Afrikaans/Lesson 01

Lesson One: The Basics #1 — Les Een: Die Grondbeginsels #1

Welcome to Afrikaans Lesson One. This course will focus heavily on translation and reading in order to further your knowledge in a shorter span of time. In far later lessons, we will start the lesson with the dialogues, but for now, we shall start with the grammar of the language. The chapter vocabulary section is where one can find the stress markers of words that appear throughout the lesson. Still, if you still need to practice basic Afrikaans pronunciation or need to get familiar with the idea of stress markers, we recommend using the Pronunciation page. This lesson will cover similarities between English and Afrikaans, the use of articles, subject and object pronouns, and infinitive and present tense verbs.

I. Similarities Between English and Afrikaans

As both Afrikaans and English stem from the West Germanic family, obvious similarities exist in syntax, vocabulary and word formation. This fortune allows for Afrikaans to be a simple language for English speakers to grasp.

Spelling Comparison

Apart from direct cognates, spelling patterns can be ascertained too. Though none of these rules are etched in stone and each word should be studied carefully, these commonalities definitely make acquiring certain Afrikaans words much easier. Any word here indicated with a stress marker does not need immediate attention is not necessary, while some without a stress marker will reappear latter in this lesson.

• The English suffix, -tion, often translates to the Afrikaans suffix, -sie.
  • Examples: poˈsisie (position), ˈaksie (action), konˈdisie (condition)
• Some monosyllabic Afrikaans words containing the letter, g often correspond to an English, y. This trend continues with the particularly noticeable Afrikaans adjectival suffix, -ig.
  • 'G' Examples: geel (Yellow), dag (day), weg (way), vlieg (to fly), oog (eye)
  • '-ig' Examples: ˈheilig (holy), ˈsonnig (sunny), ˈysig (icy), ˈbesig (busy)
• Some Afrikaans words beginning with sk-, are akin to English, sh-.
  • Examples: skip (ship), ˈskaduˌwee (shadow), skoen (shoe)
• If there are words that are the same in both languages, an English hard c is usually equivalent to an Afrikaans k with few exceptions:
  • Examples: kamoeˈflage (camouflage), kalaˈmari (calamari)

II. Determiners: Articles

The definite article in English is the, which in Afrikaans, is die.

• "Die man." ('The man.'); "Die kind." ('The child.'); "Die rivier in die woud." ('The river in the forest.')

English's indefinite article, a/an both become ʼn (pronounced as [ə]) in Afrikaans. Whenever a sentence begins with the indefinite article, the spelling rule associated declares that the noun, proper noun or adjective that directly follows must be capitalized.

• "ʼn Vrou." ('A woman.'); "ʼn Tafel." ('A table.'); "ʼn Seun en ʼn meisie." ('A boy and a girl.')

III. Pronouns: Subject and Object

A. Subject Pronouns (Nominative Case)

Person	English			Afrikaans			English			Afrikaans			English			Afrikaans
	Singular						Plural						Formal
1st Pers.	I			ek			we			ons
2nd Pers.	you			jy			you			ˈjulle			you			u
3rd Pers.	he	she	it	hy	sy	dit	they			ˈhulle

Afrikaans, like English, follows a simplistic SVO (Subject - Verb - Object) word order. The subject of a sentence refers to who/what is doing an action.

• I know him. → Ek ken hom.

Though the subject rules are essentially the same as in English, there are two things to note on formality of conversation:

1. When in an informal context, julle and hulle can be shortened to jul and hul.
   • They talk to him. → "Hulle praat met hom." is the same as "Hul praat met hom.", though the latter is more informal. (NOTE: speak/talk to → praat met)
2. The formal, u (pronounced as [œ]), functions like a plural, but refers to both singular and plural. This form is used to show respect and is used toward one's superiors (a boss or teacher, for instance), to a stranger, to older people or to the Christian God. When in reference to the Christian God, it is capitalized as U.

B. Object Pronouns (Oblique Case)

Person	English			Afrikaans			English			Afrikaans			English			Afrikaans
	Singular						Plural						Formal
1st Pers.	me			my			us			ons
2nd Pers.	you			jou			you			ˈjulle			you			u
3rd Pers.	him	her	it	hom	haar	dit	them			ˈhulle

The object of a sentence describes who/what the action is directed towards. Unlike German or Russian, Afrikaans, like English, does not distinguish between the Direct Object (Accusative Case) and Indirect Object (Dative Case). Thus, all objective pronouns remain the same.

