Afrikaans grammar

This article describes the grammar of Afrikaans, a language spoken in South Africa and Namibia from the Indo-European, West Germanic, Low Franconian language family, which arose at the southern tip of Africa under the influence of various other languages and language groups.
The article discusses, among other things, the various synonyms for Afrikaans concepts, common language errors, spelling patterns, the compound and non-compound spelling of words and writing and punctuation marks. It also discusses abbreviations and acronyms, the different types of parts of speech that one finds in Afrikaans, gender, plural and diminutive as well as intensive forms, loanwords and language concepts. The article also focuses on the different parts of speech found in the Afrikaans language, syntax and sentence analysis, gives an overview of literary terminology and finally focuses on figurative and rhetorical language and literary stylistic devices.

Standardised Afrikaans

As is the case with many languages, there are regional spoken dialects of Afrikaans, but there is also a standardised written form. Standardised Afrikaans is the form used in dictionaries and most magazines and newspapers written in Afrikaans.

Lexical categories

Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns, e.g. die nuwe skool.
In Afrikaans adjectives can be inflected, e.g. bv. nuut – nuwe; . They can also have degrees of comparison, e.g. nuut; nuwer en nuutste ; newer and newest ). They can also sometimes have intensive forms, such as splinternuut. Intensive forms are always written as one word.
The adjective can be attributive, comingbefore the noun, e.g. die nuwe skool , or predicative, coming after the noun. e.g. die skool is nuut .
Adjectives may, however, be inflected when they precede a noun. As a general rule, polysyllabic adjectives are normally inflected when used as attributive adjectives. Monosyllabic attributive adjectives may or may not be inflected, depending on the historical forms of the adjective.
Inflected adjectives retain the ending "-e" and for some adjectives, word-final consonants that were lost in attributive uses are retained. For example, the final "t" following an sound that deleted in predicative uses in like reg, is retained when the adjective is inflected. A similar phenomenon applies to the apocope of "t" after. For example, the adjective vas becomes vaste when inflected. Conversely, adjectives ending in "-d" or "-g" following a long vowel or diphthong, lose the "-d" and "-g" when inflected. For example, look at the inflected form of:

Predicative	Gloss	Attributive	Notes
goed	good	goeie
laag	low	lae
hoog	high	hoë

In some exceptional cases, after the syncope of the intervocalic consonant, there is also an additional apocope of the inflection marker. For example,
Broadly speaking, the same morphological changes that apply to inflected adjectives also apply in the formation of the plural of nouns. For example, the plural of vraag is vraë.

Adverbs

Adverbs are used with the following:

Verbs, e.g. Die kind werk hard.
Adjectives, e.g. Die boek is besonder mooi.
Counting words: e.g Daar was ongeveer twintig deelnemers.
Other adverbs, e.g. ''Refentse sing besonder mooi.''

Articles

No grammatical case distinction exists for nouns, adjectives and articles.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions join words and sentences together, e.g. Hulle werk soggens en saans. '' Dit is koud, want dit is winter.''

Types of conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions connect sentences without changing the word order after the conjunction from a regular sentence, e.g. Hy is moeg, want hy leer hard.
Subordinating conjunctions bring about a change in the word order after the conjunction, e.g. ''Sy rus, omdat sy moeg is''

Interjections

These typically express feelings, e.g. Siestog, is jy siek? '' Eina, jy trap op my voet!''

Nouns

Nouns can be used with "‘a" and "the" and can have plural and diminutive forms.

Classification

Proper noun is the name of a person or place or object and is written with a capital letter, e.g. Thuli, Pretoria.
Common nouns can be plural or sometimes have a gender.
Abstract nouns indicates concepts that cannot be touched, e.g. liefde, haat.
Collective nouns: indicates a collection, e.g. n swerm voëls or n skool visse.
Uncountable nouns indicate something that cannot be counted, e.g. goud, sand, water, suiker.
Measuring nouns are used with nouns to indicate quantity, e.g. 'n emmer sand, 'n koppie melk.

Nouns in Afrikaans have no inflectional case system, and do not have grammatical gender. However, there is a distinction between the singular and plural forms of nouns. The most common plural marker is the suffix "-e", but several common nouns form their plural instead by adding a final "-s". A number of common nouns have irregular plurals:

English	Afrikaans	Dutch
child, children	kind, kinders	kind, kinderen
woman, women	vrou, vroue	vrouw, vrouwen
shirt, shirts	hemp, hemde	hemd, hemden

Numbers

Afrikaans has both cardinal numbers denoting quantity and ordinal numerals denoting the order of an item in a sequence.
Cardinal numbers:

Definite cardinal number: Daar was tweehonderd gaste.
Indefinite cardinal number: Daar was baie toeskouers.

