Taalportaal - the digital language portal

Dutch
Frisian
Saterfrisian
Afrikaans

Show all

Inflection and derivation

quickinfo

In this section, with its focus on a formal description of the morphology of the verbal system, the inflectional and derivational verbal types to be distinguished will serve as the basis of a description of their syntactic and other functions, and usage. As the borderline between inflection and derivation is far from clear (cf. Van Huyssteen 2017:190), no theoretical distinction will be made here.

extra

Also see the discussion on inflection in the morphology section on Taalportaal.

The development of Afrikaans from 17th century Dutch in the context of intense language contact, gave rise to a number of far-reaching changes in the verbal system, more so than in any other area of grammar. This includes the loss of inflection for person and number, the loss of the distinction between “strong” and “weak” verbs, the loss of the distinction between finite and non-finite form (infinitive) form, the loss of the verbal preterite (imperfect or past tense form), and the regularisation of the past participle. However, important traces of almost all of these remain, some of which still play an important part in the verbal system.

It is important to realise that while the remnants of infinitive inflection in Afrikaans still correlate with syntactic functions of the infinitive, such as the copula and auxiliary wees be in om te wees to be, the syntactic infinitive is generally expressed by the uninflected base form of the verb, as in 1a and 1b.

Hulle probeer sing.

they try.PRS sing.INF

They are trying to sing.

Hulle probeer om te sing.

they try.PRS for.COMP PTCL.INF sing.INF

They are trying to sing

As a transitive lexical verb, het has/have has hê as inflected infinitive as in 2a, but as an auxiliary only the form het in all finite and infinitive functions, cf. 2b.

Om iets te hê, moet jy werk.

for.COMP something PTCL.INF have.INF must.AUX.MOD you.2SG work.INF

To have something, you must work.

Dit is belangrik om iets aan die saak te gedoen het.

it is important for.COMP something on the matter PTCL.INF do.PST.PTCP have.AUX

It is important to have done something about the matter.

The following is a brief characterisation of the morphology of the Afrikaans verbal system in particular, followed by a more general inventory of the verbal morphology of Afrikaans. In other sections, phonological alternation in verbs (cf. Phonological stem alternation) as it relates to morphological alternation is briefly discussed, and the functions and usage of verbal types described in more detail, viz. the verbal base form, the preterite, inflected infinitives, past participles, derivations from past participles (cf. departicipial derivations) and present participles

In general, the morphology of the Afrikaans verbal system is characterised by the following:

The Afrikaans finite verb does not inflect for number or person and functions morphologically as an independent verbal base. This is also the form of the verb used as an imperative. A verb stem may be assumed to exist in a number of instances of allomorphy (e.g. skryw- for skryf/skrywe write and in the formation of participles (e.g. geskryf written, skrywende writing) and their further adjectival, nominal and other derivations (cf. phonological stem alternation).
The preterite, also known as the imperfect or past tense is no longer a verbal category in which all verbs of the language are represented, though a small set of highly frequent modal verbs and was was/were for the verb wees be still have preterite forms.
The terms infinitive (cf. Inflected infinitives (INFL-INF)) or non-finite form as such are inappropriate for Afrikaans as there are few marked or inflected forms that correspond to the syntactic functions of the infinitive in languages such as Dutch and German, while deflected verbal base forms may occur in traditionally infinitive contexts in Afrikaans. A distinction is called for between (i) a syntactic or phrasal infinitive, viz. the full infinitive, as in Om briewe te skryf, is maklik To write letters is easy, and the bare infinitive, as in Briewe skryf, is maklik Writing letters is easy(cf. Ponelis 1979:430-431) who refers to these as “long” and “short” infinitives, respectively), and (ii) formal or inflected infinitives, such as the suppletive form wees be, hê have, and a restricted set of expressions where the verb has -e inflection, as in te wete to wit, te doene kry to have to deal with and aan 't werke wees to be working for the verbs weet, doen and werk, respectively.
The past participle is formed by prefixing ge- to the verbal base under certain conditions, e.g. breek break > gebreek
In adjectival (cf. Departicipial derivations) and certain other functions the past participle of a number of verbs may assume an irregular form, e.g. breek break > gebroke or take an -s suffix, e.g. waag dare > gewaagd.
A present participle is derived from the verbal base by suffixing -end(e), e.g. breek break > brekend(e). It is used as an adjective or adverb rather than being part of the verbal system proper.

As the following morphological processes relating to Afrikaans verbs are on the fuzzy borderline between inflection and derivation, no distinction will be made. The syntactic context or usage of these different forms are described below as part of the exposition of each formal category.

