Afrikaans Grammar Rules for Grade 4 to 7
All the important Afrikaans grammar rules on one page, explained in English, with a right and a wrong example for every rule. Choose your grade to see only your rules.
✓ right ✗ wrong Gr 5+ = from Grade 5
Tenses: het … ge- and sal
- Gr 4+
Present: the verb stays as it is.
✓Ek speel sokker. (I play soccer.)
- Gr 4+
Past tense: het after the subject, and the verb with ge- at the end.
✓Ek het sokker gespeel. (I played soccer.)
✗Ek
speelgister sokker. - Gr 4+
Future tense: sal after the subject, and the verb at the end.
✓Ek sal môre sokker speel. (I will play soccer tomorrow.)
- Gr 4+
is becomes was; het (to have) becomes het … gehad.
✓Ek was siek. Ons het ’n hond gehad. (I was sick. We had a dog.)
- Gr 4+
Verbs starting with be-, ge-, er-, her-, ont-, ver- do not take ge-.
✓Ons het die museum besoek. Sy het dit verduidelik. (We visited the museum.)
✗Ons het die museum
gebesoek. - Gr 5+
Separable verbs take ge- in the middle.
✓opruim → het opgeruim · aanraak → het aangeraak
✗het
geopruim - Gr 5+
The helping verbs in the past: kan → kon, wil → wou, moet → moes, sal → sou.
✓Ek kon nie kom nie. (I could not come.)
The negative: the double nie
- Gr 4+
Afrikaans makes a sentence negative with two nie’s: one after the verb and one at the end.
✓Ek eet nie die appel nie. (I don’t eat the apple.)
✗Ek eet
niedie appel. - Gr 4+
If the verb is the last word, one nie is enough.
✓Hy lag nie. (He doesn’t laugh.)
- Gr 4+
A command: Moenie … nie (don’t).
✓Moenie die stoof aanraak nie! (Don’t touch the stove!)
✗
Moenie die stoof aanraak! - Gr 4+
iemand → niemand · iets → niks · altyd → nooit · oral → nêrens · al → nog nie, still with a nie at the end.
✓Niemand het gekom nie. Ek het nog nie geëet nie. (Nobody came. I have not eaten yet.)
✗
Niemand het gekom. - Gr 6+
In a subordinate clause both nie’s come before the verb at the end.
✓Ek is bly omdat dit nie reën nie. (I am glad because it is not raining.)
Word order: STOMPI
- Gr 4+
The first verb stands second, straight after the subject.
✓Ek gaan môre swem. (I am going to swim tomorrow.)
- Gr 4+
Subject · Time · Object · Manner · Place · Infinitive at the very end.
✓Ek gaan môre (T) die boek (O) vinnig (M) by die biblioteek (P) haal (I). (I am going to fetch the book quickly at the library tomorrow.)
✗Ek gaan die boek by die biblioteek
môrehaal. - Gr 5+
If the sentence starts with a time word, the verb comes straight after it, then the subject.
✓Môre gaan ek swem. (Tomorrow I am going to swim.)
✗Môre
ek gaanswem. - Gr 5+
After en, maar, want, of the word order stays the same.
✓Ek bly binne, want ek is siek. (I stay inside, because I am sick.)
- Gr 5+
After omdat, dat, as, toe, terwyl, sodat, hoewel the verb moves to the end.
✓Ek bly binne omdat ek siek is. (I stay inside because I am sick.)
✗Ek bly binne omdat ek
is siek. - Gr 5+
After daarom and dus the verb comes straight after the conjunction.
✓Dit reën, daarom bly ons binne. (It is raining, so we stay inside.)
✗Dit reën, daarom
ons blybinne.
Pronouns
- Gr 4+
Subject and object: ek → my, hy → hom, sy → haar, ons → ons, hulle → hulle.
✓Hy sien haar. Sy help hom. (He sees her. She helps him.)
✗Ek sien
hy. - Gr 4+
At the end of the sentence: myne, joune, syne, hare, ons s’n, hulle s’n (mine, yours …).
✓Die fiets is myne. Die boek is hare. (The bike is mine.)
✗Die fiets is
my. - Gr 7
wat refers to people and things; wie se shows ownership.
✓die seun wat langs my sit · die meisie wie se fiets weg is (the boy who sits next to me · the girl whose bike is gone)
✗die meisie
wat sefiets weg is
Capital letters and ’n
- Gr 4+
Every sentence and proper noun starts with a capital, also days and months.
✓Ons skryf op Maandag in Junie. (We write on Monday in June.)
✗op
maandaginjunie - Gr 4+
If a sentence starts with ’n, the next word gets the capital.
✓’n Hond blaf. (A dog barks.)
✗
’N hondblaf. - Gr 4+
ek only gets a capital at the start of a sentence (unlike English I).
✓Thabo en ek speel. (Thabo and I play.)
✗Thabo en
Ekspeel. - Gr 4+
Languages and nationalities take capitals.
✓Sy praat Afrikaans en Engels. (She speaks Afrikaans and English.)
Spelling rules
- Gr 4+
A short sound gets a double consonant when the word grows.
✓kat → katte · bus → busse
✗
kate - Gr 4+
A long sound drops one vowel in an open syllable.
✓maan → mane · boom → bome
✗
boome - Gr 4+
The circumflex (^) shows a long, open sound.
✓skêr · wêreld · môre · sê
✗
more - Gr 4+
The diaeresis (¨) starts a new syllable.
✓reën · knieë · geëet
✗
reen - Gr 5+
Numbers from 21 to 99 are written with hyphens.
✓een-en-twintig · nege-en-negentig (twenty-one · ninety-nine)
✗
een en twintig
Plurals
- Gr 4+
Most words take ‑e; words ending in ‑ie, ‑el, ‑er, ‑em take ‑s.