Ordinal numbers:

Definite ordinal number: Die tweede klaskamer is gesluit.
Indefinite ordinal number: ''Die middelste vertrek is die personeelkamer.''

Prepositions

Prepositions are used to express a relationship between things.

Free prepositions: These are freely interchangeable, e.g. Die kleuter sit op/onder/by/langs die stoel.
Fixed prepositions: Only certain words can be used in these fixed expressions, e.g. Die skelm is op heter daad betrap. ''Ek is besig met my werk.''

Pronouns

These can take the place of nouns.

Personal pronouns replace the noun. e.g. Hy doen sy werk.
Deictic pronouns are often found with natural phenomena, e.g. Dit reën. '' Daar was eendag 'n liewe heksie.
Possessive pronouns indicate possession, e.g. Ek lees jou boek. Myne is weg.
Interrogative pronouns form questions: Wie is daar? .
Relative pronouns further describe the noun, e.g. Die stoel waarop ek sit, is hard.
Indefinite pronouns do not refer to anyone or anything specific, e.g. Iemand het die deur gesluit..
Reciprocal pronouns indicate that the person or thing performing and undergoing the action is the same, e.g. Ek vererg my. Hy skaam hom .
Reciprocal pronoun : Hulle help mekaar..

Remnants of the case distinction remain in the pronoun system. For example,
No case distinction is made for the plural pronouns.
There is often no distinction between object and possessive pronouns when used before nouns. For example,
An exception to the previous rule occurs in the third-person singular masculine and neuter forms, where Afrikaans clearly distinguishes between hom and sy. Similarly, the neuter pronoun dit is distinct from the possessive sy. Notably, the pronoun hy can also be emphatically applied to inanimate objects, much like the use of gendered language in English for instance, in the slogan of the Rooibaard hot sauce brand: "Hy brand mooi rooi", referring to the product's intense spiciness. For 3rd person plural pronouns, whereas hulle can also mean their, a variant hul is frequently used to mean "their" so as to differentiate between their and they/them. Similarly, julle when meaning your has a possessive variant jul''.

Verbs

There are different kinds of verbs in Afrikaans.

Independent verbs/main verbs

Can stand alone in a sentence.

Transitive main verb

With the transitive main verb the action of the doer is transferred to the recipient, e.g. Sy doen haar werk. The word doen is the transitive main verb here, because the action of doing is happening to the work. You can test this by asking who and what together with the subject and predicate, e.g. Wat doen sy? The answer is haar werk and that is the object in the sentence.

Intransitive main verb

With the intransitive main verb there is no recipient of the action, e.g. Die kind werk hard. Hence, there is no recipient of the work action.

Particle verbs/separable verbs

Particle verbs/separable verbs can be used as one word or separated in a sentence. E.g. unseparated verb: Jy moet opstaan. Separated:
Jy staan vroeg op; or ''jy het vanoggend vroeg opgestaan''

Linking verbs

They cannot exist independently and are linked to a word or part of a sentence, e.g. Hy lyk vrolik. ''Sy is mooi.'' More examples of inking verbs: is, was, word, lyk, blyk, skyn, klink, heet, bly, voel.

Auxiliary verbs

They cannot act alone in sentences, but must support the main verb.

Auxiliary time verb: het, e.g. Ek het my werk gedoen.
Auxiliary manner verb: kan, kon, wil, wou, sal, sou, moet, moes, mag e.g. Ek wil goed presteer.
Auxiliary form verb: word, is e.g. Die kind word gehelp. / Die kind is gehelp. This is a way to indicate the passive form.

Verb tenses

There are only 3 main verb tenses in Afrikaans.

Present tense - When something is happening now, regularly or is a fact, e.g. Ons skryf toets.
Past tense - For something that has already happened, e.g. Ons het vanoggend toets geskryf
Future tense - Used for something that has yet to happen, e.g. Ons gaan / sal môre toets skryf. The present tense is often also used here, e.g. Ons skryf môre toets..
Historical present tense: The word toe is sometimes used with something that happened in the past, but the verb/s remain in the present tense, e.g. Toe ek gister daar aankom, staan die vreemde man voor my. The simple past tense can also be used in this case.

Verb forms

The infinitive verb form is used after the words te of om te e.g. Dis goed om genoeg te slaap. ''Jy hoef nie tuis te bly nie.
Demonstrative / indicative form: indicates an action in reality and is the usual way used in our times in the passive and active form, e.g. Ek eet 'n appel. 'n Appel word geëet.
Subjunctive: indicates a possibility, probability or wish, e.g. Sy sal seker nog kom. As ek maar beter geluister het! Mag dit baie goed gaan!
Imperative: indicates a request, desire or command, e.g. Was jou hande!
Interrogative: is indicated by a questioning sentence, e.g. Waarom is jy laat? Sal jy my help? ''

Other verb examples

There is no distinction for example between the infinitive and present forms of verbs, with the exception of these two verbs:

infinitive form	present indicative form	English
hê	het	have
wees	is	be

This phenomenon is somewhat akin to English verbs, since infinitives are mostly equivalent to verbs in the simple tense, except in English singular 3rd person forms, in which case an extra -s is added.
In addition, Afrikaans verbs do not conjugate differently depending on the subject. For example,

Afrikaans	Dutch	English
ek is	ik ben	I am
jy/u is	jĳ/u bent	you are
hy/sy/dit is	hĳ/zĳ/het is	he/she/it is
ons is	wĳ zĳn	we are
julle is	jullie zĳn	you are
hulle is	zĳ zĳn	they are

For most verbs, the preterite has been completely replaced by the perfect, or in storytelling by the present tense. The only common exceptions to this are the modal verbs and the verb wees "be".
The following four full verbs also have preterite forms:
Several verbs have irregular perfect forms which are used alongside regular forms, sometimes with different meanings:
The verb baar has two past participles: gebaar and gebore. The former is used in the active voice and the latter in the passive voice. This is akin to Dutch, in which the verb baren has the past participles gebaard and geboren, with a similar distinction. Compare also the distinction between English born and borne.
Modern Afrikaans also lacks a pluperfect. Instead, the pluperfect, like the preterite, is expressed using the perfect.
The perfect is constructed with the auxiliary verb het + past participle, which—except for the verb hê, separable verbs such as reghelp and verbs with beginnings such as "ver-" and "ont-" —is formed regularly by adding the prefix "ge-" to the verb's infinitive/present form. For example,
An object is necessary in this case, otherwise it implies that the subject is broken.
The future tense is in turn indicated using the auxiliary "sal" + infinitive. For example,
The conditional is indicated by the preterite form "sou" + infinitive. For example,
Like other Germanic languages, Afrikaans also has an analytic passive voice that is formed in the present tense by using the auxiliary verb word + past participle, and, in the past tense, by using the auxiliary is + past participle. For example,
Formal written Afrikaans also admits the construction of was gemaak to indicate passive voice in the pluperfect, which in this case corresponds to had been made. The meaning of the sentence can change based on which auxiliary verb is used, e.g. is gemaak implies that something has been made and is still in existence today, whereas was gemaak implies that something had been made, but was destroyed or lost.
The present participle is normally formed with the suffix -ende, but sometimes it is irregular, although this is considered archaic for function verbs. Sometimes there is a spelling change to the root which does not affect the pronunciation
The verb wees uniquely has subjunctive forms, although they are seldom ever used in the present day: sy is the present subjunctive form, and ware is the past subjunctive form.

Morphology

Morphemes

A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this is the distinction, respectively, between free and bound morphemes. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology.

Root

A root is the smallest part of a word that has independent meaning. It is the basic form of the word to which prefixes or suffixes can be added to form complexes.

Stem

Roots are composed of only one morpheme, but stems can be composed of more than one morpheme.

Types of stems in Afrikaans

Derivational: the word consists of a base and at least one prefix or suffix, e.g. ongeluk ; gelukkig. It can also be formed by vowel change, e.g. berede from ry.
Compound: consists of at least two stems without prefix or suffix, e.g. blomtuin, voëlhok.
Inflected: consists of more than one stem and one or more suffixes, e.g. blomtuine ; voëlhokkie .

Affixes

Affixes only occur in compound words, e.g.heldedaad, kinderboek.. Affixes have no meaning value, but only serve to connect words.
Affixes in Afrikaans can:

indicate gender, e.g. onderwyser → onderwyseres
indicate a feeling, e.g. bittere lyding
change the word category, e.g. wapen → ontwapen
indicate a plural or diminutive, e.g. kinders , kindjie
indicate degrees of comparison, e.g. swak → swakker →– swakste
form a profession name, e.g. arbeider
have meaning

Syntax

Punctuation

Diacritics form part of the word and punctuation marks are written between words.

Diacritics

Diacritical marks used in Afrikaans are the diaeresis, hyphen, circumflex, apostrophe as well as other accent marks added to letters. Diacritics are used to indicate the pronunciation of certain letters.

Apostrophe

The apostrophe is used with plural forms and diminutives :

that end in i, o and u, e.g. ma's, foto'tjie, skadu's, Israeli's, leeus or where words end in double vowels, such as komitees
proper nouns that end in e and r's that are not pronounced e.g. Marais's, Du Plessis'tjie
plural forms and diminutives of abbreviations where the letters are pronounced separately, e.g. BMW’s, TV’s
of letters, e.g. a's, m'e, m'etjie
of digits and numbers, e.g. 8's, 21's
it is used where sounds have been omitted, e.g., s'n instead of syne ; g'n instead of ''geen''
Accent marks
The acute accent is only placed on vowels in Afrikaans words to emphasise the word, e.g. néé, móét. It is only placed on the i if it is the only vowel, e.g. wíl, but not on the i in lúi.
The grave accent is only used on four Afrikaans words, namely: nè , dè, hè and appèl
Accent marks are placed on certain words of foreign origin, e.g. cliché, première, ampère, ''Adèle''
Circumflex ◌̂

In Afrikaans the circumflex is used on the vowels o, i, e and u:

when the vowel occurs in an open syllable, the circumflex lengthens the sound, e.g. wêreld, lêer, môre
when e occurs in a closed syllable ending in a single consonant, e.g. skêr, miljoenêr,''sekondêr''
Diaeresis ◌̈

The diaeresis is used with:

two or more vowels that belong to different syllables; here the punctuation mark indicates the beginning of the new syllable, e.g. "reën" = "re-en", "geëis" = "ge-eis", "voëls" = "vo-els".
words where confusion of pronunciation may occur, e.g. sosioëkonomies , koöperasie , mikroörganisme
loanwords with aër, e.g. aërodinamika
plurals of words ending in ee, i, ie, oe or g after any vowel, and the plural ending in –e, e.g. "feë", "knieë", "boë", "ploeë", "vlieë"
Hyphen

A hyphenated word is still one word in Afrikaans.
Hyphens are used:

to make reading easier when vowels are clustered, e.g. "na-aap"
with parts of words of foreign origin, e.g. hidro-elektries
where there may be ambiguity, e.g. bo-sluis versus bosluis
with long compounds to make reading easier, e.g. ontwikkelingspelerspan-afrigting
with compounds with numbers and symbols, abbreviations and acronyms, e.g. BTW-syfers, e-pos
with repeated words, e.g. lag-lag, so-so
with word group compounds, e.g. klem-in-die-kaak, piet-my-vrou
when –hulle is connected to a noun, e.g. Thabo-hulle, ma-hulle
where eks-, nie-, non-, and oud- is used before a proper noun, e.g. oud-Matie note that with oudleerder there is notably no hyphen
with certain proper nouns, e.g. Aliwal-Noord, Pretoria-Oos, Nieu-Seeland
compound ranks, e.g. generaal-majoor
when omitting a part of a word, e.g. sokkerspelers en –afrigters, ''Moot- en Vinkstraat''

Punctuation marks

Punctuation marks make reading easier. Examples of punctuation marks used in Afrikaans are commas, periods / full stops, semicolons, quotation marks, exclamation marks, question marks, colons, parenthesis, and ellipsis.

Period / Full stop

The period is used at the end of a sentence and with abbreviations.

Comma

The comma is used:

between two or more nouns, adjectives or verbs, e.g. Ek het penne, potlode, boeke, 'n liniaal en uitveër in my skooltas.
between two verbs that form separate sentences, e.g. Nadat ons geëet het, het ons gerus.
before or after the name of the person addressed, e.g. Magda, waarom huil jy? ''Wanneer gaan jy huis toe, Ben?
to indicate an interjection, e.g. Mnr. De Wet, hoof van die skool, is baie dinamies.
after an interjection with an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, e.g. Sjoe, dis warm vandag!''
between rand and cent in monetary amounts, e.g. R99,99
Semicolon

The semicolon:

sometimes replaces the conjunctions en, maar and want, e.g. Ek kan nie kom nie; ek is siek.
is used before the conjunctions dus, daarom, gevolglik, nogtans, tog, nietemin and inteendeel, e.g. ''Hy het my diep teleurgestel; nogtans sal ek hom help.''
Colon

The colon is used:

when a series of things are listed, e.g. Bring die volgende saam: jou swemklere, sonbrandmiddel, hoed, rugsak en gemaklike skoene.
before words quoted in direct speech, e.g. Hy sê: “Die busse vertrek 06:00.”
before an explanation, e.g. Onthou altyd: onderwysers gee om vir jou.
in time indications, e.g. 08:15
in references to Bible verses, e.g. Psalm 23:6
Quotation marks

Quotation marks are used:

at the beginning and end of quotations, e.g. “Dit is die maand Oktober/ die mooiste, mooiste maand.”
in direct speech, e.g. ''Hy vra: “Hoe laat is dit?”''
Question mark

The question mark is used after a question, e.g. ''Waar is jy?''

Exclamation mark

The exclamation mark is used after commands, exclamations, wishes and warnings, e.g. As ek net vroeër begin leer het! ''Pasop!''

Parentheses

Parentheses are used to add something to or into a sentence, e.g. ''Hy sal die tiende hier wees.''