Suffixation of -e in lexical pairs (restricted set) of verbal bases, e.g. berg: bêre, laaf: lawe, leef: lewe, skryf: skrywe, sorg: sôre, terg: têre;
suffixation of -e to form inflected infinitives after the particle te (restricted set) as in Dit is te begrype This is understandable, (lit.) to understand, e.g. doen: doene, hoop: hope, maak: make, sien: siene, verstaan: verstane, vertel: vertelle, vind: vinde, weet: wete, wens: wense. Note that the –e suffix in Afrikaans is analagous to the –en suffix in Dutch, and that –e is affixed in addition to –n in the small set of so-called Dutch monosyllabic verbs such as doen, staan and -n reflecting non-standard historical and dialectal developments in Dutch.
suppletive stem replacement employed as expressive variant in the standard variety and as preferred base form in other varieties as in Daar gaat hy! There he goes! e.g. gaan: gaat, staan: staat, slaan: slaat;
suffixation of –end(e) to form present participles (cf. Section Present participle (1)) as in skreeuende menigtes shouting masses, e.g. baklei: bakleiende, draai: draaiende; gaan: gaande, leef: lewende, loop: lopende, skryf: skrywende, staan: staande, vertrou: vertrouende, lê: lêende/liggende (irregular);
prefixation of ge- to form past participles, e.g. werk: gewerk, breek: gebreek, bring: gebring (cf. Section Past participle);
suffixation of -d to past participles to form predicative adjectives (restricted set) as in Daardie toertjie is baie gewaagd That trick is very risky, e.g. beroer: beroerd, seën: geseënd, ontstel: ontsteld, plus suffixation of –e to form attributive adjectives, e.g. gewaagde, beroerde, etc. (cf. Section Departicipial derivations);
suffixation of –te/-de to regular past participles to form attributive adjectives, as in gelapte klere patched clothes e.g. (with -te): gelas: gelaste, gestop: gestopte, gelok: gelokte, gewreek: gewreekte, gestraf: gestrafte, geëet: geëte, gegroet: gegroete; (with –de): gelaaf: gelaafde, verloof: verloofde; opgelig: opgeligde; gemaal: gemaalde, gestem: gestemde; gesing: gesingde, vermaan: vermaande, gelaai: gelaaide, geplooi: geplooide, beweer: beweerde, verloor: verloorde, voortgestu: voortgestude; geabba: geabbade (cf. Section Departicipial derivations);
suppletive stem replacement in past participles to form attributive and/or predicative adjectives (restricted set derived from Dutch strong or irregular past participles) as in gebonde boeke bound books(frombind bind)’, e.g. agtergebly: agtergeblewe, bedink: bedagte, bedrieg: bedroë, gedoen: gedane, gelees: gelese, verkry: verkreë (cf. Section Departicipial derivations);
suffixation of –e to past participles to form attributive adjectives (restricted set derived from Dutch past participles), as in hersiene uitgawe revised edition, e.g. gesien: gesiene, verstaan: verstane (cf. Section Departicipial derivations).

Phonological stem alternation
Verbal base
The preterite
Inflected infinitives
Past participle
Departicipial derivation
Present participle

[+]Phonological stem alternation

As a rule, the verb stem is identical with the verbal base. However, a number of verbs do have non-functional stem alternations, e.g.

Hy skrywe vir haar en sy skryf terug.

he write for her and she write back

He writes to her and she writes back.

Phonological alternations implying underlying verb stems are found between

verbal bases, e.g.leew- [le:v] for leef/lewe, laaw- [la:v] for laaf/lawe, sorg- [sɔrg] for sorg [sɔrx] / sôre [sɔ:rǝ], terg- [tɛrg] for terg [tɛrx] / têre [tɛ:rǝ] (and cf. berg/bêre);
verbal base and inflected infinitive, e.g. vind- [fǝnd] for vind [f ǝ nt] / [fǝndǝ];
verbal base and derived present participle, e.g. leew- [le:v] for leef/lewend(e), blyw- [blǝiv] for bly/blywend(e),leid- [lǝid] for lei/leidend(e), stryd- [strǝid] for stry/strydend(e), liefheb-(?) for liefhê [lifhɛ:] / liefhebbende [lifhɛbǝndǝ] and cf. sê/ (veel)seggende, lê/liggende. Note that no underlying stem need usually be assumed for verbal bases ending in a vowel/diphthong, e.g. baklei/bakleiende, vertrou/vertrouende, draai/draaiende.
verbal base and departicipial adjective, e.g. geew-(?) for gee [xe:] / gegewe [xǝxe:vǝ].

[+]Verbal base

The verbal base – or a concatenation of base forms – is an unmarked verb form occurring in various contexts or associated with various functions (cf. Ponelis 1979:261), e.g. Sy sing / kan sing / bly probeer sing She sings / can sing / keeps trying to sing.

The verbal base or string of base forms expresses the present tense, as in (4a), but may in certain contexts also convey a future tense meaning, as in (4b), or a past tense meaning, particularly as a so-called historical present in narrative context, as in (4c).

As a tense form, the verbal base may express present tense(4a), future tense(4b), and – as historical present – past tense (4c).

Dit reën hard – kyk net daar!

it rain.PRS heavily look.IMP just there

It is raining heavily – just have a look there!

Volgens die weervoorspelling reën dit môre hard.

according.to the weather.forecast rain.PRS it tomorrow heavily

According to the weather forecast it will be raining heavily tomorrow.

Dit reën hard, maar kaptein Griesel het 'n plan.

it rain.PRS hard but.CNJ Captain Griesel have.PRS a plan

It was raining heavily, but Captain Griesel had a plan.

Timeless or habitual action: Verbal base forms are also employed in referring to recurring actions or processes, either stemming from human habit or the laws of nature (cf. De Villiers 1971:20-22).

Dit reën elke somer hier.

it rain.PRS every summer here

It rains here every summer.

Progressive aspect: As the Afrikaans verb is not inflected or otherwise marked for expressing a continued action in the present (cf. English She is working vs She works from home) this may be made explicit by means of a construction such as be + aan die V.INF, in which the infinitive undergoes nominalisation ( NMLZ) (cf. Breed and Van Huyssteen 2014):

Hulle is hard aan die werk.

they be.PRS hard on the work.NMLZ

They are working hard.

Nominalisation: Verb phrases may be used as sentential subjects or objects or prepositional objects, i.e. with a nominal function. In Dutch this is expressed by the bare infinitive with or without the neuter definite article het, as in zingen singing or het zingen the singing. In Afrikaans the base form of the verb is used, without the definite article die, as in (7a), or with die, as in (7b); in the case of the transitive verb hê have and copula wees be, the infinitive is used, as in (7c).

Sy hou van ballades sing.

she love of ballads sing.NMLZ

She loves singing ballads.

By die sing van daardie lied het sy uitgeloop.

at the sing.NMLZ of that song have.AUX she out.walk.PST.PTCP

When that song was being sung, she left.

Aan sy siek wees en probleme hê kom daar nie 'n einde nie.

on his ill be.NMLZ and problems have.NMLZ come there no end PTCL.NEG

There is no end to his illnesses and problems.