✓boeke · skoene · meisies · tafels · onderwysers
✗
tafele - Gr 4+
Ending in a long vowel: ’s.
✓ma’s · foto’s · video’s
✗
fotos - Gr 4+
The g drops out; f becomes w.
✓dag → dae · vraag → vrae · duif → duiwe · brief → briewe
✗
dage·briefe - Gr 4+
Some take ‑ers or ‑eë.
✓kinders · lammers · knieë
✗
kinde - Gr 5+
In some words the vowel changes.
✓skip → skepe · stad → stede · lid → lede
✗
stads
Diminutives
- Gr 4+
The last sound chooses the ending.
✓boek → boekie · stoel → stoeltjie · hond → hondjie · boom → boompie (little book · little chair · little dog · little tree)
✗
boomtjie - Gr 4+
Short sound + l, m, n, ng, r: ‑etjie; ‑ing: ‑inkie.
✓bal → balletjie · koning → koninkie
✗
baltjie - Gr 4+
The plural of a diminutive just adds ‑s.
✓hondjie → hondjies
Degrees of comparison
- Gr 4+
One thing · two things (‑er) · the most (‑ste).
✓groot – groter – grootste (big – bigger – biggest)
- Gr 4+
Say groter as (bigger than), but so groot soos (as big as).
✓Hy is groter as ek. Sy is so groot soos haar pa. (He is bigger than me. She is as big as her dad.)
✗Hy is groter
soosek. - Gr 4+
Learn the odd ones.
✓goed – beter – beste · baie – meer – meeste · min – minder – minste (good – better – best · many – more – most · few – fewer – fewest)
✗
goeder - Gr 5+
Watch the spelling.
✓hoog → hoër · oud → ouer · nuut → nuwer
✗
hoogger - Gr 5+
Long words take meer and mees.
✓meer fantasties · mees fantasties (more fantastic · most fantastic)
Punctuation
- Gr 4+
Full stop for a statement, question mark for a question, exclamation mark for strong feeling.
✓Waar is my boek? Sjoe!
- Gr 4+
Commas in a list, but no comma before en.
✓Ek eet appels, pere en piesangs. (I eat apples, pears and bananas.)
✗Ek eet appels, pere
,en piesangs. - Gr 4+
An indirect question ends with a full stop.
✓Ma vra of ek klaar is. (Mum asks whether I am done.)
✗Ma vra of ek klaar is
? - Gr 5+
A colon comes before a quotation or a list.
✓Ma sê: “Gaan slaap nou.” (Mum says: “Go to sleep now.”)
Direct and indirect speech
- Gr 5+
Indirect speech: dat + the verb at the end; ek and jy change.
✓Mia sê: “Ek is moeg.” → Mia sê dat sy moeg is. (Mia says that she is tired.)
✗Mia sê dat sy
is moeg. - Gr 5+
A yes/no question becomes of; other questions keep the question word.
✓Ma vra of ek klaar is. Oupa vra hoe laat dit is. (Mum asks if I am done. Grandpa asks what time it is.)
- Gr 6+
A command becomes om … te.
✓“Help my.” → Pa vra my om hom te help. (Dad asks me to help him.)
- Gr 6+
Time words change: vandag → daardie dag, gister → die vorige dag, môre → die volgende dag.
✓Hy sê dat hy die volgende dag sal kom. (He says that he will come the next day.)
Active and passive voice
- Gr 4+
Passive, present: word + deur + verb with ge-.
✓Ma bak die koek. → Die koek word deur Ma gebak. (The cake is baked by Mum.)
- Gr 4+
Passive, past: is + deur + verb with ge-.
✓Ma het die koek gebak. → Die koek is deur Ma gebak. (The cake was baked by Mum.)
- Gr 5+
Passive, future: sal … gebak word.
✓Die koek sal deur Ma gebak word. (The cake will be baked by Mum.)
Compounds, derivatives and abbreviations
- Gr 4+
A compound is written as one word.
✓skoolsak · voetbal · tandeborsel (school bag · soccer · toothbrush)
✗
skool sak - Gr 4+
Intensive forms are also one word.
✓yskoud · pikdonker · doodmoeg (ice-cold · pitch-dark · dead tired)
✗
ys koud - Gr 5+
on- = not · her- = again · ‑loos = without.
✓onmoontlik · herskryf · huisloos (impossible · rewrite · homeless)
- Gr 4+
Abbreviations of words take a full stop; units do not.
✓mnr. · asb. · bv. · 5 km · 2 kg
✗5
km.
Words people mix up
- Gr 4+
toe for one time in the past · wanneer for the future or every time · as for a condition (if).
✓Toe ek gister huis toe kom, het dit gereën. As dit reën, bly ons binne. (When I came home yesterday, it rained. If it rains, we stay inside.)
✗
Wanneerek gister huis toe kom … - Gr 4+
daardie (that) and hierdie (this) in writing, not daai.
✓Daardie hond is groot. (That dog is big.)
✗
Daaihond is groot. - Gr 4+
want and omdat both mean because, but the word order differs.
✓… want ek is siek · … omdat ek siek is
✗… omdat ek
issiek - Gr 4+
moenie is one word; kan nie is two.
✓Ek kan nie kom nie. Moenie hardloop nie. (I can’t come. Don’t run.)
✗Ek
kanniekom nie.
Do you know the rules? Test yourself in the quiz for your grade.
- Choose one topic per evening. Let your child read the rule aloud and then make up a new example.
- The wrong examples are the mistakes children make most often: look for them in your child’s writing.
English Grammar Rules for Grade 4 to 7 · All summaries
Follows CAPS for Grade 4 to 7. Always check your teacher’s notes and textbook too.