17 Basic & Useful Phrases In Afrikaans

Afrikaans is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. And if by reading that you came to the conclusion that South Africa has eleven official languages, three stars for you because you guessed that right! I know that’s a lot of official languages, but I think that’s pretty cool. Don’t you think so?

Back to Afrikaans, and that’s Afrikaans with two a’s in between the letters k and n. However, before diving in, here’s a psa to what you’re about to read: this is just a very very very short listicle (like really three bullet points listicle) of the Afrikaans language timeline. Therefore, not all important events of the Afrikaans language history are included and I apologize for that in advance.

• Afrikaans originated as a result of Dutch colonialism in the 17th and 18th century
• In the early 20th century, Afrikaans was known as a kitchen language and was used mainly as a spoken language between the Boers (Dutch speaking colonists who lived in South Africa) and their servants
• In 1925, the Afrikaans language was recognized by the South African government as one of its official languages, instead of it being known as a Dutch dialect

Curious if the Afrikaans language is a dying language? NO. NEE. Not at all. Not even close. It is even estimated that between 17 to 23 million people on this planet Earth speak Afrikaans, this number includes both native and second-language speakers. You could be one of the millions if you decide to learn it too!

1. Good day: goeie dag (khwee-uh dahkh)
2. Good morning: goeiemôre (khwee-uh mo-ruh)
3. Good afternoon: goeie middag (khwee-uh mid-dahkh)
4. Good evening: goeienaand (khwee-uh ahnt)
5. Good night: goeienag (khwee-uh nahkh)
6. Hello: hallo (hah-loh)
7. Goodbye: totsiens (tot-seens)
8. Please: asseblief (ah-suh-bleef)
9. Thank you: dankie (dahn-kee)
10. You're welcome: jy is welkom (yay is vel-kom)
11. Yes: ja (yah)
12. No: nee (nee-yeh)
13. How are you (formal): hoe gaan dit met u (hoo khan dit met oo)
14. How are you (informal): hoe gaan dit met jou (hoo khan dit met yow)
15. Excuse me: verskoon my (fer-skoon may)
16. Where is the restroom: waar is die badkamer (vahr is dee baht-kam-er)
17. How much is this: hoeveel kos dit (hoo-feel koss dit)