thobela
The English phrase "good morning" is translated into Sepedi as thobela.
thobela is used as a greeting when seeing someone for the first time in the morning. It is also used to greet someone respectfully at any time of the day.
Meaning: when seeing someone for the first time in the morning (intj)
When do people say it?
When someone greets you with thobela, the standard polite response is to repeat thobela back to them.
Did you know?
- Sepedi is an agglutinative language, meaning that while thobela stands alone here, other greetings are often built by adding prefixes and suffixes to a root word.
- Sepedi belongs to the Sotho-Tswana language family, meaning thobela shares ancestral roots with greetings used in Sesotho and Setswana.
- While 'thobela' is a common greeting, it is often accompanied by a slight bow or a nod of the head to show extra respect to elders.
Examples in context
- Thobela, mme.Good morning, mother.
- Thobela, ntate.Good morning, father.
Example conversation
Kabelo meets Lesedi at the local market early in the morning.
- KabeloThobela, Lesedi.Good morning, Lesedi.
- LesediThobela, Kabelo. O sa phela?Good morning, Kabelo. Are you well?
- KabeloEe, ke sa phela.Yes, I am well.
- LesediKe thabela go go bona.I am happy to see you.
