Apart from short sentences (see below), Afrikaans uses a double negative Nie ... Nie ...for negation.
Ek is nie honger nie 'I am not hungry not'.
Negation is a more complicated area of the language and as usual, (and in keeping with the name Easy Afrikaans), we are only looking at some simple examples and approximate rules.
These simple sentences show the usual position of nie in simple sentences.
The first nie (as a general rule) follows the subject and verb, and the second is always positioned at the end of the sentence.
| I speak Afrikaans | Ek praat Afrikaans |
| I don't speak Afrikaans | Ek praat nie Afrikaans nie |
| The house is not red | Die huis is nie rooi nie |
| This is my house | Dit is my huis |
| This is not my house | Dit is nie my huis nie |
| The garden is large | Die tuin is groot |
| The garden is not large | Die tuin is nie groot nie |
| I am hungry | Ek is honger |
| I am not hungry | Ek is nie honger nie |
In short sentences, there is only one nie.
To be slightly more precise, in sentences such as these where there is only a subject and a verb only one negative is used.
| The dog runs | Die hond hardloop |
| The dog is not running | Die hond hardloop nie |
| Peter reads | Peter lees |
| Peter is not reading | Peter lees nie |
| She writes | Sy skryf |
| She is not writing | Sy skryf nie |
| They sleep | Hulle slaap |
| They are not sleeping | Hulle slaap nie |
This is also the case where the object is a pronoun. Learn
| I see it | Ek sien dit |
| I do not see it | Ek sien dit nie |
| You have them | Jy het hulle |
| You do not have them | Jy het hulle nie |
| He eats it | Hy eet dit |
| He does not eat it | Hy eet dit nie |
| I see her | Ek sien haar |
| I do not see her | Ek sien haar nie |