Language Translation Services » Northern Sotho Dictionary: Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) [ General information | Overview | Map | Phrases | Details | Dictionaries | Books | Translation | Radio stations | Links ] General information Name: Sesotho sa Leboa English name: Northern Sotho Other names: North Sotho, Sepedi, Pedi Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary - ... Population: 4,208,980 ISO code: nso M. Mogodi Spoken in the following countries: South Africa (Official), Botswana R108.00 Overview Buy from Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho, or literally, "Sotho of the North") is mostly spoken in the North- kalahari.net Eastern parts of South Africa, generally North-East of Tshwane (Pretoria), in parts of Gauteng, Buy from cna.co.za Limpopo and Mpumalanga (see map ). It is used as a home language by 4,208,980 (9.39 %) of South Africans [2001 census data]. Sesotho sa Leboa is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Sesotho sa Leboa is most closely related to two other languages in the Sotho language group, Southern Sotho and Setswana . These two also encompass a number of dialects, and all three overlap somewhat. The division into these three main "languages" has generally been based more on historical and social factors than linguistic factors. There is a fairly large amount of mutual Northern Sotho intelligibility between all three; a speaker of one of the three languages is usually able to Spellchecker & understand most of what a speaker of one of the others is saying. Hyphenator "Sepedi" or "Sesotho sa Leboa"? => The "official" Northern Sotho language attempts to encompass a collection of approximately 30 related dialects, all generally mutually intelligible, and all related to Sepedi, which specifically is the language of the Bapedi (Pedi people). Historically, what is now the official language has been based primarily on Sepedi, as the missionaries who developed the orthography mainly had contact with the Bapedi. The name "Sepedi" thus came to be regarded, somewhat incorrectly, as being synonymous with "Sesotho sa Leboa", and further confusion arose when the constitution cited "Sepedi" as being the official language. This is not strictly correct, as it would exclude other Northern Sotho dialects from official recognition. Thus when referring to the official language , it is preferable to use the term "Sesotho sa Leboa" or "Northern Sotho". When referring to the language of the Bapedi, the correct term is "Sepedi". Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) language family tree. Geographical distribution http://africanlanguages.com/northern_sotho/ 2011/01/23 African Languages - Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) Page 2 of 7 A map showing the approximate geographical area of South Africa where Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) is spoken. The area is indicated in brown. Northern Sotho phrases Pronunciation notes: "š": š is pronounced as you would pronounce "sh" in English. Note, however, that when "sh" appears in a Sotho word, it is not pronounced as "sh" in English. Rather, it is pronounced more like plain English "s"; the h indicates that there is a slight release of breath following the s. Vowels : There are seven vowel sounds in Sesotho sa Leboa: a, e, ê, i, o, ô and u. Unfortunately for beginners, the circumflexes ("^") on ê and ô are not usually used in writing; they are generally only used in Sesotho sa Leboa learning material and in dictionaries and the like. This means that for "e" and "o", you cannot always derive the pronunciation of a word from the spelling; the pronunciation must just be learned. Vowel: Pronunciation: a Similar to "i" in "kite" e Similar to "ee" in "feet" ê Similar to "a" in "care", or "e" in "bed" i Similar to "i" in "pick" o Similar to "o" in "tool" ô Similar to "oo" in "door" u Similar to "u" in "put" English Northern Sotho Pronunciation Good morning/afternoon/evening (Hello) (To one person) Dumela Dumêla Good morning/afternoon/evening (Hello) (To more than Dumelang Dumêlang one person) Good morning/afternoon/evening (Hello) Thobela Thôbêla How are you? (To one person) O kae? O kae? How are you? (Plural: Said to more than one person, or http://africanlanguages.com/northern_sotho/ 2011/01/23 African Languages - Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) Page 3 of 7 respectful) Le kae? Le kae? I am fine Ke gona Ke gôna We are fine Re gona Re gôna Goodbye ("Stay well!") Šala gabotse! Šala gabotse! Goodbye ("Stay well!") (to more than one person) Šalang gabotse! Šalang gabotse! Goodbye ("Go well!") Sepela gabotse! Sepela gabotse! Sepelang Goodbye ("Go well!") (to more than one person) Sepelang gabotse! gabotse! Thank you Ke a leboga Ke a leboga Yes Ee Êê No Aowa Aowa What is the time? Ke nako mang? Ke nakô