From Wikitravel

Afrikaans is spoken throughout South Africa and Namibia. It was mainly derived from Dutch. However most Afrikaans speakers in the work place can speak some English.

Contents 1 Pronunciation guide 1.1 Vowels 1.2 Consonants 1.3 Digraphs and trigraphs 1.4 Note on Afrikaans 2 Phrase list 2.1 Basics 2.2 Problems 2.3 Numbers 2.3.1 Ordinal Numbers 2.4 Time 2.4.1 Clock time 2.4.2 Duration 2.4.3 Days 2.4.4 Months 2.4.5 Writing time and date 2.5 Colors 2.6 Transportation 2.6.1 Bus and train 2.6.2 Directions 2.6.3 Taxi 2.7 Lodging 2.8 Money 3 ==Eating 3.1 Bars 3.2 Shopping 3.3 Driving 3.4 Authority 3.5 Learning more

Pronunciation guide

Vowels

a 

as in sun

e 

as in met but also pronunced meet or angel

ê 

as in apple

ë 

usually pronounced the same as 'e' but when it is accented due to grammar, for example in words like 'geëet' which means 'to have eaten', then it can be pronunced in further 3 ways such as: meet or fear or wet

i 

as in bit

o 

as in fort but also mood or boy

ô 

as in cauldron

u 

sounds very similar to 'i' to a none afrikaans speaker, but is infact pronounced very differently. Sounds similar to british sin but not exaclty

y 

Speakers of Dutch should note, Afrikaans 'y' is a replacement of the Dutch 'ij'. Sounds similar to 'ey' in hey but not exactly the same.

'n 

The Afrikaans Indefinite Article, a very unique letter. Pronounced the same way as the english 'a' as in 'a dog' or 'a song'. 'n Is never written in upper case if used at the start of a sentence, instead the word that follows will receive an upper case letter.

Note that Afrikaans pronunciation is extremely difficult and can be a challenge, even for speakers of Dutch.

Consonants

b 

as in bat

c 

as in king or celebrity

d 

as in dance but sometimes pronunced as english 't' usually at the end of words

f 

as in fan

g 

similar to the 'ch' in bach but a lot harder and more glottal. Also on occasion pronounced the same as the english 'g'

h 

as in hat but sometimes is a silent letter, usually when followed by a vowel for example the word 'huur' which when spoken, no trace of an 'h' can be heard. Which explains why the plural of 'huur' is 'ure'

j 

as in yak

k 

as in king

l 

as in lamp

m 

as in man

n 

as in nap

p 

as in pet

r 

as in rant but the sound is rolled

s 

as in set

t 

as in tale

v 

pronunced same as english 'f' but on rare occasions is also pronunced like the english 'v'

w 

pronunced the same as the english 'v' as in vet but also pronunced the same as english 'w' in some words.

x 

same as english but extremely rare and usually found in scientific terms or loanwords.

z 

Also extemely rare but pronunced exaclty as the German 'z' meaning bits or the same as the english 'z'

Digraphs and trigraphs

aa 

as in father

ae 

Produces two sounds one after another, and pronounced quite quickly. First sound is the same as 'aa' and is quickly finished off with the afrikaans 'a' as in dust

ch 

can be pronunced in three ways: loch or shine or king

kk 

as in cane

nn 

as in man

sj 

as in machine

ee 

as in fear

eë 

as in fear but pronunced as two separate sounds. Sounds almost like 'ee-ye'

ië 

same as eë

ei 

as is sale

eu 

pronunced two ways: as in ear or as in mew

gh 

same as english 'gh'. For example ghost

ll 

as in lamp

mm 

as in mend

ie 

pronunced either as long 'ee' like in breed or as 'i' in sick

kn 

as in pick 'n pay

ng 

as in sing

oe 

pronunced either as the long 'oo' as in loot or as a short 'oo' as in foot

oë 

as in english doer

oo 

quite hard to pronounce and quite unique. Try blend the following two sounds into one: as the 'oo' in mood and then the 'we' in when

ou 

as in coat

rs 

like farse but the 'r' is rolled

tj 

as in chunk

ui 

also a unique sound. Sounds like play but with pouted lips. The name shane is the closest english equivalent

uu 

very unique sound. Sounds similar to German über but pronunced with more emphasis and much longer. Identical to the finnish 'yy' sound

aai 

like the 'y' in shy but a pronunced a lot longer.

eeu 

A unique trigraph. The closest english equivalent is the english word ewe. Try blending the sounds 'ew' and 'oo'

oei 

similar to phooey but pronounced with a rapid 'w' in it

ooi 

similar to oil but pronunced with a rapid 'w' in it

uie 

similar to player but pronunced much longer

Note on Afrikaans

Note that although afrikaans digraphs and trigraphs contain mostly vowels and sound as though they contain many syllables, they in fact are seen as a single syllable. For example the word 'Goeie' sounds as if it contains 3 syllables but in fact contains only two: 'go' and 'eie' are the 2 syllables.

From this you can see Afrikaans pronunciation, like english for a foreigner, can be rather irregular. Pronunciation can be hard and the accent is extremely difficult to master, but when spoken correctly, Afrikaans is the most melodical germanic language. However, one should not be daunted. Afrikaans grammar is really quite simple and bears the most grammatical resemblance to english, than any other germanic language. One who is learning Afrikaans will probably catch onto it rather quickly and will have no problem with speaking Dutch or understanding German.

