Grammar and Language Structures
What this section tests
Setswana grammar questions target the noun-class system, concords, verb forms, tense, negation, and pronouns. Accuracy depends on matching the subject concord to the noun class.
Concepts to master
- Noun classes and prefixes: mo-/ba- (person/people), mo-/me- (tree/trees), le-/ma- (eye/eyes), se-/di- (thing/things), n-/di- (animal/animals), bo- (abstract).
- Subject concords: class 1 o, class 2 ba, class 3 o, class 4 e, class 5 le, class 6 a, class 7 se, class 8 di, class 9 e, class 10 di, class 14 bo.
- Tenses: present o a bona / o bona; past o bone; future o tla bona; perfect o bone with context.
- Negation: ga a bone (present), ga a a bona (past), ga a kitla a bona (future).
- Object concords: ke a mo bona (I see him), ke a ba bona (I see them).
Common traps
- Using the class 1 concord o with a class 9 noun (podi e a fula, not o a fula).
- Forgetting the double a in past negation (ga a a tla).
- Confusing o (you, singular) with o (he/she) - context and concord with a disambiguate.
- Mixing le (with/and) with the class 5 concord le.
Rule of thumb
Find the subject noun, name its class, then choose the concord from that class before touching the verb. Build the sentence in order: subject + concord + tense marker + verb.
Worked example
Bana ___ ithuta Setswana. Subject bana is class 2 (plural of ngwana), so the concord is ba: Bana ba ithuta Setswana. For negation: Bana ga ba ithute Setswana.