South African Sesotho→English

Translate South African Sesotho to English the way locals mean it.

South African Sesotho speakers often use ordinary phrases as reassurance, polite softeners, or noncommittal replies that a textbook reader would misread word for word.

Going the other way? English to South African Sesotho

474 local dialects

AIRTranslate on iPhone choosing between Sesotho varieties

What locals actually say

Ha ho na taba, o se ke wa tshwenyeha.

It’s okay, don’t worry.

Ha ho na taba literally says that there is no matter, but the full construction is a common reassurance meaning that something is not a problem.

Ke tla bona.

We’ll see.

Ke tla bona literally means “I will see,” but in conversation the future construction often signals that the speaker is postponing a decision or making no firm promise.

Ke kopa o nthuse hle.

Please help me.

Ke kopa literally means “I ask,” but it softens a request, while hle adds an informal please rather than referring to a separate object or action.

Ke hloka tjhelete ya ho palama taxi.

I need money for taxi fare.

The form tjhelete, written with tjh, is characteristic of South African Sesotho orthography and signals the South African spelling tradition.

O ka mpontsha moo rank ya taxi e leng teng?

Can you show me where the taxi rank is?

Rank is a South African English loan used in everyday Sesotho for a public taxi stand, signalling local transport usage.

Ke batla papa le chakalaka.

I want pap and chakalaka.

Papa and chakalaka are South African food terms, with chakalaka especially signalling South African everyday cuisine.

Aus' o re emetse hae.

Sis is waiting for us at home.

Aus' is a clipped colloquial form of ausi, a South African everyday kinship term signalling informal speech.

Ho na le maru a matsho, pula e a tla.

There are dark clouds, and rain is on the way.

Matsho uses tsh rather than the Lesotho spelling tš, signalling South African Sesotho orthography.

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

How South African Sesotho differs

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

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Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way