Dash

The dash is used as a stylistic device:

before and after a remark that is inserted into the sentence, e.g. Hy sal – soos sy geaardheid is – betyds wees.
at the end of a statement in place of a colon, as well as the words naamlik and byvoorbeeld, e.g. ''Drie leerders is vandag afwesig – Thuli, Agnes en Sarel.''
Ellipsis

The ellipsis consists of only three dots and is used to emphasize something that is dramatic or indicates doubt, e.g. ''Ek moes nooit alleen gegaan het nie...''

Spelling patterns

There are four fundamental principles for Afrikaans spelling or reasons why words are spelled in a certain way:

Many words originate from Dutch and therefore it is traditional to spell certain words with v or f or with y or ei, for example.
Afrikaans is written in Standardised Afrikaans. This is to facilitate understanding for all Afrikaans speakers, regardless of dialect.
Afrikaans is written down according to the principle of similarity. This means that words are not always written down as they sound. For example, even though the Afrikaans word for 'dog' sounds like hont, it is spelled hond, because of the plural, honde. The spelling of the singular and plural may not differ.
If you are in doubt whether to write a word as one word or two, it's safer to write it as one word. The golden rule in Afrikaans is: one concept, one word. E.g. artilleriekolom, not artillerie kolom; rusperwiele, not rusper wiele.

Vowels

''a, e, i, o, u''

Consonants

All the other letters of the alphabet

Diphthongs

Also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. You can feel your mouth changing the sound: ou, oei, ooi, y, ei, eeu, oi, ui, ai, aai
Sounds that look like diphthongs, but are only vowels: ie, oe, eu. Your mouth does not change when you pronounce the sounds. Remember the rhyme; ' die toe deur '. They look like diphthongs, but are vowels.

Open and closed syllables

Open syllables end in a vowel or diphthong, e.g. dro-me, meeu-e.
Closed syllables end in a consonant, e.g. tuin, skool.

Spelling rules

Vowels

Long sounds in closed syllables are written double, such as in boom, skool, muur.
Long sounds in open syllables are written single, e.g. bome, skole, mure.

Consonants

The consonant is doubled when:

It is between a short stressed vowel and another vowel, such as manne, bakke, balle.
The base in the superlative case ends in –s, e.g. snaaksste ;
In compound words where one word ends in –s and the next word begins with –s, e.g. lappop, gronddam.
When words in –s get a derivation, e.g. adresseer, bypassend,

When a short vowel does not carry the main stress, it is not doubled, e.g., huwelike, heerlike,.
In words like seunskool and meisieskoen, only one –s is written, because it is seun+''skool and meisies+skoen''.

The i- and ie-sounds

Words that are loanwords from other languages get –i, e.g. idee, tittel, but those that are not borrowed get –ie, such as mielie, kierie, biete .

Alternate spelling

There are some words that can be spelled in more than one way, such as pawiljoen and pavilion ; tsunami and tsoonami.

Compound words

One concept = one word

Words that are one concept are written as one word in Afrikaans, e.g. Afrikaansonderwyser.
A hyphenated word also counts as one word.
Thus, compounds are written as one word, e.g.

a noun + noun, e.g. skoolkind
a noun + pronoun, e.g. pa-hulle, Naledi-hulle
a noun + preposition, e.g. stroomop, kopaf, bergop
a noun and verb, e.g. perdry, asemskep
a noun + adjective, e.g. kiemvry, vuurvas
an adjective + adjective, e.g. donkergroen, stomverbaas

More rules:

Compounds with an abbreviation, symbol or number as the first part, are written with a hyphen, e.g. B-span, 2016-verkiesing, R100-donasie.
Proper names with compounds can be spelled in different ways, e.g. Klerksdorphospitaal, Klerksdorp-Hospitaal, Klerksdorp-hospitaal, or even Klerksdorp Hospitaal.
Proper names with a number or symbol as the first part, get hyphenated, e.g. 4x4-Toyota
Language names are written as one word, e.g. Standaardafrikaans, Praatafrikaans.
Plant and animal names, e.g. geelslang, blouaap, witstinkhout are written as one word.
Words with -eens, e.g. meteens are also written as one word
Adverbs + toe, e.g. vorentoe, agtertoe, boontoe and ondertoe are written as one word

Non-compound words (NOT written as one word)

Compound language names where the first part is inflected, e.g. Kaapse Afrikaans
Word groups, e.g. op groot skaal, gevange neem
Compounds of adjectives and nouns, e.g. 'n blink plan,'' 'n groen rok
Ordinal numbers in names, e.g. 3e Laan 33ste Straat
Number + the word al, e.g. al twintig kinders.
Compound of a noun + toe, e.g. huis toe, skool toe, dorp toe, Kaap toe''

Numbers

Numbers can be written in a number of different ways, compound or not: drie en twintig OR drie-en-twintig ; twee duisend twee honderd OR ''tweeduisend tweehonderd''

Word order

Afrikaans has a strict word order, described in many South African textbooks using the so-called "STOMPI rule". The name of the rule indicates the order in which the parts of a sentence should appear.

