JCE Setswana 11 cheat sheet

Setswana is a Bantu language of the Sotho-Tswana group; its noun-class system (dikgôlô tsa maina) governs agreement on verbs, adjectives, pronouns and concords.

Nouns are organised into classes by prefix pairs, e.g. mo-/ba- (person/people), mo-/me- (tree/trees), le-/ma-, se-/di-, bo-/ma-, and class 9/10 often with no overt prefix or with n-/di-.

The subject concord (leemedi la sediri) must match the noun class of the subject: motho o tsamaya, batho ba tsamaya, setlhare se wa, ditlhare di wa.

The object concord (leemedi la sedirwa) is inserted before the verb stem and also agrees with the noun class: ke a mo bona (I see him), ke a ba bona (I see them).

Verb structure follows the order: subject concord + tense marker + object concord + root + extension + ending, e.g. ke-tla-mo-bon-a (I will see him).

Common tense markers include: -a- (present), -tla- (future), -ne-/-nê- (past/remote past), -tshwere/-sa (progressive), and -ka- (potential/conditional).

The negative is formed with ga- (or a- in some persons) plus the negative ending -e: ga ke tseye (I do not take), ga a tla (he will not come).

Agreement also affects demonstratives and possessives: yo (this, class 1), ba (these, class 2), se (this, class 7), di (these, class 8/10); possessive concords: wa, ba, sa, la, a, tsa, ya, ja, ga, etc.

Vocabulary domains tested at JCE level include family (losi/lapa), animals (diphoofolo), body parts (dikarolo tsa mmele), food (dijo), and school (sekolo) terms.

Idioms (maele) and proverbs (diane) are a standard comprehension and composition element; e.g. 'Mma o tshwara thipa ka fa bogaleng' (a mother protects her child).

Comprehension passages (setshwantsho sa go buisa) require identifying main idea, characters, setting, and inference; answers must be in Setswana, not English.

Composition (kwalo ya setlhogo) is assessed on structure: introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion, plus grammar and vocabulary range.

Letter and message writing follow formal conventions: greeting (Dumela/Dumelang), body, closing (Wa gago / Tsamaya sentle), and date and address placement.

Direct and reported speech (puo e e tlhamaletseng le e e begiwang) change pronouns and tense markers; 'ke a tsamaya' becomes 'o re o a tsamaya' in reporting.

Punctuation and capitalisation: proper nouns and sentence starts use capitals; question mark (?) and comma (,) usage follows standard Setswana orthography.

Reading fluency and oral components assess pronunciation of clicks and aspirated consonants such as kg, tlh, tsh, ph, th, kh.