18 March 2016: Sesotho quirks

                Greetings. Greetings, as you probably know by now, are insanely important in Basotho culture. If I don’t greet someone in my village, they will probably get offended and say, “ha u lumelise hobaneng?” Why don’t you greet me? To which I can’t help but think, if it was that important, why didn’t you greet me? Anyway, there are many different variations to greet, including:

           Lumela = Hello (literally believe)

           Khotso = Hello (literally peace)

U phela joang/Ke phela hantle = How are you?/I’m fine (literally You live how?/I live well)

U phetse joang/Ke phetse hantle = How have you lived?/I’ve lived well

Ua phela?/Kea phela = Do you live?/I live

Le kae/Ke teng = Where are you? (plural you is used, even if it is directed toward one person, as it is meant to refer to you as well as your family)/I’m there (as in I’m here or present)

Ho joang?/Ho sharp = How is it?/It’s cool (more informal slang and used by kids a lot)

Ke sefe? = what’s up? (literally it’s what? Super informal slang)

But the cool thing is that you can mix and match the question with the response.

Ho joang?/Kea phela. = How is it?/I live.

U phela joang?/Ke teng. = How do you live?/I’m there.

Another fun quirk is that people will start off with “I’m fine,” then ask you how you are.

                Ke phela hantle, u phela joang? = I’m fine, how are you?

Then your only response is “ke phela hantle,” I’m fine, and you don’t have to ask back because they’ve already told you that they’re fine, and the exchange is over in two speaking turns instead of three. Efficiency! It’s cool because everyone knows what this stock conversation is going to be, so they just get to the point faster. Perhaps this is the only thing Basotho are efficient at…

                Negative questions. People answer negative questions in the affirmative, coming from Sesotho where you literally answer the exact question asked, whereas native English speakers would answer negative questions as if they were asked in the affirmative.

                Example) You haven’t eaten yet?

                Basotho response: If you haven’t eaten, “yes” (Yes, I haven’t eaten)

                                                      If you have eaten, “no” (No, I’ve eaten)

                English response: if you haven’t eaten, “no” (No, I haven’t eaten)

                                                   If you have eaten, “yes” (Yes, I’ve eaten)

This may be terribly confusing to read, as it’s even a little confusing to explain, but I still thought I should elaborate on these unique Sesotho tidbits.