The imperative is generally expressed by the verbal base in sentence initial position, followed optionally by the sentential subject. This may be a 2nd person personal pronoun or a title used as indirect form of address:

Bring (jy, julle, u, Tannie) asseblief nou die borde!

bring you.2SG you.2PL you.HON Aunt please now the plates

Please bring the plates now.’ or ‘Will you/Aunt please bring the plates now?

In the negative, i.e. as prohibition, etc., the verbal base is not employed as imperative, but is extended by the modal verb moet must, which is syntactically adapted to the imperative function. If moet is juxtaposed to nie not as first negative, moet and nie are typically contracted to moenie

En moenie jy dit drink nie, sê hy.

and must=not you it drink PTC.NEG say he

And you mustn’t drink it, he says.

C. Marnewick: Van Buuren, 2012, 26

An alternative imperative construction, with sentence-final verbal base, is also used, though perhaps more frequently in Dutch than in Afrikaans. For ‘be’ and ‘have’ the inflected forms are used (wees and hê, respectively), as in (10f) and (10g); depending on the context (initial or final), these forms may be looked upon as imperatives and infinitives, respectively. The sentence-final type is in essence an elliptical construction with mitigating illocutional force, in contrast to the standard verb first imperative which may introduce a proposition of any length. In each example verb-initial and verb-final directives are compared.

Ruim alles op! – Alles opruim, hoor!

clear.IMP everything up everything up.clear.INF hear.IMP

Clear away everything, hey!

Staan vroeg op! – Vroeg opstaan, nè!

stand.IMP early up early up.stand.INF PTCL

Rise early (hey)!’ ‘Rise early, OK?!

Kom môre weer! – ? Môre weer kom, hoor!

come.IMP tomorrow again tomorrow again come.INF hear.IMP

Come again tomorrow (hey)!

Bring jou rekenaar saam! – ? Jou rekenaar saambring, nè!

bring.IMP your computer with your computer with.bring.INF PTCL

Bring along your computer!’ ‘Bring along your computer, OK?

Wys die mense die huis! – *Die mense die huis wys!

show.IMP the people the house the people the house show.INF

Show the people the house!

Wees versigtig! – Versigtig wees, hoor!

be.IMP careful careful be.INF hear.IMP

Be careful!’ ‘Be careful, hey!

?Hê pret! – Pret hê, nè!

have.IMP fun – fun have.INF PTCL

Have fun! – Have fun, hey!

Exclamations may be verb-initial or verb-final, e.g.

Slaap / werk / sing, etc. lekker!

sleep.IMP work.IMP sing.IMP nicely

Sleep / work / sing well!’

Lekker slaap / sing /werk!

well sleep.INF sing.INF work.INF

Sleep / work / sing well!

The set phrases Mooi loop! Go well! and Mooi bly! Keep well! are usually verb-final:

Mooi loop! Mooi bly!

well go.INF well stay.INF

Go well! Keep well!

[+]The preterite

For a small group of verbs – mainly modal verbs – preterite variants are used. Thus was was/were is frequently employed for the verb ‘be’, as is sou for sal shall,will, wou for wil want to, moes for moet must, have to and kon for kan can, be able to’. Less frequent is dog/dag for dink ‘think’ (often in the meaning ‘think mistakenly’), while wis for weet know and mog for mag may are becoming obsolete, and had for (het have, has) as transitive verb is restricted to literary usage (and not used as auxiliary) (cf. Ponelis 1979:191), e.g.

Maar niemand had die verbondenheid aan dié stukkie Oos-Kaapse kuswêreld wat ons twee had nie.

but.CNJ no.one have.PRT the bond to this piece.DIM Eastern-Cape coast.world that.REL we two have.PRT PTCL.NEG

But no one had the connection with this little piece of the Eastern Cape coastal area the two of us had.

M. Bakkes: Littekens, 2005, 7

Modal preterites may express past tense or have modal functions, and are employed in finite as well as in non-finite syntactic contexts. The preterite form of modals may alternate with periphrastic constructions (cf. (14a) and (14b)), particularly is certain varieties of the language. (Cf. section on subjunctive.)

Sy kon vroeër sing. – Sy kan vroeër gesing het.

she can.AUX.MOD.PRT earlier sing.INF – she can.AUX.MOD.PRS earlier sing.PST.PTCP have.AUX

She was able to sing before.

Hy moes die skottelgoed was. – Hy moet die skottelgoed gewas het.

he must.AUX.MOD.PRT the dishes wash.INF – he must.AUX.MOD.PRS the dishes wash.PST.PTCP have.AUX

‘He had to wash the dishes. – He had to/must have wash(ed) the dishes.’

Modal preterites are also employed in functions reserved for infinitives in equivalent Dutch constructions, e.g. (i) as preterite infinitives, (ii) in preterite agreement (creating cohesion between verbs), and (iii) in realis constructions.The use of modal preterites in a variety of constructions is subsumed by Ponelis (1979:250-272) under the term preteritale assimilasie preterital assimilation.

Preterite infinitives are constructions such as to have sung (vs to sing) in English, te hebben gezongen (vs te zingen) in Dutch and om te gesing het (vs om te sing) in Afrikaans. While these are periphrastic constructions, the past reference may also be achieved by means of inflection. Thus in Old Norse skyldu is the preterite infinitive corresponding to the infinitive skulu shall(cf. Faarlund 2004:51). In Afrikaans, modal preterites may form part of preterite infinitives, as in om te kon sing to have been able to sing as against om te kan sing to be able to sing for the full infinitive. Cf. examples (15a) and (15b).
When a modal preterite is followed by another modal preterite instead of the verbal base, the preterite that follows may be considered to have undergone preterite agreement, cf. examples (15a), (15c), (15d) and (15e). This process may involve more than one modal verb (cf. example (15c)) and is particularly frequent when the modals are followed by a perfect, as in (15d). Preterite agreement may serve to create functional cohesion in verbal strings expressing past tense or an irrealis.

