11 
Examples. 
water, wat, waar, waai, wie, wil. 
sch at the beginning of a word is pronounced like sch 
in the English word school; in the middle or end of a 
word it is pronounced like s. 
Examples. 
school, schop, schip, schuim, scheef, 
visch, varsch, asch, frisch, vissche. 
k and g are, unlike in English, pronounced before n. 
Examples. 
knie, knaag, knel, knip, knak, 
gnieps, 
w is also pronounced before r·. 
Examples. 
wrak, wrik, wring. 
B. SHORT OI~AMMATICAL ,NOTES. 
I. .. 
The language, generally known as Cape Dutch, is a 
dialect of the Hig1'r Dutch, largely mixed with foreign 
elements, principally Portuguese and Malay; a small 
portion of ~ its vocabulary can be traced to French or 
German origin. Being merely a spoken language, and 
having practically no literature of its own, its spelling 
is to a large extent subject to variation, according to 
~ the education and tacte of the person writing it; for 
the same reason a large number of endings have worn 
off and the grammar reduced to the simplest form. 
In spelling Cape Dutch in this book, the relation 
between Cape Dutch and High Dutch has been kept in 
yiew, as far as possible. At the same time attention 
~has been paid to the phonetic changes, and to the dropping 
of endings of words, or of consonants in the middle of 
12 
words. For instance, the Infinitive of Verbs in High 
Dutch usually ends in en; this ending has been completely 
lost in Cape Dutch; instead of the Hign Dutch leeren = 
to learn, we say in Cape Dutch leer. In High Dutch the 
word for ((rain" is regen; in Cape Dutch it is re' e, because _ 
in that dialect the final n of the ending en is not sounded; 
secondly the g is left out, because d, g & v standing 
between two vowels, are not pronounced. An apostrophe 
(') is thus placed there instead, to show that such con­
sonant has fallen out, and that the word still remains 
bisyllabic - re'e. 
The word van (of) is spelt in this book with a v, .in 
contradistinction to the spelling followed by other autho­
rities on the subject. In High Dutch, as well in Cape 
Dutch, the , v bas the sharp sound of the (; the word 
is spelt in High Dutch with a v, anci the supposed 
phonetic change to {, is therefore unnecessary and only 
leads to confusion. 
One more peculiarity, made in the spelling in this 
work, must be noticed. The ending sch is always sounded 
like s, and might easily be written that way. In High 
Dutch, however, it often makes a great difference whether 
such a word ends in s or sch, and to .avoid confusion in 
the minds of those students, who might afterwards wish 
to learn High Dutch, the proper spelling, as in vogue 
in that language, has been adhered to in this instance. 
II. 
The Definite Article the is in Cap'e Dutch die. Die is, 
however, at the same time used for tne demonstrative 
pronouns this and that, and as this is apt to cause 
confusion, the Cape Dutchman either adds hier (here) 
after the noun, if he means this, and da (there), when 
he means that, or else he will point to the object referred 
~· ~· An example will ,more clea~-ly illustrate this . 
. ; u""--
The horse 
This horse 
That horse 
13 
Die paerd. 
Die paerd bier. 
Die paerd da, or, 
Da die paerd. 
The indefinite article a or an is in Cape Dutch en. 
It is in reality the same word as the nume·ral adjective 
one, but the latter is written and pronounced een, of 
. which en may_ be considered an enclitic form. 
A horse En pa8l·d. 
-One horse = Een pa8l·d. 
III. 
Nouns in Cape Dutch have practically only one gender, 
viz. the Masculine; all things without life are also con­
sidered masculine, as the Neuter is not in use. The 
females of the larger animals, including man, are considered 
feminine,. but even in such cases the Dutchman will often 
say: ,die koei zijn kalf", which means literally - "The 
cow his calf" ; this peculiarity will be referred to later on. 
Nouns,, articles, or adjectives are not declined in Cape 
Dutch. The form of the Nominative is used for all cases, 
in the Singular as well as in the Plural. 
The Plu·ral of Nouns is formed by adding either s or 
e to the singular, sometimes with a small change ofthe 
word . The practice of forming these. plurals cannot easily 
be reduced to rules, which apply in all instances. The 
following will, however, be found useful. 
. rst. Words ending in n, l, or a vowel, generally take 
s in the plural. 
Examples. 
man mans wa'e - wa'es . 
tafel tafels re'e - re'es 
deken dekens operatie - operaties. 
nnd. words ending in s, sch, m, p, d, d, t, {, . g & k, 
and the monosyllables in 1·, generally form their plural 
14 
by adding e. Where the vowel of the word is short, the 
consonant at lihe end ot the monosyllabic words (and of 
their compounds) is usually doubled, in order to keep 
the vowel short. 
Examples. 
huis huise vader vaders 
visch vissche 1) hok hokke 
hoef hoeve 2) lap lappe 
slag sla'e (see.§ I) stoflap stoflappe 
kam kamme raam rame3) 
kleur kleure stam stamme 
hoed hoede · kat katte. 
