Mafoko le Dinae: Vocabulary and Idiomatic Expression
Building vocabulary
Vocabulary questions test synonyms, antonyms, word families and register. Build words in families: from ithuta (learn) come ithutile, ithuto, moithuti, thuto. From bua (speak) come puo, mobui, buiwa. Recognising the root lets you guess unfamiliar forms.
Idioms and proverbs
Setswana is rich in figurative language. Idioms are fixed: go tsaya pelo (to take heart/be patient), go tlhoka pelo (to be impatient), go ja tlhogo (to be stubborn). Proverbs (diane) carry cultural wisdom and often appear in comprehension and composition: Motho ke motho ka batho (a person is a person through others). Learn each proverb with its meaning and a situation where it applies.
Register and politeness
Some words are informal, some honorific. Ntate and mme show respect; rra and mma are variants. Slang should be avoided in formal writing.
Traps
- Choosing a synonym with the wrong register or connotation.
- Treating an idiom literally (e.g. thinking go ja tlhogo means eating a head).
- Confusing near-homographs with different tones or vowel lengths.
- Using a proverb whose meaning does not match the situation.
Worked rule of thumb
For an idiom question, replace the phrase with a plain-language paraphrase and see whether the sentence still makes sense. For a proverb, ask: what behaviour does it praise or warn against? Then match to the option that states that lesson.
Practice habit
Keep a personal notebook of ten new words and two idioms each week, each with an original sentence of your own.