Be and Have in Afrikaans

Using the verbs be and have in Afrikaans

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To Be and to Have in Afrikaans

wees - to be
I am ek is I was ek was
you are jy / u is you were jy / u was
he is hy is he was hy was
she is sy is she was sy was
it is dit is it was dit was
we are ons is we were ons was
you are julle is you were julle was
they are hulle is they were hulle was

It is also possible to use was... gewees as the past tense of wees, even though it is a bit redundant.

- to have
I have ek het I had ek het ... gehad
you have jy / u het you had jy / u het ... gehad
he has hy het he had hy het ... gehad
she has sy het she had sy het ... gehad
it has dit het it had dit het ... gehad
we have ons het we had ons het ... gehad
you have julle het you had julle het ... gehad
they have hulle het they had hulle het ... gehad

In speech, is and het are often reduced to 's and 't and fused to the preceding subject pronoun, similar to contractions in English. For example:

ek's = ek is (I'm = I am)
sy't
= sy het (she's = she has)

The past tense included above is the simple past tense or preterite for wees and the present perfect tense for , which is also used for almost every other verb in Afrikaans. The present perfect tense uses the present tense of hê (het) and the past participle of the main verb, which is usually formed by adding the prefix ge- to the infinitive/present/imperative form. The verb hê, however, has an irregular past participle (gehad, not gehê!)

The past participle is placed at the very end of the sentence in Afrikaans:

Ons het 'n wonderlike dag gehad.
We had a wonderful day.
(literally: We have a wonderful day had)


 

 

Afrikaans Vocabulary and Grammar



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