Some words have an irregular plural e.g. 
stad ste'e blad blaie or 
lid le'e blare. 
maat maters schip schepe 
kalf kalvers werkman werklui 
kind kinders vrouw vrouwens. 
Nouns in d, , preceded by a vowel, often form their 
plural by substituting ie for d, the a being in such cases 
lengthened, if this vowel stands inmediately before the d 
e.g. pad - paie; rad - raie; hoed - hoeie. 
IV. 
Cape Dutch has, like High Dutch, a peculiar way of 
forming diminutives by means of suffixes. 
'rhese suffixes are ie, tjie, pie, en etjie. 
The suffix ie is the one generally in use. · 
huis (house) forms huisie (little house) 
doek (cloth) , doekie (a small piece of cloth) 
1) Words" ending in sch double the s in the plural. 
2) Most words ending in (, preceded by either a vowel or consonant, 
change the r into v, and then add. e. 
S) WhE!n a noun of one syllable has an aa in the singular, the 
·--·~ral thereof has only one a. 
15 
• vlieg (fly) forms vliegie (a small fly) 
lamp (lamp) , lampie (a little lamp). 
_ tjie is generally used after . vowels, and after l, n, and r, 
when these are preceded by a long vowel or diphthong. 
ma (mother forms maatjie ·(little mother) 
knie (knee) , knietjie (small knee) 
tuin (garden) , tuintjie (small garden) 
koei (cow) · , koeitjie (small cow) 
lepel (spoon) , lepeltjie (a smal spoon) 
leer (ladder) , leertjie (small ladder). 
pie is used mostly after m, if preceded by a long vowel. 
· , raam (window) forms raampie (small window) 
zoom (seam) , zoompie (small seam) 
bloem (flower) , bloempie (small flower). 
etjie is used after b, l, m, n, r, and rig, when these 
are preceded by a short vowel; the first five consonants 
are then doubled (see § 3). · 
rib (rib) forms 1·ibbetjie (a small rib) 
kam (comb) , kammeUie (a small comb) 
zon (sun) , zonnetjie (a small sun) 
spul (game) , spulletjie (a small game) 
kar (cart) , karretjie (a small cart) 
ring (ring) , ringet.Jie (a small ring) 
blom (flower) , blommetjie (a small flower) 
Some deminutives are formed in an irregular manl).er: 
meid (a servant) forms meisjie (a girl) 
zuster (a sister) , sussie (a little sister) 
jonge (a boy) , jongetjie (a little boy) 
broer (a brother) , boetie (a little brother) 
dag (a day) , daagie (a small day). 
v. 
Adjectives are not declined, but when used quali­
tatively, to define a noun, and thus standing before it, 
. · the adjective has an e added, e. g. 
16 
die huis is leelijk = the house ,is ugly. 
die leelijke huis = the ugly house. 
• 
Adjectives ending in d, preceded by a vowel, c~ange 
the d, in this cas~, into ie e.g. 
die paerd is kwaad = the horse is vicious. 
die kwaaie paerd · the vicious horse. 
die hond is goed = the dog is good. 
die goeie J:lond = the good . dog. 
Adjectives are compa1;ed' by adding er for the com-
parative and st for the superlative e.g. 
leelijk, leelijker, leelijkst. 
sterk, sterker, sterkst. 
kwaad, kwaaier, kwaaist (see above). 
Some adjectives have irregular comparison, like 
goed, beter, best, 
slecht, erg, ergst, but also, 
slechter, slechtst. 
VI. 
The Penonal Pronouns in Cape Dutch are: 
I ik me = mij (me) 
thou jij thee = jou (je) 
he hij him hem (hom) 
she zij her = haar (her) 
we ons us = ons 
you jullie you = jullie 
they hullie them = hullie 
N.B. The accusative forms are used after prepositions 
and so-called transitive verbs (see below). 
The Possessive Pronouns are: 
mine 
thy, thine 
his 
her 
= · mijn 
= jou 
zijn 
= haar 
our 
your 
their 
= ons 
= jullie 
= hullie 
I 
I-
I 
I. 
• 
1] 
Sentences like "this horse is mine", etc., are expressed 
Cape Dutch as follows: 
The horse is mine Die paerd is mijne. 
" " " 
thine 
" " " 
joue. 
" " " 
his 
" " " 
zijne ~ 
" 
,, 
" 
ours 
" " " 
ons zijne. 
" " " 
yours 
" " 
jullie zijne, 
" " 
theirs 
" " " 
hullie zijne. 
Sometimes the masculine possessive pronoun zijn (his) 
is used for the feminine; one often hears : 
Die vrouw zijn kind = The woman's child. 
The Interrogative Pronoun who = wie, which has the 
same form under all circumstances. The question "Whose 
is this !" = Wie zijne is dit? 
The Interrogative What= Wat. 
The Relative Pronoun is in reality die (who) but very 
often wat is used. 
Die man wat dit gedaan bet = The man who has 
done this. 
VII. 
