Afrikaans Nouns

Learn about nouns in Afrikaans

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Afrikaans Nouns

Nouns in Afrikaans are similar to English because they have no gender and no cases. The is translated by die in both the singular and plural while a or an is translated by 'n. There is no plural indefinite article. ('n is pronounced as a schwa, i.e. "uh" as in the last syllable of sofa)

die boek	the book	'n boek	a book
die boeke	the books	boeke	books

Die vrug is duur. The fruit is expensive. 
Die seun sien ‘n meisie. The boy sees a girl. 
Hy gee vir haar ‘n blom. He gives her a flower.

Demonstratives

hierdie boek	this book	daardie boek	that book
hierdie boeke	these books	daardie boeke	those books

The word dié can be used in place of hierdie for this/these.

To indicate possession, se is used after the noun just like 's in English.

Jack se boek Jack’s book
Piet se boek Piet’s book

Plural Nouns in Afrikaans

 

Add an -e or -s to pluralize the noun in Afrikaans. In addition, some nouns add 's if they end in an accentuated a, o, or u.

As a general rule, -e is the most common plural marker. Some words ending in a consonant must double it before adding -e to reflect the short vowel sound, while others that have double vowels must drop one before adding -e.

If the noun ends in -l, -m or -r then adding an -s usually produces the plural, but this is not always the case. There are also some irregular plural forms that need to be memorized.

Afrikaans singular - plural	English singular - plural
vriend - vriende	friend - friends (masc.)
kat - katte	cat - cats
hond - honde	dog - dogs
aap - ape	monkey - monkeys
leeu - leeus	lion - lions
foto - foto's	photo - photos
vrou - vrouens	woman - women
kind - kinders	child - children
musikus - musici	musician - musicians
teoretikus - teoretici	theorist - theorists
aanbod - aanbiedinge	supply - supplies

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