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

 

Om dinge maklik te maak vir die eerste paar lesse gaan ons net op STOMP fokus. Die “I” is meer ingewikkeld. Ons sal daarop fokus in les 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 dele 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 volgende 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/ plek

 

 

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/ plek	In haar kamer.

 

Die posisie van die werkwoord in die sin verander afhangend van die 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 te 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/ plek

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 al die dele 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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References.

Lutrin, B. (1999). Afrikaans handbook & study guide: An English student’s guide to Afrikaans. Sandton: Berlut Books.

de Jonge, A. (n.d.). Leer Afrikaans sonder om jou rieme styf te loop. Graffiti Boeke.

De Klerk, P. F., Esterhuizen, B. J., Hammann, H. J. R., & Neethling, E. L. (1986). Afrikaans my taal. Maskew Miller Longman.

Nel, M. (2019). Afrikaans+: Everything you need to obtain top marks. LAPA Uitgewers.

The majority of this course content is based on the author’s experience, practice, and self-study.

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