In marked realis constructions consisting of ‘have’ + modal verb + lexical verb (cf. section on Subjunctive), the modal verb is preferably but not exclusively a preterite (cf. examples (15b), (15f) and (15g)).

Om dit te (i) kon doen, sou ek my werk (ii) moes bedank en vryskut gaan.

for.COMP this PTCL.INF can.AUX.MOD.PRT do.INF will.AUX.MOD.PRT I my work must.AUX.MOD.PRT resign.INF and free.lance go.INF

To be able to do that, I would have had to resign from my work and start freelanceing.

D. van Zyl: Slagoffers, 2001, 8

Ons het 'n bietjie van jou hare moes wegskeer (iii) om die snye op jou kop te kon dokter (i)

we have.AUX a little of your hair must.AUX.MOD.PRT away.shave.INF for.COMP the cuts on your head PTCL.INF can.AUX.MOD.PRT treat

We had to shave away some of your hair to be able to treat the cuts on your head.

J. Botha: Miskruier, 2005, 194

Hy is my pa, hy sou iets moes kon (ii) doen. Ek sou by hom kon (ii) gaan bly.

he is my dad he will.AUX.MOD.PRT something must.AUX.MOD.PRT can.AUX.MOD.PRT do.INF I shall.AUX.MOD.PRT by him can.AUX.MOD.PRT go.LINK stay.INF

He is my dad, he would have had to do something. I might go and stay with him.

E. Lötter: Anna, 2004, 49

Hy sou meer aan die saak moes kon (ii) gedoen het.

he shall.AUX.MOD.PRT more on the matter must.AUX.MOD.PRT can.AUX.MOD.PRT do.PST.PTCP have.AUX

He should have been able to do more about the matter.

Jy sou wou (ii) matroos gewees het as jy kon, dink ek.

you will.AUX.MOD.PRT want.to.AUX.MOD.PRT sailor be.PST.PTCP have.AUX if.CNJ you.2SG can.AUX.MOD.PRT think I

You would have wanted to be a sailor if you could, I think.

D. Sleigh: Eilande, 2002, 527

Hier het hy van voor af moes (iii) begin.

here have.AUX he from front off.POSTP must.AUX.MOD.PRT begin.INF

Here he has had to start from the beginning.

J. Miles: Buiteveld, 2003, 217

Ek het min boeke by hom kon (iii) bekostig.

I have.AUX few books by him can.AUX.MOD.PRT afford.INF

I could afford few of his books.

H. Aucamp: In die vroegte, 2003, 114

[+]Inflected infinitives

In this section wees be and hê have will be regarded as infinitives, even though they also function as imperatives (cf. examples (21), (23) and (24) below) and exhortatives (cf. example (25)), and hê possibly as underlying verbal stem (cf. examples (28) and (29)). They will be glossed as inflected infinitives (INFL.INF) to distinguish them from syntactic infinitives.

In certain varieties of Afrikaans ‘have’ is generally rendered as het, and ‘be’ is often rendered as is, to the exclusion of the forms hê and wees. Stell (2010:427) mentions a tendency amongst “Southwestern coloureds” to use het in all infinitive contexts. The prevalence of het instead of hê as infinitive amongst the Griqua was already noted by Rademeyer (1938:64). In what follows, the usage of the forms hê have and wees be will be described as they occur in the standard or written variety of Afrikaans.

Infinitive function: The only formally marked infinitive used in contexts in which an infinitive would be used in Dutch (cf.), is wees be (Dutch zijn/wezen) – wees being the infinitive of the copula as well as the auxiliary. In contrast, hê have (Dutch hebben) is only the infinitive of the transitive verb het have, possess, in Afrikaans, not of the auxiliary – which is also het. As infinitives, the transitive verb hê and the auxiliary het are differentiated as follows:

Om die werk te gedoen het, is nie dieselfde as om dit gedoen te hê nie.

for.COMP the work PTCL.INF do.PST.PTCP have.AUX is not the.same as for.COMP it do.ADJ PTCL.INF have.INF PTCL.NEG

To have done the work is not the same as having the work done.

In the following, hê functions as transitive verb and wees as copula:

Hy wil die werk môre klaar hê; dit moet môre klaar wees.

he want.to.AUX.MOD the work tomorrow finished.ADJ have.INF it must.AUX.MOD tomorrow finished.ADJ be.INF

He wants to have the job finished by tomorrow; it must be finished by tomorrow.

Kind wees en kind hê is twee verskillende dinge.

child be.NMLZ and child have.NMLZ be.PRS two different things

Being a child and having a child are two different matters.

Beeldlesers wil rassisme strafbaar hê.

Beeld.readers want.to.AUX.MOD racism punishable have.INF

Readers of Beeld want racism to be punishable.

Caption in Beeld

In the context of the modal verb wil, wees alternates with word‘become’ as a less dynamic passive auxiliary:

Ek glo nie hulle wil nou gewaarsku wees nie.

I believe not they want.to.AUX.MOD now warn.PST.PTCP be.INF PTCL.NEG

I don’t think they want to be warned now.

P.J. Haasbroek: Vennoot, 2009, 53

... dat hier ook mense woon wat van geweet wil wees

that.COMP here also people live who.REL from know.PST.PTCP want.to.AUX.MOD be.INF

... that there are also people here who want to be known

P. Pieterse: Manaka, 2005, 17

Wees and hê are used in the context of the full infinitiveom ... te for todeur ... te by to, as in

Deur fluks te wees, het hy daarin geslaag om suksesvol te wees.

by hard.working PTCL.INF be.INF have.AUX he PN.in succeed.PST.PTCP for.COMP successful PTCL.INF be.INF

By being hard-working he succeeded in being successful.

Hulle gaan kunstefeeste toe om pret te hê.

they go.PRS art.festivals to.POSTP for.COMP fun PTCL.INF have.INF

They attend art festivals to have fun.

Wees and hê are employed in bare infinitives serving as nominalisations:

Vlieënier wees is sy passie.

pilot be.NMLZ is his passion

Being a pilot is his passion.

