B1 - To Be / To Have
A conjugated verb in all languages has a similar pattern. The verb is changed to indicate tense, or person, or mood or voice, etc. Do a Web search on "What is a conjugated verb?" if you need a better explanation.
Good news -- in Afrikaans only two verbs change form from one tense to the other, but they do not change to indicate person (i.e. with pronouns they remain the same). So, it is a minimal conjugation, whereas German, Dutch and English indicate person as well.
- | TO BE | TO HAVE |
---|---|---|
PRESENT | is Ek is, jy is, hy is, sy is, etc. | het Ek het, jy het, hy het, ... |
PAST | was / was gewees Ek was, jy was, hy was, sy was, / also Ek was gewees. | het gehad Ek het gehad, jy het gehad, hy het gehad, ... |
FUTURE | sal wees Ek sal wees, jy sal wees, hy sal wees, sy sal wees, ... | sal hê Ek sal hê, jy sal hê, hy sal hê, etc. |
INFINITIVE | om te wees Dit is goed om hier te wees. | om te hê Dit is goed om tyd te hê. |
What's next?
Learn to use ...
"TO BE" - OM TE WEES
- in tenses
- with questions
- with negation
- with modal helping verbs
"TO HAVE" - OM TE HÊ
- in tenses
- with questions
- with negation
- and with modal helping verbs