Negation

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.

Simple Sentences Start lesson

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 red	Die huis is rooi
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

Sentences with only one nie Start lesson

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. Start lesson

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