Vriende hê maak hom gelukkig.

friends have.NMLZ make him happy

Having friends makes him happy.

and the imperative, with wees – though seldom hê – predominantly in initial position, and the final position preferred for exclamations.

Imperative function: The inflected infinitive wees is used as imperative of the verb ‘be’, both in sentence-initial and sentence-final position. Hê (never het) is used as the imperative of 'have' in combination with the modal verb moet must and sentence-finally (often to express wishes), but rarely sentence-initially, as in

Maak vrede daarmee. Hê jouself lief.

make.IMP peace PN.with have.IMP yourself dearly

Make peace with it. Love yourself.

R. Nagtegaal: Abra K'Dabra, 2007, 199

The customary rendering, as a command and wish, respectively, would be:

Jy moet jouself liefhê.

you must.AUX.MOD yourself.REFL love.have.INF

You must love yourself.

Julle moet baie pret hê môre!

you must.AUX.MOD much fun have.INF tomorrow

Have lots of fun tomorrow!

Wees is used as sentence-initial directive:

Wees tevrede met jou lot.

be.IMP satisfied with your fate

Be satisfied with your fate.

Both wees and hê are used sentence-finally:

Pret hê, maar soet wees!

fun have.INF but.CNJ good be.INF

Have fun, but be good!

Exhortative function: Both wees and hê are employed in first person exhortatives, i.e. commands or suggestions also directed at the speaker him-/herself.

Kom ons leef, kom ons hê lief.

come.IMP we live.INF come.IMP we have.INF dear

Let us live, let us love.

Speaker on TV

Swaer, kom ons wees nou redelik.

brother.in.law come.IMP we be.INF now reasonable

Brother-in-law, let us be reasonable now.

D. Meyer: Onsigbaar, 2007, 153

Maar kom ons wees nou nie morbied nie.

but.CNJ come.IMP we be.INF now not morbid PTCL.NEG

But let’s not be morbid now.

R. Greeff: Hanna, 2002, 319

Lara, kom ek wees reguit.

Lara come.IMP I be.INF straight

Lara, let me come to the point.

J. Kirsten: Wit plafon, 2009, 21

In the following examples, the function of wees resembles that of a subjunctive in other languages:

... asseblief, moenie dat ek later spyt wees nie

please must=not that.COMP I later.on sorry be.INF PTCL.NEG

Please, don’t let me regret it later on.

H. Kalmer: Lekkerste deel, 2007, 135

“Annelize, dis tog duidelik jou pa sal nie toelaat dat ons vriende wees nie.”

Annelize it=is quite clear your father will.AUX.MOD not allow that.COMP we friends be.INF PTCL.NEG

Annelize, it is quite clear that your father will not allow us to be friends.

J. Vermeulen, 2000, 125

Hê as underlying stem form: Finally, there are indications that hê is the underlying stem of the transitive verb ‘have’. The transitive verb liefhet / liefhê love, (lit.) dear have, is unique in being a “separable” compound with ‘have’ as final stem, and is also often used in the passive voice. The functional distribution of the ‘have’ stem in this verb could be expected to resemble that of the transitive verb hê/ het, e.g. het in finite contexts, hê in infinitive contexts (cf. om te hê, moet hê) and that it would share the irregular past participle gehad with hê/ het, viz. liefgehad. This is indeed the case with het as auxiliary, as in

Hulle het mekaar liefgehad.

they have.AUX each.other dear.have.PST.PTCP

They loved each other.

However, with word or wees as passive auxiliary, the past participle is consistently found to be liefgehê rather than liefgehad, e.g.

Sy was 'n vrou wat sou kon liefhê en liefgehê word.

she was a woman who.REL will.AUX.MOD.PRT can.AUX.MOD.PRT love.INF and love.have.PST.PTCP be.AUX.PASS.PRS

She was a woman who would be able to love and be loved.

P.G. du Plessis: Fees, 2008, 350

...Waar twee kinders versorg en liefgehê moet word.

where two children care.for.PST.PTCP and love.have.PST.PTCP must.AUX.MOD be.AUX.PASS.PRS

Where two children need to be cared for and loved.

H. Gunter: Plaas in Afrika, 2007, 146

Wat hy soek, is om liefgehê te word.

that.REL he look.for is for.COMP love.have.PST.PTCP PTCL.INF be.AUX.PASS.PRS

What he is looking for, is to be loved.

E. Venter: Santa Gamka, 2009, 225

Jy wou liefgehê wees op jou voorwaardes

you want.to.AUX.MOD.PRT love.have.PST.PTCP be.AUX.PASS.INF on your terms

You wanted to be loved on your terms.

L. van Nierop, 2013, 198

As liefgehê – but not liefgehad – is moreover able to scramble or move leftwards like other past participles, viz.

Dat sy <liefgehê> sou <liefgehê> kon <liefgehê> word, is waar

that.COMP she <love.PST.PTCP> shall.AUX.MOD.PRT <love.PST.PTCP> can.AUX.MOD.PRT <love.PST.PTCP> be.AUX.PASS.PRS is true

That it was possible for her to be loved is true.

Dat hy haar *<liefgehad> sou *<liefgehad> kon <liefgehad het, is waar.

that.COMP he her <love.PST.PTCP> will.AUX.MOD.PRT <love.PST.PTCP> can.AUX.MOD.PRT <love.PST.PTCP> have.AUX is true

That he would have been able to love her, is true.

it seems likely that liefhê is the underlying form of this verb, andhê may indeed be the underlying stem form of the transitive verb het have in Afrikaans.

As an alternative to the more usual expression of progressive aspect (cf. Breed and Van Huyssteen 2015) with non-stative verbs, as in:

Hulle is hard aan die werk.

they be.PRS hard on the work.NMLZ

They are working hard.

a construction with the Dutch definite article (neutral) and inflected infinitive (aan 't + VB) is sometimes used. Breed and Van Huyssteen (2015:258-259) indicate that the construction in this form is used mainly for stylistic reasons and becoming antiquated. An -e is affixed to the Afrikaans verbal base to resemble the Dutch infinitive ending in -en.