mang? I speak Sotho Ke bolela Sesotho Ke bolêla Sesotho Ga ke bolele Ga ke bolêle I can't speak Sotho Sesotho Sesotho How much is this? (i.e. cost) Ke bokae? Ke bokae? May I please have ... Ke kgopela ... Ke kgôpêla ... Days of the week Matšatši a beke Monday Mošupologô Tuesday Labobêdi Wednesday Laboraro Thursday Labonê Friday Labohlano Saturday Mokibêlô Sunday Sôntaga (or: Lamorêna) The numbers 1 to 10, in Sesotho sa Leboa: 1 tee 2 pêdi 3 tharo 4 nnê 5 hlano/tlhano 6 tshela / sela -> selelago / tshelelago 7 šupa 8 seswai 9 senyane 10 lesome What's the difference between "Sesotho" and "Sotho"? You might be wondering why both "Sesotho" and "Sotho" are used, and what the difference is. Grammatically, the word "sesotho" is formed from two parts: "-sotho", which is a so-called "noun stem", and "se-", which is a "noun prefix" that is attached to the stem in order to form the noun "Sesotho". All nouns in Sesotho sa Leboa are formed in this way ( prefix + stem ). Different prefixes are used to form related nouns (i.e. that have the same noun stem). For nouns that relate to a particular ethnic group, the noun stem indicates the ethnic group, and certain prefixes are usually used to generate nouns for things related to that ethnic group, for example: Northern Sotho word Expressed in English http://africanlanguages.com/northern_sotho/ 2011/01/23 African Languages - Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) Page 4 of 7 Sesotho Language of the Sotho people Mosotho A Sotho speaking person Basotho Sotho people (plural of Mosotho) Lesotho Country of the Basotho (in this case, Southern Sotho) The word "Sotho", by itself, is strictly an English word , and is usually used either to refer to the language itself (e.g. "Can you speak Sotho?"), or to the ethnic/language grouping in general (e.g. "He has a Sotho girlfriend"). In Northern Sotho, the word "Sotho" cannot appear by itself, it must take a prefix. However, it is acceptable to use "Sesotho" in English , and it is in fact becoming more common to do so (although in that case "Sesotho" refers only to the Sotho language itself). Noun classes Generally, noun stems can never be used on their own in Northern Sotho: they must be used in their full form, that is, they must be prefixed by a valid prefix. The majority of noun stems may take only two possible prefixes; one indicates the singular form of the noun, and the other indicates plural. For example, the Northern Sotho noun stem for door is "-bati". The noun for "door" takes the singular prefix "le-" to form "lebati", and for "doors" it takes the plural prefix "ma-" to form "mabati". The various prefixes correspond to what are more generally called "noun classes". Nouns thus usually "belong" to two noun classes: one singular, and one plural. Loosely speaking, there are about 14 noun classes in Northern Sotho. This so-called "noun class system" is a prominent characteristic of Northern Sotho, as well as its related languages, namely the so-called Bantu languages. The formation of many grammatical constructions depend on the noun class of the noun being used. If you are learning Northern Sotho, you might find this noun class reference chart handy (note: this is for reference/study purposes, but it assumes you have already studied the grammar). Entering Sesotho sa Leboa characters (š, Š, ê, Ê, ô, Ô) on a computer In Windows, hold in "Alt" and type 0154 on the numeric keypad to make an "š". To make an uppercase "Š", hold in "Alt" and type 0138. On older, terrible versions of Windows (such as Windows 95/98), the character may appear as a small solid block, depending on the font used. However, this is just a display problem, the character should still be encoded correctly. In some cases, selecting a different font may solve this. In Microsoft Word, you can also use the shortcut key combination "Ctrl+Alt+Shift+6+s" (Ctrl+Alt+^+s) for Š, and "Ctrl+Alt+Shift+6, s" (Ctrl+Alt+^, s) for š. Although the circumflexes on the ê and ô characters are generally not used in normal every-day writing of Sesotho sa Leboa, they are usually used in language learning resources, in order to clarify pronunciation. These characters can be entered as follows: ê: Alt+136, Ê: Alt+0202, ô: Alt+147, Ô: Alt+0212. SCAM WARNING: Some companies, whose business includes selling fonts, are implying on their websites (not explicitly stating, but giving the impression) that you need to purchase additional fonts to be able to use Sesotho sa Leboa characters. This is NOT the case. On Windows, you do not need any additional third-party products (such as fonts) to use any of the characters required for Sesotho sa Leboa. Windows Character Map: In general, use "Windows Character Map" to locate non-keyboard characters. This tool, if installed, can be found under "Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools".