Mastering Afrikaans Sentence Structure: Part 1 – What Is STOMPI? (Basics)

 

Cartoon owl in a graduation cap pointing to the title “Mastering Afrikaans Sentence Structure: Part 1 – What Is STOMPI? (Basics)” – Owl’s Bilingual Academy.

Om dinge maklik te maak vir die eerste paar less gaan ons net op STOMP fokus. Die “I” is meer ingewilkeld. Ons sal daarop fokus in less 4.

 

To keep things simple in the first few lessons, we will focus only on STOMP.
The “I” is a bit more complex. We will focus on it in lesson 4.


Afrikaans Sentence Structures part 1

What is STOMP

 

STOMPI is ’n manier om die normale woordorde van sinne te onthou in Afrikaans. Die werkwoorde skuif rond as die sin van tyd verander maar die STOMP deele bly dieselfde.

 

STOMPI is a way of remembering the normal word order of sentences in Afrikaans. The verbs move around when the sentence goes to another tense, but the STOMP parts stay the same.

 

Die folgende is die boustene van STOMP.

The following are the building blocks of STOMP.

S

Subject/ voorwerp

T

Time/ tyd

O

Object/ onderwerp

M

Means/ wyse

P

Place/ place

 


 

Example 1

Die meisie lees elke dag haar boek rustig in haar kamer.

S

Subject/ voorwerp

Die meisie

T

Time/ tyd

elke dag

O

Object/ onderwerp

haar boek

M

Means/ wyse

rustig

P

Place/ place

In haar kamer.

 

Die posisie van die werkwoord in die sin vernader afhangend van the tyd waarin die sin is. As jy meer wil weet oor die posisie van die werkwoord in Afrikaans, kyk asseblief na my lesse oor tye in Afrikaans.

 

The position of the verb in the sentence changes depending on the tense the sentence is in. If you would like to learn more about the position of the verb in Afrikaans, please refer to my lessons on tenses in Afrikaans.


 

Example 2

Sinne hoef nie altyd al die elemente van STOMP the hê nie.

 

Sentences do not always have to have all the elements of STOMP.

 

“Jan skop die bal.”

 

S

Subject/ voorwerp

Jan

T

Time/ tyd

 

O

Object/ onderwerp

die bal.

M

Means/ wyse

 

P

Place/ place

 

Die sin het net ‘n onderwerp, werkwoord en voorwerp.

 

This sentence has nothing except a Subject, a verb and an object.

 

Example 3

“Die wind waai môre baie sterk in die Kaap.”

S

Subject/voorwerp

Die wind

T

Time/tyd

môre

O

Object/onderwerp

 

M

Means/wyse

baie sterk

P

Place/plek

in die Kaap.

Die sin het all die deele van STOMP, maar dit het nie ’n voorwerp nie.

 

This sentence has all the parts of STOMP, except for an object


Click the following link to go to the next lesson:      

Mastering the Tricky Prepositions in English: Part 2 – to and for (Advanced)


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