... terwyl hy vrolik aan’t drinke was

while he merrily on=the drink.NMLZ was

while he was drinking merrily

C. Karsten: Man van min belang, 2013, 7

Sy pa se liggaam is leeg en vinnig kouer aan’t worde

his father POSS body is empty and fast colder on=the become.NMLZ

His father’s body is empty and getting colder quickly

E. Venter: Wolf, wolf, 2013, 203

Aan 't tjanke oor die ballon ...

on=the squeal.NMLZ over the balloon

Squealing about the balloon ....

A.H. de Vries: Wye oop Karoo, 2002, 14

A small set of inflected infinitives (cf. Ponelis 1979:247, 432) occur mainly (though with low productivity) in a number of fixed expressions with the verbal particle te to (rather than om ... te), e.g. te wet-e kom (weet know), te kenn-e gee (ken know ), te begryp-e (begryp understand), te verstan-e (verstaan understand), te dank-e aan (dank thank), te wyt-e aan (wyt blame), te hor-e kry (hoor hear). Once again, an -e is affixed to the Afrikaans verbal base to resemble the Dutch infinitive in -en. In

Dit is heeltemal te begrype.

it is quite PTCL.INF understand.INF

It is quite understandable.

red wat daar te redde is

save that.REL there PTCL.INF save.INF is

save what there is to save

P.G. du Plessis: Fees, 2008, 306

Sal hy te vertroue wees?

will.AUX.MOD he PTCL.INF trust.INF be.INF

Will he be trustworthy?

C. Coetzee: Toewaaisand, 2003, 43

... geniet wat daar te geniete is.

enjoy that.REL there PTCL.INF enjoy.INF is

Enjoy what there is to enjoy.

J. le Roux: Wolfskof, 2004, 84

In some cases the inflectional affix even extends the Dutch infinitive by adding an extra -e, as in te siene kry get to see and te doene kry have to deal with, where the Dutch infinitive would be ziensee and doendo, respectively.

[+]Past participle

The past participle is inflected by adding the prefix ge- to a verb (verbal base) governed by an auxiliary. If the verb has alternating forms, as in leef live and lewe, the past participle could be geleef or gelewe. Apart for gewil willed, as in

Die toeval het dit so gewil.

the chance have.AUX it so will.PST.PTCP

Chance willed it that way.

HAT-5, wil

Afrikaans modal verbs do not form past participles.

A lexical distinction is made between separable and inseparable past participles. An inseparable compound such as hardloop run, from hard fast and loop run, remains a compound in all contexts and affixes ge-, if required, to the beginning of the word, as in gehardloop. On the other hand, the constituting morphemes of a separable verb, such as uitloop run out, may be separated by independent words, as in uit moes loop had to run out (lit.) out must.PRT run, and also occur in inverse order, e.g. Die water loop vinnig uit The water is running out quickly. If ge- is required, it is affixed before the verbal stem, as in uitgeloop; only the verbal stem serves as the phonological context determining ge- insertion.

A verbal string may contain more than one past participle, as in

Die opknapping moes gedoen gewees/geword het.

the renovation must.AUX.MOD.PRT do.PST.PTCP be.PST.PTCP/ become.PST.PTCP have.AUX

The renovation should have been done.

Sy moes die tafel al geverf gehad het.

she must.AUX.MOD.PRT the table already paint.PST.PTCP have.PST.PTCP have.AUX

She should have had the table painted already.

Though the prefixing of ge- to the verbal base is the typical way of marking a verb as a past participle, this is in fact optional in many cases. The optionality of ge- is due, to a large extent, to the stress pattern of the verb or verb group in question (cf. Combrink 1990:223-225). The presence or absence of ge- is determined by a phonological matrix to which all past participles must adhere (cf. Conradie 2012:141-142). The main requirement for past participle formation is an inter-syllabic contrast of rising stress, such that a syllable with main stress is preceded by a syllable of lower stress, as in [ ... _ ....(#(#))..... — ....] , where # represents a morpheme boundary and ## a word boundary. Thus ge- is obligatory when the verbal stem is mono-syllabic (vang catch: gevang ) or, if multisyllabic, has main stress is on the first syllable (ántwòòrd answer: het geantwoord ; hárdlòòp run: gehardloop ; ráádplèèg consult: het geraadpleeg ; stófsùig vacume clean: het gestofsuig ).

ge- is, however, optional when rising stress is already present in the stress pattern of the verb (pròbéér try: (ge)probeer ), often because of the presence of other prefixes of Germanic origin (behandel treat, gebeur happen, herstel repair, ontsien respect, vertaal translate), in which case further affixation of ge (as in gebetaal paid) is not considered standard. In the standard variety the general preference is for optional ge- not to be realised, whereas in certain other varieties ge- is realised wherever possible (cf. Rademeyer (1938:72-73); Van Rensburg (1991:453); Conradie (2012:145); Stell (2012:240)).

In the case of verb doubling, i.e. when two lexical verbs form a syntactic unit functioning together as past participle – a process referred to by Ponelis (1979:244) as samesmelting (‘fusion’) – e.g. bly staan remain standing, laat sing let sing, help opruim help clear away, sien loop see walking, hoor brom hear complaining, main stress is considered to be on the second verb as main verb, while the first usually has an aspectual, causative or other function, so that prefixing ge- is optional, as in het (ge-)blỳ stáán , (ge-)lààt síng , (ge-)hèlp ópruim , etc. (Note that in the standard language, ge- is only prefixed to the first of the lexical verbs.) ge- affixation remains optional even with contrastive stress on the first syllable, as in

Ons het dit nie self gemaak nie, maar (ge-)láát mààk.

we have.AUX it not ourselves make.PST.PTCP PTCL.NEG but.CNJ let.LINK make.INF

We didn’t make it ourselves but had it made.

