Forms of Greeting
This page has forms of greeting using South African Sesotho (SASe), click here for more on how it is done using the orthography of Lesotho Sesotho (LSe).
SINGULAR
| ENGLISH | SESOTHO |
| Good day | Dumela |
| Good morning | Mmoro |
| Hello | Helele |
| Peace | Kgotso |
| Hi | Hai |
| Good evening | Fonane |
| Hello/Good day
... father mother boy girl Mr ... Mrs ... Miss ... |
Dumela ... ntate mme moshemane ngwanana Monghadi ... Mofumahadi ... Mofumahatsana ... |
| 1) How are you? (Literally: Where are you?) |
1) O kae? |
| 1) I'm fine, and you ? (Literally: I'm here, where are you?) |
1) Ke teng, wena o kae ? |
| 2) How are you? (Literally: How are you living?) |
2) O phela jwang? |
| 2) I'm fine, and you? (Literally: I'm living fine, how are you living?) |
2) Ke phela hantle, wena o phela jwang? |
| Goodbye (to person staying) | Sala hantle. |
| Goodbye (to person leaving) | Tsamaya hantle. |
| Have a safe journey. (Literally: White road) |
Tsela tsweu. |
Take note that it is
more polite to call an older male person ntate (father) and an older
female person mme (mother). For a person of a similar age as the speaker aubuti
(older brother) is used for males and ausi (older sister) for
females. For very old people ntatemoholo (grandfather) and nkgono
(grandmother) is used.
This is a way in which respect is shown. Furthermore it is important to these
words do not necessarily indicate a family relation.
PLURAL
| ENGLISH | SESOTHO |
| Good day | Dumelang |
| Good morning | Mmorong |
| Hello | Helele |
| Peace | Kgotsong |
| Hi | Hai |
| Good evening | Fonaneng |
| Hello/good day ... boys girls everyone men women people ladies and gentlemen |
Dumelang ... bashemane banana ba moreneng banna basadi batho bomme le bontate |
| How are you ? | Le kae ? |
| I'm fine, and you ? | Re teng, le kae ? |
| Goodbye (to people staying) | Salang hantle. |
| Goodbye (to people leaving) | Tsamayang hantle. |
The plural form of greeting is also sometimes used in order to show respect towards a person. For example, one would say dumelang ntate (good day father) instead of what would be perceived to be more grammatically correct dumela ntate (good day father) in order to show respect.
Sesotho.web.za
© J. Olivier
(2009)