Symbols
58Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Sesotho alphabet
The Southern Sotho alphabet in order, capital and small. C (only in ch) and Š (only in tš) are used in Lesotho's spelling, not in South Africa's; the rest is common to both. There is no V, X or Z.
Apostrophe and quotation marks
Lesotho spelling uses the apostrophe inside words (Ts'ehlanyane, Bo-ntat'a), typed straight or curly. Quotations use the English curly marks.
Where it's spoken
South Africa has the most speakers; in Lesotho almost everyone speaks Sesotho. The rand (R50) and the loti (M50) are written with plain letters.
Khotso, Pula, Nala
Lesotho's motto in Sesotho: peace, rain, prosperity. Khotso is also an everyday greeting and sign-off.
On the map
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The Sesotho alphabet from A to Y
By the Unicode CLDR list, the Southern Sotho alphabet is A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W Y: 22 letters. The 22-letter core list omits C, V, X and Z, though current Sesotho spelling uses these letters in some words; borrowed words may also be respelled to fit Sesotho sounds. Words usually end in a vowel, but a syllabic ng can end a word too; m, n and ng can make a syllable on their own, which is how mme (mother) and ntate (father) get their first beat. Sesotho is a tonal language, but standard spelling does not mark tone, so readers know from context which word is meant.
Most of the sounds English lacks are written with letter pairs and groups. ph, th and kh are p, t and k with a puff of air, never the English f or th; hl is a breathy l, as in hlano (five); tl and tlh join t and that l; sh is the English sh, as in the name of the founder of the Basotho nation, Moshoeshoe; ny and ng are single nasal sounds. G is not the English g but a throaty sound like the ch of Scottish loch, as in gauta (gold). And q is a click made with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, as in ho qala (to begin); Sesotho took its clicks from neighbouring languages. Long vowels are written double, which is why school drills ask for Sesotho words with aa, ee and oo.
Sesotho sa Lesotho: two spellings of one language
Sesotho is written in two official ways. South Africa and Lesotho share the language but not the spelling, so the same word can look different on either side of the border. South African spelling writes Dumela (hello) and dithaba (mountains), Lesotho spelling Lumela and lithaba: before i and u the South African d is an l in Lesotho. South Africa writes w and y where Lesotho writes o and e (Moshweshwe and Moshoeshoe, tsamaya and tsamaea, to go), and kg where Lesotho writes kh, so the word for peace is kgotso in Bloemfontein and khotso in Maseru. Even "you" differs: O phela jwang? and U phela joang? both mean how are you.
Lesotho spelling also needs three characters that the CLDR list leaves out, so they are in the grid too. It writes tš where South Africa writes tsh (Tšepo and Tshepo, hope, a popular name), ch where South Africa writes tjh (chelete and tjhelete, money; Sechaba and Setjhaba, nation), and it uses the apostrophe inside words, as in Ts'ehlanyane National Park and the national anthem Lesotho Fatše La Bo-ntat'a Rona, whose title has both š and an apostrophe. Northern Sotho (Sepedi) uses š as well, but for its own sounds, so a š does not make a Sesotho word Sepedi.
How to type š and the apostrophe on a laptop, Mac and phone
On Windows, hold Alt and type on the number pad: Alt0154 for š and Alt0138 for Š. On a laptop without a number pad, Microsoft Word accepts the Unicode code followed by AltX: type 0161 then AltX for š, 0160 then AltX for Š. The emoji and symbol panel (Windows key period) has it under symbols, or copy š from this page. On a Mac, hold down the s key and pick š from the menu that pops up, or switch to the ABC Extended input source and press OptionV, then s. On iPhone and Android, hold s and slide to š. In HTML the entities are š and Š.
The apostrophe of Ts'ehlanyane is the plain key next to Enter, ' ; phones and word processors often turn it into the curly ’, and both are read the same way. Everything else in the Sesotho alphabet is on any English keyboard. Sesotho quotes with the same curly marks as English, “…” and ‘…’.
Where Southern Sotho is spoken
By CLDR estimates Sesotho has about 7 million speakers: some 4.8 million in South Africa , where it is one of the official languages, and some 2.2 million in Lesotho , almost the whole country, where it is the national language and official alongside English. In South Africa its heartland is the Free State, from Bloemfontein to QwaQwa, and it is spoken all over Gauteng, Soweto included. It is also one of the official languages of Zimbabwe. People call the language Sesotho, the people Basotho (one person is a Mosotho) and the country Lesotho, all from the same root. Money is the rand, written R50, and in Lesotho also the loti (plural maloti), written M50; both are plain letters already in the alphabet.
Southern Sotho belongs to the Sotho-Tswana family of Bantu languages with Northern Sotho (Sepedi) and Tswana (Setswana), and Lozi in Zambia grew out of Sesotho brought north in the 19th century. Zulu and Xhosa are its Nguni neighbours. See the Northern Sotho, Tswana, Lozi, Zulu and Xhosa collections for their letters, and the Lesotho and South Africa collections for flags, food and the other emoji of the two countries. Lesotho's motto is a Sesotho phrase, Khotso, Pula, Nala: peace, rain, prosperity, or .
How to use them
5 situationsClick to copySesotho (Southern Sotho) Alphabet combos
14Worth knowing
- The same Sesotho word can be spelled two official ways: peace is khotso in Lesotho and kgotso in South Africa, hello is Lumela in one and Dumela in the other.
- The 22-letter core set is traditional; current Sesotho spellings also use C, V, X and Z in some words.
- Thomas Mofolo's Chaka, written in Sesotho and published at Morija in 1925, is one of the earliest novels written in an African language.
- Sesotho has a click, written q, as in ho qala (to begin), taken over from its Nguni neighbours.
Questions people ask
7How many letters are in the Sesotho alphabet?
By the Unicode CLDR list, 22: a b d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u w y. Lesotho spelling also uses c (in ch) and š (in tš). Sounds like hl, tlh, ny, ng and kh are written with letter pairs and groups, not separate letters.
How to type š on a laptop?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0154 on the number pad (0138 for Š). Without a number pad, in Word type 0161 then press AltX, open the symbol panel with Windows key period, or copy š from this page. On a Mac, hold the s key and pick š.
What is the difference between Sesotho sa Lesotho and South African Sesotho?
It is one language with two spellings. Lesotho writes Lumela, khotso, Moshoeshoe, Tšepo and chelete; South Africa writes Dumela, kgotso, Moshweshwe, Tshepo and tjhelete. Speakers from both countries understand each other without trouble.
How do you say hi in Sesotho?
Lumela (Dumela in South African spelling) to one person and Lumelang (Dumelang) to several. The next question is usually U phela joang? (O phela jwang?), how are you, and the answer Ke phela hantle, I am well.
Where is Southern Sotho spoken?
In Lesotho, where almost everyone speaks it, and in South Africa, above all the Free State and Gauteng; it is official in both and also in Zimbabwe. CLDR estimates about 7 million speakers.
What is the difference between Northern and Southern Sotho?
They are separate but related languages of the Sotho-Tswana family. Southern Sotho (Sesotho) is spoken in Lesotho and the Free State, Northern Sotho (Sepedi, Sesotho sa Leboa) mainly in Limpopo. Their spelling differs too: Sepedi uses š, ê and ô in its own way and greets elders with Thobela.
Is there a Sesotho flag emoji?
There is no emoji flag for a language. Sesotho speakers use the flag of Lesotho , with its Basotho hat, or of South Africa ; copy both from this page.