When verb doubling involves the hendiadysenand construction, as in staan en praat stand talking, lê en lag lie laughing, sit en droom sit dreaming, loop en dink think while walking, ge- insertion remains optional, even in spite of greater freedom in interrupting the construction, e.g.

Hy het baie daaroor (ge-) loop en dink

he have.AUX much PN.about walk.LINK and think.INF

He thought a lot about it while walking.

Hulle het (ge-)staan en die grootste onsin kwytraak

they have.AUX stand.LINK and the biggest nonsense utter.INF

They stood uttering the biggest nonsense.

What is referred to here as “verb doubling” may in fact apply to even larger strings:

Nadat sy Hanna 'n ruk woordeloos bly sit en dophou het ...

after.CNJ she Hannah a time wordless remain.LINK sit.LINK and watch.INF have .AUX

After she had been sitting watching Hannah for a time without uttering a word.

A.P. Brink: Anderkant die stilte, 2002, 62

In view of the fact that Afrikaans has in general no marked infinitives, the infinitivus pro participio principle, i.e. the Dutch contrast between auxiliary + past participle, as in heeft gezongen have sung, and auxiliary + infinitive + infinitive, as in heeft laten zingen (lit.) have let sing, does not hold for Afrikaans. The contrast would be betweenhet gesing and het (ge-)laat sing, where (i) the first verbal base (laat ‘let’) is optionally marked as past participle rather than infinitive, and (ii) the juxtaposed verbal bases laat sing ‘let sing’ together have the syntactic characteristics of a single past participle. No insertion between laat and sing is possible. Scrambling to the left – usually only possible for past participles – is only permitted if the verbs remain juxtaposed:

Ek weet dat die lied gister <(ge-)laat sing> moes <(ge-)laat sing> word.

I know that.COMP the song yesterday <let.LINK sing.INF> must.AUX.MOD.PRT <let.PST.PTCP sing.INF> be.AUX.PASS.PRS

I know that (they) had to let the song be sung yesterday.

*Ek weet dat die lied gister (ge-)laat moes (ge-)sing word.

I know that.COMP the song yesterday let.LINK must.AUX.MOD.PRT sing be.AUX.PASS.PRS

To mean: ‘I know that (they) had to let the song be sung yesterday.’

[+]Departicipial derivation

In attributive function, regular or regularised departicipial adjectives take a -de/-te suffix, as in:

Met sy gekamde hare lyk hy baie netjies.

with his comb.PST.PTCP.ATTR seem he very tidy

With his combed hair he looks very tidy.

e.g. (regular:) gewaarmerkte afskrifte certified copies, afgebrande opstal burnt farmstead; (regularised): ontginde goud mined gold, uitgedinkte antwoorde devised answers. -de or -te is selected after a voiced or voiceless stem-final segment, respectively, though with considerable variability when stems end in voiceless fricatives (cf. Combrink 1969), e.g.

with -te: gelas: gelaste; gelap: gelapte; gestop: gestopte; gelok: gelokte; gewreek: gewreekte; gestraf: gestrafte, geëet: geëte; gegroet: gegroete;
with -de: gelaaf: gelaafde; verloof: verloofde; opgelig: opgeligde; gemaal: gemaalde; gestem: gestemde; gesing: gesingde; vermaan: vermaande; gelaai: gelaaide; geplooi: geplooide; beweer: beweerde; verloor: verloorde; voortgestu: voortgestude; geabba: geabbade.

In adjectival function, some regular past participles add final -d, as in

André Brink was beroemd in sy tyd.

André Brink be.PRT famous.ADJ in his time

André Brink was famous in his time.

e.g. afgesaagd hackneyed, geseënd blessed, gewild popular, bedonderd moody, verwonderd surprised, or as preposition: uitgesonderd excepting.

Irregular past participles in purely verbal function are extremely rare. The highly frequent past participle of hê have is gehad (commonly pronounced as [xǝha:t]) in the standard language (regularised as gehet in other varieties). In addition to its regularised past participle, gedink, the verb dink think also has gedog/gedag thought correctly / mistakenly as past participle. Beside regular geskep, skep create has geskape in biblical style. The past participle gewees would be regular if wees be rather thanis is is considered its underlying form. Historically irregular omgedolf/ omgedolwetrenched and verloor lost are regular in view of the restructured base forms omdolf / omdolwe (Dutch delven trench) and verloor (Dutch verliezen lose.

Several past participles have irregular variants deriving from Dutch strong and irregular past particples and adapted to Afrikaans sound changes, e.g. geboë bent [xǝbu:hǝ], from Dutch gebogen [xǝbo:xǝ], as in (41).

Haar geboë houding verraai haar ouderdom.

her bent.ADJ.ATTR posture betray her age

Her bent posture betrays her age.

These are used adjectivally in figurative or specialised senses, e.g. for breek break: gebroke hart broken heart vs gebreekte pot broken pot; for buig bend: geboë houding bent posture vs gebuigde yster bent (piece of) iron; for giet pour: gegote yster cast iron vs for uitgiet pour out: uitgegiete waterpoured out water , or used in attributive (as against predicative) function, e.g. for bind bind: gebonde bladsye bound pages vs die bladsye is gebind the pages are bound; verkose leier elected leader vs die leier is verkies the leader is elected.

The irregular past participles are on a cline from a close relationship with their regular counterparts, such as that between attributive and predicative usage, to instances of relexification, e.g. opgewen from opwen stressed, (lit.) wound up, as against opgewonde excited, expressing a rather more pleasant emotional condition. The deadjectival adjective in ('n) onbegonne (taak) an impossible task, (lit.) an unbegun task is no longer semantically related to Afr. begin begin, and a *begonne taak is non-existent. The meaning of the legal term bestorwe boedel deceased estate can be guessed from the meaning of the verb sterf die and an obsolete past participle gestorwe; a verb such as *besterf is unknown. A number of irregular past participles are mainly understood in the context of fixed expressions and idioms, e.g. 'n bedorwe brokkie spoilt brat, (lit.) spoilt morsel (bederf spoil); gedane sake het geen keer nie things done cannot be undone (doen do, PST.PTCP gedoen); 'n gegewe perd in die bek kyk look a gift horse in the mouth(gee give, PST.PTCP gegee); die stryd gewonne gee give up the struggle, (lit.) give the battle won (wen win, PST.PTCP gewen).