Phrase list

Basics

Hello. (formal) 

Goeie dag.

Hello. (informal) 

Hallo.

How are you? 

Hoe gaan dit?

Fine, thank you. 

Goed, dankie.

What is your name? 

Wat is jou naam?

My name is ______ . 

My naam is ______ .

Nice to meet you. 

Aangename kennis .

Please. 

Asseblief.

Thank you. 

Dankie.

You're welcome. 

Dis 'n plesier.

Yes. 

Ja.

No. 

Nee.

Excuse me. (getting attention) 

Verskoon my.

Excuse me. (begging pardon) 

Verskoon my / Jammer.

I'm sorry. 

Ek is jammer.

Goodbye 

Totsiens.

Goodbye (informal) 

Baai.

I can't speak Afrikaans [well]. 

Ek kan nie [ goed ] Afrikaans praat nie.

Do you speak English? 

Praat jy Engels?

Is there someone here who speaks English? 

Is hier iemand wat Engels praat?

Help! 

Help!

Look out! 

Oppas!

Good morning. 

Goeie môre.

Good evening. 

Goeie naand.

Good night. 

Goeie nag.

Good night (to sleep) 

Goeie nag.

I don't understand. 

Ek verstaan nie.

Where is the toilet? 

Waar is die toilet?

I am wearing jeans. 

Ek dra 'n denim broek.

Problems

Dutch speakers need to be aware of the following :

• baie means veel (many), however the word 'veel' also exists in afrikaans and means the same thing.

Numbers

1 

een

2 

twee

3 

drie

4 

vier

5 

vyf

6 

ses

7 

sewe

8 

ag / agt

9 

nege

10 

tien

11 

elf

12 

twaalf

13 

dertien

14 

veertien

15 

vyftien

16 

sestien

17 

sewentien

18 

agtien

19 

negentien

20 

twintig

21 

een-en-twintig

22 

twee-en-twintig

23 

drie-en-twintig

...

30 

dertig

40 

veertig

50 

vyftig

60 

sestig

70 

sewentig

80 

tagtig

90 

neëntig

100 

eenhonderd

200 

tweehonderd

300 

driehonderd

...

900 

negehonderd

1000 

eenduisend

2000 

tweeduisend

1,000,000 

een miljoen

1,000,000,000 

een miljard
Note the difference with American English numbers.

1,000,000,000,000 

een biljoen

Ordinal Numbers

1. 

eerste

2. 

tweede

3. 

derde

4. 

vierde

5. 

vyfde

6. 

sesde

7. 

sewende

8. 

agste

9. 

negende

10. 

tiende

11. 

elfde

...

20. 

twintigste

...

100. 

honderdste

101. 

honderd-en-eerste

Time

What time is it?

      Hoe laat is dit?

Clock time

Duration

Days

Maandag - Monday Dinsdag - Tuesday Woensdag - Wednesday Donderdag - Thursday Vrydag - Friday Saterdag - Saturday Sondag - Sunday

Weekend- Naweek Tomorrow- Môre The day after tomorrow- Oormôre Yesterday- Gister The day before yesterday- Eergister

Months

January- Januarie

February- Februarie

March- Maart

April- April

May- Mei

June- Junie

July- Julie

August- Augustus

September- September

October- Oktober

November- November

December- Desember

Writing time and date

One o'clock- Een-huur

Two o'clock- Twee-huur

Three o'clock- Drie-huur

etc.

Midnight- Middernag

Morning- Oggend

Night- Nag

Evening- Aand

Day- Dag

Week- Week

Month- Maand

Year-Jaar

Century- Eeu

Leap Year- Skrikkel jaar

1:00 PM- 13:00 / 13h00

2:00 PM- 14:00 / 14h00

3:00 PM- 15:00 / 15h00

...

12:00 PM- 24:00 / 24h00 / 00:00 / 00h00

Colors

Red- Rooi (Intensive form- bloed rooi)

Yellow- Geel

Green- Groen (Intensive form- gras groen)

Blue- Blou (Intensive form- hemel blou)

Black- Swart (Intensive form- pik swart)

White- Wit (Intensive form- spier wit)

Purple- Pers

Orange- Oranje

Brown- Bruin

Grey- Grys

Pink- Pink

Transportation

Bus and train

Directions

Taxi

Lodging

Money

==Eating Travel Guide

Bars

Shopping

Driving

Authority

I haven't done anything wrong. 

Ek het niks verkeerd gedoen nie.

It was a misunderstanding. 

Dit was 'n misverstand.

Where are you taking me? 

Waar heen vat jy my?

Am I under arrest? 

Is ek onder arres?

I am an American/Australian/British/Canadian citizen. 

Ek is 'n Amerikaanse/Australiaanse/Britse/Kanadese burger.

I want to talk to the American/Australian/British/Canadian embassy/consulate. 

Ek wil met die Amerikaanse/Australiaanse/Britse/Kanadese ambassade praat.

I want to speak to a lawyer. 

Ek wil met 'n prokureur praat.

Can I just pay a fine now? 

Kan ek onmiddelik 'n boete betaal?

Learning more

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