Making Tenses Easy in Afrikaans: Part 4 – Special verbs in the past tense (is, kan, moet, wil)

 

📘 Who this is for: CAPS, IEB, Cambridge students (FAL and SAL Grades 7–12) and adult Afrikaans learners.

In this lesson, you will learn about the verbs in Afrikaans that don’t behave like most verbs in Afrikaans: “is,” “kan,” “moet,” “wil,” and “mag.” You will learn how these verbs behave differently from most verbs in the past tense and how to use them correctly in sentences.

Common mistake: “wil” in Afrikaans

The word “wil” does not mean the same as the English “will.” The word “wil” means “want.” Because of this, we can use “wil” in both the future and past tenses.

The word “sal” is the Afrikaans equivalent of the word “will.”

 

Example 1

I want to eat.

Ek wil eet.

Example 2

I will eat.

Ek sal eet.

 

When does the past tense not get a “het”

There are 4 special verbs that change and don’t behave like other Afrikaans verbs: Is (is, am, are), kan (can), moet (must), wil (want).

 

When these verbs are used in the past tense they do not go to the back of the sentence like most verbs. Instead, they change form.

 

Is becomes was, kan becomes kon, moet becomes moes, wil becomes wou.

 

Unlike most verbs, these verbs do not get a “het” in front of them in the past tense.

“Is” and “was”

Verb	Verb	English example	Afrikaans translation
Present tense	Is (is, am, are)	I am hungry	Ek is honger.
Past tense	Was (was)	I was hungry.	Ek was honger.

 

“Kan” and “kon”

Verb	Verb	English example	Afrikaans translation
Present tense	Kan (can)	You can swim.	Jy kan swem.
Past tense	Kon (could)	You could swim.	Jy kon swem.

 

“moet” and “moes”

Verb	Verb	English example	Afrikaans translation
Present tense	Moet (must)	She must work.	Sy moet werk.
Past tense	Moes (had to)	She had to work.	Sy moes werk.

 

“wil” and “wou”

Verb	Verb	English example	Afrikaans translation
Present tense	Wil (want)	I want to do it.	Ek wil dit doen.
Past tense	Wou (wanted to)	I wanted to do it.	Ek wou dit doen.

  

“Mag” in the past tense

“Mag” (may) also works differently in the past tense. Instead of going to the back of the sentence, it stays where it is. The other verb in the sentence goes to the back of the sentence and is followed by “het.”

Verb	Verb	English example	Afrikaans translation
Present tense	Mag (may)	You may do it.	Jy mag dit doen.
Past tense	Mag (were allowed to)	You were allowed to do it.	Jy mag dit gedoen het.

 

Verb	Verb	English example	Afrikaans translation
Present tense	Mag (may)	He may play cricket.	Hy mag krieket speel.
Past tense	Mag (were allowed to)	He was allowed to play cricket.	Hy mag krieket gespeel het.

Click here to go to the next lesson:

Making Tenses Easy in Afrikaans: Part 5 – Special verbs in the future tense (is, kan, moet, wil)

  

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