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.

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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