S	v1	T	O	M	P	v2	I
Subject	First verb	Time	Object	Manner	Place	Second verb	Infinitive

Word order in Afrikaans follows broadly the same rules as in Dutch: in main clauses, the finite verb appears in "second position", while subordinate clauses have subject–object–verb order, with the verb at the end of the clause.

Afrikaans	Dutch	English
Hy is siek.	Hĳ is ziek.	He is sick.
Ek weet dat hy siek is.	Ik weet dat hĳ ziek is.	I know that he is sick.

As in Dutch and German, infinitives and past participles appear in final position in main clauses, split from the corresponding auxiliary verb. For example,
Relative clauses usually begin with the pronoun "wat", used both for personal and non-personal antecedents. For example,
Alternatively, a relative clause may begin with a preposition + "wie" when referring to a personal antecedent, or an agglutination between "waar" and a preposition when referring to a non-personal antecedent.

Double negative

A particular feature of Afrikaans is its use of the double negative. For example,
Both French and San origins have been suggested for double negation in Afrikaans. While double negation is still found in Low Franconian dialects in West-Flanders and in some "isolated" villages in the centre of the Netherlands, it takes a different form, which is not found in Afrikaans. The following is an example:

Afrikaans	Dutch	English
Ek wil dit nie doen nie.	Ik wil dit niet doen.	I do not want to do it.

^*Compare with "Ek wil nie dit doen nie", which changes the meaning to "I do not want to do this specific thing." Whereas "Ek wil dit nie doen nie" emphasises the unwillingness to act, "Ek wil nie dit doen nie" emphasises the unwillingness to do the specified action.
The double negative construction has been fully integrated into standard Afrikaans and its proper use follows a set of fairly complex rules as the examples below show:

Afrikaans	Dutch	English
Ek het nie geweet dat hy sou kom nie.	Ik heb niet geweten dat hij zou komen.¹	I did not know that he would be coming
Ek het geweet dat hy nie sou kom nie.	Ik heb geweten dat hĳ niet zou komen.²	I knew that he would not come.
Ek het nie geweet dat hy nie sou kom nie.	Ik heb niet geweten dat hĳ niet zou komen.³	I did not know that he would not come.
Hy sal nie kom nie, want hy is siek.	Hĳ zal niet komen, want hĳ is ziek.⁴	He will not be coming because he is sick.
Dis nie so moeilik om Afrikaans te leer nie.	Het is niet zo moeilĳk om Afrikaans te leren.	It is not so difficult to learn Afrikaans.

The word het in Dutch does not correspond to het in Afrikaans. The het in Dutch means it in English. The Dutch word that corresponds to het in Afrikaans is heb.
Note that in these cases, most Dutch speakers would say instead:

No.	Dutch	English
1	Ik wist niet dat hĳ zou komen.	I knew not that he would come.
2	Ik wist dat hĳ niet zou komen.	I knew that he would not come.
3	Ik wist niet dat hĳ niet zou komen.	I knew not that he would not come.
4	Hĳ komt niet, want hĳ is ziek.	He does not come because he is sick.

A notable exception to this is the use of the negating grammar form that coincides with negating the English present participle. In this case there is only a single negation.

Afrikaans	English
Hy is in die hospitaal, maar hy eet nie.	He is in hospital, but he isn't eating.

Certain words in Afrikaans arise due to grammar. For example, moet nie, which literally means "must not", usually becomes moenie; although one does not have to write or say it like this, virtually all Afrikaans speakers will change the two words to moenie in the same way as do not shifts to don't in English.

Linguistic concepts

Gender, plural and diminutive

Gender

In many cases, gendered words are less significant now, as, for example, a director can be of any gender — male or female. However, there are still some terms in Afrikaans where gender distinctions are maintained, such as:

the feminine form gets a suffix, e.g. danseres, vorstin.
The word differs for different genders, e.g. man – vrou ; seun – dogter ; swaer – skoonsuster
The common word is also used, e.g. hoenderhaan – hoenderhen ; leeumannetjie – leeuwyfie ; bokram – bokooi..

