Is it true that Afrikaans grammar is much simpler even than English? For example I've heard that the verbs are completely regular. Is there any gender or irregular plurals? What about tenses?
Afrikaans
There are only two irregular verbs in Afrikaans — 'wees' (to be) and 'hê' (to have). All the others are completely regular. Afrikaans verbs never conjugate differently according to person or number. So, for example:
ek drink — I drink / I am drinking
jy drink — you drink (singular informal)
u drink — you drink (formal)
hy drink — he drinks
sy drink — she drinks
ons drink — we drink
julle drink — you drink (plural informal)
u drink — you drink (formal)
hulle drink — they drink
And then for some other tenses:
hy het gedrink — he drank / he has drunk
hy was gedrink — he had drunk
hy sal drink — he will drink
hy sou drink — he would drink
Even the two irregular verbs are not very irregular. As I say, it doesn't change according to person or number, so I'll just it for 'he'/'hy':
wees — to be
hy is — he is
hy was — he was
hy het gewees — he has been
hy was gewees — he had been
hy sal wees — he will be
hy sou gewees — he would be
hê — to have
hy het — he has
hy het gehad — he had / he has had
hy was gehad — he had had
hy sal hê — he will have
hy sou hê — he would have
As you can see, Afrikaans is actually not so far removed from English. It doesn't have gender in the way that, say, German has gender, so it's like English in that respect as well. There are some irregular plurals, but not really any more than in English — it's plurals are certainly much more regular than those of German.
ek drink — I drink / I am drinking
jy drink — you drink (singular informal)
u drink — you drink (formal)
hy drink — he drinks
sy drink — she drinks
ons drink — we drink
julle drink — you drink (plural informal)
u drink — you drink (formal)
hulle drink — they drink
And then for some other tenses:
hy het gedrink — he drank / he has drunk
hy was gedrink — he had drunk
hy sal drink — he will drink
hy sou drink — he would drink
Even the two irregular verbs are not very irregular. As I say, it doesn't change according to person or number, so I'll just it for 'he'/'hy':
wees — to be
hy is — he is
hy was — he was
hy het gewees — he has been
hy was gewees — he had been
hy sal wees — he will be
hy sou gewees — he would be
hê — to have
hy het — he has
hy het gehad — he had / he has had
hy was gehad — he had had
hy sal hê — he will have
hy sou hê — he would have
As you can see, Afrikaans is actually not so far removed from English. It doesn't have gender in the way that, say, German has gender, so it's like English in that respect as well. There are some irregular plurals, but not really any more than in English — it's plurals are certainly much more regular than those of German.
Taal verwys na 'n stelsel van kommunikasie of denke. Dit kan realiseer deur klanke (bv. spraak), simbole (skrif) en/of gebare.
Taal word bestudeer as deel van die akademiese vakgebied Linguistiek.
Taal word bestudeer as deel van die akademiese vakgebied Linguistiek.