• I know him. → Ek ken hom.

It should be noted that every plural object pronoun (including u) is the exact same as its subject form.

• She forgets you. → Sy vergeet u.
• He understands them. → Hy verstaan hulle/hul.

IV. Practicality: Greetings and Phrases

Afrikaans greetings are used in the exact same contexts as English ones, though with more attention to formality. When in an informal context, you might greet someone with a "haai" rather than a "hallo" or a "goeiedag". For instance, goeienaand is used when greeting a person during the evening while goeienag is used when leaving; No different from English.

A small thing to note is that the 'Good [x]' forms below exist as one word when posed as an interjection/greeting (Good afternoon! = Goeiemiddag!), but the form becomes two words when talking about a good part of the day (It was a good afternoon.' = "Dit was ʼn goeie middag.").

English	Afrikaans	Notes
hello	halˈlo
hi	haai
goodbye	totˈsiens	Literally a compound of "tot" ('till') + "sien" ('to see')
good day	ˈgoeieˌdag	A compound of "goed" ('good') + "dag" ('day')
good morning	ˌgoeieˈmôre	A compound of "goed" ('good') + "môre" ('morning', 'morrow')
good afternoon	ˈgoeiemidˌdag	A compound of "goed" ('good') + "middag" ('midday', 'afternoon')
good evening	ˌgoeieˈnaand	A compound of "goed" ('good') + "aand" ('evening'). Note the extra n in goeienaand.
goodnight	ˈgoeieˌnag	A compound of "goed" ('good') + "nag" ('night')
How are you?	Hoe gaan dit (met jou/u/julle)?	Though this phrase can be shortened informally to "Hoe gaan dit?", the phrase in full is "Hoe gaan dit met jou/u/julle?", this dependent on person and formality.
I'm fine	Dit gaan goed (met my)	The phrase is a direct answer to "Hoe gaan dit?", the ending depending on formality again.
My name is...	My naam is...
(many) thanks	(baie) ˈdankie
please	asseˈblief
pleased to meet you	ˈaangeˌname ˈkennis	The phrase is literally translated as "aangenaam" ('pleasant') + "kennis" ('knowledge')

In later lessons, the different given forms in the notes will be expounded on and will make sense to the learner (eg. Why Good becomes Goeie). For now, just learn the forms as given.

V. Verbs: The Infinitive, Present Simple and Present Continuous

The Infinitive

The infinitive, sometimes referred to as the verb's 'dictionary form', is formed in English by adding 'to' before the verb's present participle. The infinitive is the form of a verb without a subject or specific tense.

• to walk, to sleep, to eat.

In Afrikaans, the infinitive form is formed by adding 'om te' before the participle.

• om te loop, om te slaap, om te eet.

The Present Simple and Present Continuous

Fortunately, Afrikaans has extremely simple conjugation. If you look at every present form in every countable person, you will notice that the verb and its participle NEVER change. There is no direct distinction between verb forms of the present simple or present continuous.

• I (am) eat(ing) an apple. → Ek eet ʼn appel.
• I (am) sleep(ing). → Ek slaap.

However, it must be noted that there are literal ways to describe the continuous, and we shall cover it in future lessons. Another thing to know is that there are two very common verbs that deviate completely from the conjugation's common ruleset: "om te wees" ('to be') and "om te hê" ('to het'), which we'll cover in the next lesson.

Person	English	Afrikaans	English	Afrikaans
	Present Simple		Present Continuous
Singular
1st Pers.	I walk	ek loop	I am walking	ek loop
2nd Pers.	you walk	jy/u loop	you are walking	jy/u loop
3rd Pers.	he/she/it walks	hy/sy/dit loop	he/she/it is walking	hy/sy/dit loop
	Present Simple		Present Continuous
Plural
1st Pers.	we walk	ons loop	we are walking	ons loop
2nd Pers.	you walk	julle loop	you are walking	julle loop
3rd Pers.	they walk	hulle loop	they are walking	hulle loop

VI. Chapter Vocabulary

This is the chapter's main vocabulary. By the next chapter, you should well know these words as they are all quite common. Still, one should take note of the example words used in the grammatical explanations and try to keep them in mind as they will appear in the exercises too.

