Afrikaans Phrases
Afrikaans is a very centralised language, meaning that most of the vowels are pronounced in a very centralised (i.e. very schwa-like) way. Although there are many different dialects and accents, the transcription should be fairly standard.
| Afrikaans | IPA | Dutch | English | German |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallo! Hoe gaan dit? | Hallo! Hoe gaat het (met je/jou/u)? |
Hello! How is it going? (Hello! How are you?) | Hallo! Wie geht's? (Hallo! Wie geht's dir/Ihnen?) | |
| Baie goed, dankie. | Heel goed, dank je. | Very well, thank you. | Sehr gut, danke. | |
| Praat jy Afrikaans? | Spreek je Afrikaans? | Do you speak Afrikaans? | Sprichst du Afrikaans? | |
| Praat jy Engels? | Spreek je Engels? | Do you speak English? | Sprichst du Englisch? | |
| Ja. | Ja. | Yes. | Ja. | |
| Nee. | Nee. | No. | Nein. | |
| 'n Bietjie. | Een beetje. | A bit. | Ein bisschen. | |
| Wat is jou naam? | Hoe heet je? / Wat is jouw naam? | What is your name? | Wie heißt du? / Wie ist dein Name? |
|
| Die kinders praat Afrikaans. | De kinderen spreken Afrikaans. | The children speak Afrikaans. | Die Kinder sprechen Afrikaans. | |
| Ek is lief vir jou. |
Ik hou van je/jou. |
I love you. | Ich liebe dich. |
Note: The word Afrikaans means African (in the general sense) in the Dutch language. Since Afrikaans means African in Dutch, 'Zuid-Afrikaans' is a more common word for it, but is considered wrong, because in Afrikaans/Zuid-Afrikaans the only right word is Afrikaans. This problem also occurs in Afrikaans itself, resolved by using the words Afrika and Afrikaan to distinguish from Afrikaans(e) and Afrikaner respectively.
The following is an Afrikaans sentence having the same meaning and written identically in English (but pronounced differently):
- My pen was in my hand.
Read more about this topic: Afrikaans
Famous quotes containing the word phrases:
“I know those little phrases that seem so innocuous and, once you let them in, pollute the whole of speech. Nothing is more real than nothing. They rise up out of the pit and know no rest until they drag you down into its dark.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)