Plural

Most plurals in Afrikaans are formed by adding –e or –s to the singular form. Examples:

The –g is sometimes dropped, e.g. dag – dae ; maag – mae
Words that end in stressed –ie are added with an ë, e.g. knie – knieë
Words ending in –f, get –we, e.g. hof – howe ; sif – siwwe
Words ending in –oog, get –oë, e.g. boog – boë ; oog – oë
Sometimes words can get –e OR –s in the plural, e.g. professor - professors OR professore ; resep - reseppe OR resepte
Homonyms can have different endings depending on their meaning, –e or –s, e.g. hart - harte OR hartens ; motor - motors OR motore
Words ending in –heid get –hede, e.g. skoonheid – skoonhede
Words ending in –kus, can get –kusse OR –ci, e.g. medikus - medikusse OR medici
Words ending in –um, can get –ums or –ia, e.g. museum - museums OR musea ; laboratorium - laboratoriums OR laboratoria
Words ending in –man, can get –ne or –lui, e.g. werksman – werkslui OR werksmanne
SI symbols and measurement designations do not get plurals, e.g. ''twee meter materiaal''

Diminutives

Diminutives can be created in Afrikans in several ways:

Words ending in –d or –t, get –jie, e.g. hondjie, paadjie, saadjie, katjie
Words ending in a diphthong or –ie, get –tjie, e.g. ruitjie, mandjietjie, rusietjie, ooitjie
In words with a short stressed vowel that ends in l, m, n and r, the consonant is doubled and the word gets –etjie, e.g. rammetjie, kannetjie, karretjie, balletjie
Words ending in –ng and a stressed vowel, get –tjie, e.g. ringetjie, dingetjie, leerlingetjie, BUT
Words ending in –ng in an unstressed syllable, get – kie and the –g is dropped, e.g. dorinkie, koninkie, piesankie, rekeninkie
Words ending in –m and preceded by a diphthong or long-pronounced vowel, get –pie, e.g. asempie, duimpie, roompie, kostuumpie
Words ending in i, o, u and a stressed a, get ’tjie, e.g. foto’tjie, skadu’tjie, mini’tjie, ma’tjie
Abbreviations, letters, symbols and numbers get ’tjie, ‘etjie, -‘ie, e.g. a’tjie, m’etjie, TV’tjie, 8’ie, ''9’tjie''

Degrees of comparison

With most adjectives, the degrees of comparison are formed with the help of suffixes. The degrees are:

the stellende trap
the vergrotende trap and
the oortreffende trap

e.g. sag → sagter → sagste ; koud → kouer → koudste ; ''mooi → mooier → mooiste''

Other forms

When the root ends in –s, the –s is doubled, e.g. los → losser → losste
When the root ends in –f, the comparative degree gets –w, e.g. ''dof → dowwer → dofste''

Irregular examples

Multi-syllable adjectives ending on –e, usually get meer and mees, e.g. tevrede → meer tevrede → mees tevrede ; verlate → meer verlate → mees verlate
Some words can get –er and –ste, as well as –mer and mees.
NOTE: Adjectives can NEVER get meer or mees together with –er and –ste, e.g. die mees interessantste is completely wrong.

Intensifiers

When a word is emphasised, an intensifier can be used. Intensifiers can be seen as grammatical expletives.
In Afrikaans the result is written as one word, e.g. bloedrooi, grasgroen, pikswart.
Some words have more than one intensifier, but they don't have the same meaning, e.g. fyn : ragfyn sydrade ; haarfyn beplanning ; piekfyn uitgevat ; papfyn perske.
Also helder : glashelder rivier of argumente ; kristalhelder water ; ''klokhelder stem''

Loanwords

All languages borrow words from other languages, which are then either used as is or slightly changed.
Afrikaans has borrowed many words from Dutch that we understand well; from the Khoi languages, dagga, kwagga ); from Malay-Portuguese, blatjang, piesang, piering, spens ); from African languages, mamba, pasella ); from German, stoel, poedel ); from French, restaurant, plafon ); from Latin ; from Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Persian, Greek and English: gholf, trein, speaker, parlement.

Neologisms/new creations

Neologisms are words that are new to a language, often as a result of new technology, such as internet terms, e.g. e-pos.

Archaisms/old words

Archaic words are no longer commonly used, but still exist in older writings, such as the words for items of use from the past, e.g. Japons.

Contamination

A contamination is when two expressions that mean almost the same thing are used as one word or expression, e.g. betref : aangaan and betref; in pleks van : ''in plaas van + in plek van.''

Tautology

A tautology is the repetition of the same concept in one word, e.g. kabeltou : kabel = tou; brokstuk : ''brok = stuk.''

Pleonasm

A pleonasm is the repetition of the same concept in a phrase using different words e.g. dooie lyk, ronde sirkel. This is considered poor grammar.

Analogy

Analogies are used in the language for the formation of words after the example of words that are related, e.g. hondmak is the intensifier for mak, but the word hond is also used as an intensifier in many other words, which have nothing to do with a tame dog, e.g. hondmoeg, hondsiek.

Polysemy

Polysemy means that words sometimes have many meanings, but they still have something to do with each other. For instance, huis can be the place where you live, it can be the church, it can be a royal house, or it can be used in an idiom, like die huis op horings neem. Another example would be the word skool, which can mean place of instruction, building, you hate or like school, sports teams, etc.