[+]Present participle

Present particles are derived from the verbal base by the addition of the suffix -end or -ende. They do not form part of the verbal string as they do in English, but are used (i) as attributive adjectives: singende kinders singing children and (ii) as adverbs of manner:

Hulle loop singend / al singend(e) in die straat af

they walk sing.PRS.PTCP / continuously sing.PRS.PTCP in the street down.POSTP

They walk down the street singing.

Present participles may also be (iii) lexicalised or used in fixed expressions with various functions: sodoende by so doing, siende dat seeing that, gaande oor iets wees be on (lit. going) about something; ons vriende, synde Jan en Piet our friends, being John and Peter. Finally, present participles may occur (iv) in modified form in small clauses in formal or archaic registers, e.g. die voortdurend etende gaste (lit.) the continuously eating guests, die hard fluitende bomme (lit.) the loudly whistling bombs, die treurig tjankende honde (lit.) the sadly whining dogs.

Affixation generally leaves the verb stem unchanged, for instance in verb stems ending in vowels and diphthongs (pla: plaend, lê: lêend, skrei: skreiend, skreeu: skreeuend, etc.), or in various consonants or consonant clusters (uitdroog: uitdrogend, huil: huilend, vermaan: vermanend, tjank: tjankend, etc.).

The following are exceptions to the rule of mere affixation of -end(e). The exceptions involve (i) the stem-final consonant becoming voiced (skryf: skrywend, bederf: bederwend, ster: sterwend, verslaaf: verslawend, vermoed [fǝrmut]: (niks-) vermoedend [fǝrmudǝnt]); (ii) the addition of an historical root (bly: blywend, voortstu: voortstuwend, verkry: verkrygend, ry: rydend, liefhê: liefhebbend ), (iii) the loss of an historical root (suig: suiend) or replacement of stem-vowel by historical vowel (dink: denkend ), or (iv) a suppletive participle (wees: synde).

Because of stem variation, it may seem as though more than one stem share one participle, e.g. sterf x sterwe: sterwende, beef x bewe: bewende. Occasionally participles may display stem allomorphy, as in bloedsuiend x bloedsuigend parasitic from bloed suig to suck blood, while semantic differentiation seems likely in dink: dinkende (robot) thinking – i.e. cognitive – robot vs denkende (mense) thinking – i.e. rational – people.

References

Breed, Adri & Van Huyssteen, Gerhard2014Aan die en besig in Afrikaanse progressiwiteitskonstruksies: die ontstaan en ontwikkeling (1)Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe54(4)708-725
Breed, Adri & Van Huyssteen, Gerhard2015Aan die en besig in Afrikaanse progressiwiteitskonstruksies: 'n korpusondersoek (2)Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe54(4)251-269
Breed, Adri & Van Huyssteen, Gerhard2015Aan die en besig in Afrikaanse progressiwiteitskonstruksies: 'n korpusondersoek (2)Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe54(4)251-269
Combrink, J.G.H1969Die '-de' en die '-te' by verboë verlede deelwoorde.Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe993-112,
Combrink, J.G.H1990Afrikaanse morfologie: capita exemplaria.Academica
Conradie, C. Jac2012Historical Linguistics 2009. Selected papers from the 19th International Conference on Historical LinguisticsVan Kemenade, A & De Haas, N (ed.)The Dutch-Afrikaans participial prefix ge-: A case of degrammaticalization?John Benjamin131-153
Conradie, C. Jac2012Historical Linguistics 2009. Selected papers from the 19th International Conference on Historical LinguisticsVan Kemenade, A & De Haas, N (ed.)The Dutch-Afrikaans participial prefix ge-: A case of degrammaticalization?John Benjamin131-153
De Villiers, M1971Die grammatika van tyd en modaliteit.Balkema
Faarlund, Jan Terje2004The Syntax of Old NorseOxford University Press
Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
Rademeyer, J.H1938Kleurling-Afrikaans: die taal van die Griekwas en Rehoboth-Basters.Swets & Zeitlinger
Rademeyer, J.H1938Kleurling-Afrikaans: die taal van die Griekwas en Rehoboth-Basters.Swets & Zeitlinger
Stell, G2010Afrikaanse spreektaalnormen en prescriptiewe Afrikaanse normen: is er genoeg ruimte voor grammaticale diversiteit in het Standaardafrikaans? / Afrikaans speech norms and prescriptive Afrikaans norms: is ther enough scope for grammatical diversity in Standard Afrikaans?Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe50418-443,
Stell, Gerald2012Historical Linguistics 2009. Selected papers from the 19th International Conference on Historical LinguisticsVan Kemenade, A & De Haas, N (ed.)Ethnicity as an independent factor of language variation across spaceJohn Benjamins231-252
Van Huyssteen, G.B2017Morfologie.(In Carstens, W.A.M. & Bosman, N.., reds. Kontemporêre Afrikaanse taalkunde. Pretoria : Van Schaik. 2de uitg., p. 177-214.)Van Schaik
Van Rensburg, MCJ1991Inleiding tot die Afrikaanse taalkundeBotha, TJR (ed.)Soorte AfrikaansAcademica463-467

⇑ Back to top

About this article

Author(s): Jac Conradie

Category: Afrikaans Syntax

Keywords: departicipialderivationinfinitiveinflectionnominalisationpast participlepresent participlepresent tensepreteriteverbal base

Version: 1.0, May 2020

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Jac Conradie	May 2020

This is a beta version.

printreport errorcite

Jump to:

introduction
references
related articles