English→South African Sesotho

Translate English to South African Sesotho like a local.

Sesotho sa Afrika Borwa se utlwahala ka mopeleto wa jw- le mantsoe a alimuweng Senyesemaneng a sebediswang puong ya letsatsi le letsatsi.

474 local dialects

What locals actually say

I’m leaving now.

Ke a tsamaya jwale.

South African Sesotho commonly writes jwale ('now'), whereas Lesotho conventions more often use joale; the a- form keeps the sentence conversational.

Tell him I’ll call later.

Mo jwetse hore ke tla mo letsetsa hamorao.

Jwetse ('tell him') follows the South African jw- spelling, while letsetsa is the everyday verb for making a phone call.

Please send me airtime.

Ke kopa o nthomelle airtime.

Airtime is a familiar South African mobile-phone loanword, and nthomelle uses the applicative -el- to mean 'send it to me'.

Turn left at the traffic light.

Fetohela ka ho le letshehadi ha o fihla robothong.

Robothong is the South African Sesotho locative form of robot, the local word for a traffic light.

I’m having pap and meat tonight.

Bosiung bona ke tla ja papa le nama.

Papa names the maize-meal staple strongly associated with everyday South African food and speech.

My older sister is at home.

Ausi oa ka o moholo o teng hae.

Ausi is a familiar South African Sesotho term for an older sister or a respectfully addressed young woman.

I’m working right now.

Ke duty hona jwale.

Duty is a common South African workplace loanword used in colloquial Sesotho code-switching to mean being on shift or at work.

I’m feeling okay today.

Kajeno ke ikutlwa ke le sharp.

Sharp is South African colloquial speech for feeling fine or being all right, rather than referring to physical sharpness.

Notes like these come with every AIRTranslate translation, so you learn why locals phrase it that way as you go.

South African Sesotho orthography (differs from Lesotho spelling conventions).

Every one of 474 dialects, with voice, camera, a keyboard for any app, and offline packs.