Possessives

From Setswana

Aim - be able to describe ownership using possessive markers (my/your/our etc).

Possessive expressions are formed using a possessive marker, which depends on the noun class of the thing possessed.

mosadi wa motsomi	the wife of the hunter	(mosadi = class 1)
molomo wa tau	the mouth of the lion	(molomo = class 3)
lee la ntshe	the egg of the ostrich	(lee = class 5)
selepe sa kgosi	the axe of the chief	(selepe = class 7)
ditlhako tsa ngwana	the shoes of the child	(ditlhako = class 8)

The possessive markers are formed by taking the subject marker and adding "a" as follows:

[edit] Possessive Markers

Class 1	Mosadi	o + a	wa
Class 2	Batho	ba + a	ba
Class 3	Molomo	o + a	wa
Class 4	mesese	e + a	ya
Class 5	legodu	le + a	la
Class 6	makgowa	a + a	a
Class 7	Setswana	se + a	sa
Class 8	dimumu	di + a	tsa
Class 9	koloi	e + a	ya
Class 10	diphologolo	di + a	tsa
Class 11	lorole	lo + a	xxx
Class 12	dikgong	di + a	tsa
Class 14	borotha	bo + a	xxxx
Class 15	go ithuta	go + a	xxxx

[edit] Personal Possessive

mine	- me	ngwana wa me	my child
your	- gago	dilepe tsa gago	your x
his/her	- gagwe	baithuti ba gagwe	his/her x
our	- rona	ngwana wa rona	our child
your (plural)	- lona	Ditonki tsa lona	x
their	- bone	ngwana wa bane	thier child

[edit] Possession with a Person's Name

When a name or kinship term is used with a possessive, the word "ga" is added before the name

ngwana wa ga Neo	Neo's child
ke mosese wa ga Nthati	it is Nthati's dress
re bonye dikgomo tsa ga Dikeledi	we saw Dikeledi's cattle
ba badile dibuka tsa ga Shakespeare	they read Shakespeare's books
dinsta tsa gago di bolaile dipodi tsa ga maolme	your dogs have killed my uncle's goats

[edit] Possession question - Whose ?

=== Descriptive Possessives