Homonyms

Homomnyms are words that differ in meaning, but have the same pronunciation and spelling. For instance, a haas has two long ears and you have to haas to be on time. Also: food is duur ; something can also duur lang. The stove works with gas ; you are my gas today.

Homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same, but the spelling and meaning differ, e.g. something is as heavy as lood ; the twig has made a new loot. More examples include verys/vereis, vlei/vly, vel/fel, and vier/fier.

Synonyms

A synonym is a word that means the same as another word, e.g. basis/grondslag ; pragtig/lieflik/mooi.

Antonyms

An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word, e.g. aanval/verdedig ; mooi/lelik ; vroeg/laat.

Paronyms

Paronyms are words that are derived from the same root, but the compound and meaning differ. These are also called stem-related words, e.g. We are bewoners of the earth. They are inwoners of the home.
We are getrou to our principles. We vertrou our parents to give us the best.
Reviewers give a kritiese judgment about movies. He is in a kritieke condition after the accident.
Doublets have two forms of the root word that do not have the same meaning, e.g. The old man smokes tabak. You talk twak.
The boom of the saucepan is uneven. The bodem of the swimming pool is scabby.
We like to braai vleis. His poor performance is a thorn in my vlees.

Abbreviations

Traditionally, periods are used with abbreviations. However, there are exceptions.
Some guidelines for abbreviations in Afrikaans:

The first syllable, sometimes plus the first letter of the next syllable is used, e.g. Feb. or Febr.
The first letter of the word, e.g. s. or sometimes the first and last letters, e.g. dt
Word groups are abbreviated by using the initial letters of the words, e.g. d.w.s. ; a.g.v.
Names of institutions or members are abbreviated by using the initial letters, e.g. LP
In abbreviations of names of degrees, diplomas and abbreviations that consist only of capital letters, periods are optional, e.g. MIV or M.I.V.
Only recognized abbreviations are acceptable in writing. You cannot simply use h/d for hierdie or v/d for van die in writing.
Abbreviations are not usually used at the beginning of sentences.
Points are not used with SI symbols. They indicate distance, volume, measure and weight, e.g. 50 kg, 100 m, ''130 km''

Acronyms

An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase.
In Afrikaans acrononyms can be written in uppercase or lowercase, e.g. VIGS or vigs ; SARVU of Sarvu.

Synonyms for concepts

Many of the concepts you will learn in Afrikaans have synonyms. This will be indicated each time. This means you can use any one of the concepts:

Examples of synonyms for concepts

Root word - stem, simplex, infinitive
Prefix – premorpheme, prefix
Suffix – postmorpheme, suffix
Affix – prefix or suffix

Grammatical errors

Grammatical errors can be found in advertisements every day. One of the most horrible is uitmis. This is often used in sentences such as: Moenie uitmis op die geleentheid nie. A much better sentence would be: Moenie die geleentheid laat verbygaan nie.
Some more common grammatical errors:Australiërs live in Australia – NOT Australianers.

Don't use Die mense wie jy moet bedank, but rather Die mense wat jy moet bedank.
Don't use Moet jou nie komkommer nie, but rather Moet jou nie bekommer nie.
Don't use Kom saam my but rather Kom saam met my.
In written language only was is used for the past tense and not is gewees, was gewees or gewees het e.g. Hy was gister siek.
Time is usually written in military time and separated by a colon, e.g. 22:00 or 22h00.

Afrikaans grammar

Standardised Afrikaans

Lexical categories

Adjectives

Adverbs

Articles

Conjunctions

Types of conjunctions

Interjections

Nouns

Classification

Numbers

Prepositions

Pronouns

Verbs

Independent verbs/main verbs

Transitive main verb

Intransitive main verb

Particle verbs/separable verbs

Linking verbs

Auxiliary verbs

Verb tenses

Verb forms

Other verb examples

Morphology

Morphemes

Root

Stem

Types of stems in Afrikaans

Affixes

Syntax

Punctuation

Diacritics

Apostrophe

Accent marks

Circumflex ◌̂

Diaeresis ◌̈

Hyphen

Punctuation marks

Period / Full stop

Comma

Semicolon

Colon

Quotation marks

Question mark

Exclamation mark

Parentheses

Dash

Ellipsis

Spelling patterns

Vowels

Consonants

Diphthongs

Open and closed syllables

Spelling rules

Vowels

Consonants

The i- and ie-sounds

Alternate spelling

Compound words

One concept = one word

Non-compound words (NOT written as one word)

Numbers

Word order

Double negative

Linguistic concepts

Gender, plural and diminutive

Gender

Plural

Diminutives

Degrees of comparison

Other forms

Irregular examples

Intensifiers

Loanwords

Neologisms/new creations

Archaisms/old words

Contamination

Tautology

Pleonasm