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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.
hê - 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 hê, 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)
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