Nouns and Adjectives		Verbs and Adverbs		Conjunctions and Prepositions		Numerals: 0 - 10
English	Afrikaans	English	Afrikaans	English	Afrikaans	English	Afrikaans
apple	ˈappel	to be	om te wees (pres. is)	also	ook	zero	nul
boss	baas	to eat	om te eat	and	en	one	een
boy	seun	to forget	om te verˈgeet	in	in	two	twee
child	kind	to have	om te hê (pres. het)	on	op	three	drie
day	dag	to live; to reside	om te woon			four	vier
forest	woud	to see	om te sien			five	vyf
friend	vriend	to sleep	om te slaap			six	ses
girl	ˈmeisie	to think	om te dink			seven	ˈsewe
icy	ysig	to understand	om te verstaan			eight	agt
man	man	here	hier			nine	ˈnege
mister; sir	meˈneer	no	nee			ten	tien
madam; missus	meˈvrou	yes	ja
night	nag	very; much; many	baie
pretty	mooi	where	waar
river	riˈvier
ship	skip
shoe	skoen
summer	ˈsomer
sunny	ˈsonnig
table	ˈtafel
today	vanˈdag
weather	weer
winter	ˈwinter
woman	vrou

VII. Chapter Dialogues

Almost every lesson, two different dialogues related to the material of the lesson is provided to get the learner familiar with the material at hand. Having reviewed this lesson's notes, you should be able to understand the grammatical structure. If you must look at the vocabulary and its stresses above or at the translation below, do so as sparingly as possible.

Dialogue 1: An Informal Conversation

Sonja	Goeiemôre, Johan!
Johan	Haai, Sonja! Hoe gaan dit?
Sonja	Dit gaan goed, dankie. En met jou?
Johan	Ook goed. Die weer is goed vandag, né?
Sonja	Ja, ek dink so.

Translation
Sonja	Good morning, Johan!
Johan	Hi, Sonja! How are you?
Sonja	I'm fine, thanks. And you?
Johan	Also well. The weather is good today, huh?
Sonja	Yes, I think so.

Dialogue 2: A Formal Conversation

Die Baas	Goeiedag, Johan.
Johan	Goeiemôre, meneer. Hoe gaan dit met u?
Die Baas	Dit gaan goed met my, dankie. Waar is Japie?
Johan	Hy is besig in die winkel.
Die Baas	Baie dankie, Johan. Totsiens.
Johan	Totsiens, meneer.

Translation
The Boss	Good day, Johan.
Johan	Good morning, sir. How are you?
The Boss	I'm fine, thanks. Where is Japie?
Johan	He is busy in the store.
The Boss	Thank you very much, Johan. Goodbye
Johan	Goodbye, sir.

Exercises

Exercise A: Translate into English:

Translate these sentences into English.

• Goeienaand en goeienag.
• Die dag is sonnig.
• Die woud is mooi in die somer.
• My naam is Japie, en hier is my vriend, Valerie.
• Hul werk op ʼn skip.
• Waar is my ander skoen?
• Een, Vyf, Nege, Ses, Sewe, Twee

ANSWER(S)
Good evening and goodnight. The day is sunny. The forest is pretty in the summer. My name is Japie, and here is my friend, Valerie. They work on a ship. Where is my other shoe? One, Five, Nine, Six, Seven, Two

Exercise B: Translate into Afrikaans:

Translate these sentences into Afrikaans.

• Hello, my name is Sally. Pleased to meet you.
• The river is icy in the winter.
• The madam lives here.
• You (plural) eat an apple.
• We are sleeping.
• Hi! Where is the boss?
• You (formal) see him.

ANTWOORD(E)
Hallo, my naam is Sally. Aangename kennis. Die rivier is ysig in die winter. Die mevrou woon hier. Julle eet ʼn appel. Ons slaap. Haai! Waar is die baas? U sien hom.

The Next Lesson

In the next lesson, we shall cover plurals, the past and future tenses, the verbs "om te wees" and "om te hê" and possessive pronouns and determiners. Good luck on your studies!
On to Lesson Two!>>