The Car:dinal Numbers are as follows: 
1 = een 13 = dertien 
2 = twee 14 = veertien 
3 = drie 15 = vijftien 
4 =vier 16 = zestien 
5 = vijf 17 = ze'entien 
6 = zes 18 = achttien 
7 = ze'e 19 = ne'entien 
8 ::;: acht 20 = twintig. 
9 = ne'e 21 = een-en-twintig 
10 = tien 22 = twee-en-twintig 
11 =elf 23 = drie-en-twintig 
12 = twaalf 30 = dertig 
2 
18 
40 = veertig 102 = (een) honderd-en-twee 
50 = vijftig 200 = twee honderd 
60 = zestig 300 = driehonderd 
70 = ze'entig 400 = vierhonderd 
80 = tachtig 500 = vijfhonderd • 
90 = ne'entig 1000 = duizend 
100 = honderd 1001 = duizend-en-een 
101 = honderd-en-een 2000 = twee duizend 
lO,QOO = tien duizend. 
100,000 = honderd duizend. 
1,000,000 = millioen. 
4605 =vier duizend zes honderd en vijf . . 
1903 = Een duizend ne'enhonderd en drie o1· 
(in dates) = ne(g)entien honderd en drie. 
The Ordinal Numbers are formed by adding ste if the 
cardinal number ends in d, g or t; and adding de in all 
other cases, except the first which is formed itregularly. 
1st = die eerste 9th = die ne'ende 
2d = , tweede lOth= , tiende 
3d = , derde nth= ,, elfde 
4th= , vierde 20th= ,, twintigste 
5th= , vijfde 21th= ,, een -en-twin tigs te 
6th= , zesde 30th= , dertigste 
7th :::::l ,, ze'ende lOOth = ,, honderdste 
8th:::: ,, achtste lOOOth = , duizendste 
· The Fractional Numbers are: 
t die helft t - en zesde.' 
~ = en derde + = en ze'ende. 
1 t = en kwart. t = en achtste (en aks). t = en vijfde. To- = en tiende. etc. 
Once Eenmaal ( eens). 
}wice = tweemaal or twee keer. 
thrice = driemaal , drie , etc. 
For convenience's sake the names of the days and 
months are given ·here : 
. ' ~ _ _.,_ ...... _ 
19 
Maandag, Dinsdag, Woensdag, Donderdag, Vrijdag, 
Zaterdag, Zondag. 
Januari, Februari, Maart, April, Mei, Juni, Juli, Augustus, 
September, October, November, December. 
VIII. 
The Verb in· Cape Dutch is far more simple than in 
High Dutch, principally because the South African dialect 
has no Past Tense, and there is therefore no trouble 
about weak or strong verbs. With very few exceptions 
all verbs have the same form. 
There is practically only one Voice, viz. the Active; 
the Passive may be formed with the auxiliary Worden 
(to become), but is very rarely used ; where the Passive 
is used in English, the sentence is usually turned in 
Cape Dutch in such a manner, that the Active can be 
used. For instance, where the English has - "I am 
being beaten", or "I am beaten", the Cape Dutch· has 
"They beat me", or "they have beaten me". 
There are three . Moods: Infinit~ve, Indicative, and 
Imperative ; occasionally a Conditional is used. 
The Tenses are three, viz. Present, Perfect and Future; 
a Future Per feet also exists. 
'I'he basis of all parts of the verb is the Infinitive. 
'l'he Present has, except in six verbs (wees, he, gaan, 
staan, slaan, and doen) always the same form as the 
Infinitive. The verb does not change its form according 
to person; all' persons have the same ending as the 1st 
person singular, and this is the case in all tenses. 
We give examples of the Present Tense of the three 
verbs: loop = to walk; slaap = to slea~p; eet = to eat. 
Ik loop. 
j\j loop. 
hij loop. 
' Present. 
ik slaap. 
jij slaap. 
hij slaap. 
ik eet. 
jij eet. 
hij eet. 
zij loop. 
ODS loop. 
. j ullie loop. 
hullie loop. 
20 
zij slaap. 
ons slaap. 
jullie slaap. 
hullie slaap. 
zij eet. 
ODS eet. 
jullie eet . 
hullie eet. 
· The Perfect Tense is formed by means of the auxiliary 
verb he (to have) followed by the Past Participle. 
The Past Participle itself is formed · by placing the 
prefix ge before the i~finitive e. g. 
loop P. P. geloop 
slaap , , geslaap. 
eet , , ge-eet. 
Perfect. 
ik bet geloop. ik het geslaap. ik het ge-eet. 
jij bet geloop. j-ij het geslaap. jij bet ge-eet. 
hij bet geloop. hij -bet geslaap. hij bet ge-eet. 
zij bet geloop. zij bet geslaap. zij het ge-eet. 
ons het geloop. ons het geslaap ons het ge-eet. 
~ jullie het geloop. jullie het geslaap. jullie het ge-eet. 
hullie het geloop. hullje bet geslaap. hullie bet ge-eet. 
The Future is formed by means of the auxiliary zal 
(shall or will), followed by the Inf\nitive. 
/ 
Future. 
· ik zal loop ik zal slaap ik zal eet 
jij ,, ,, Hi , , jij ,, 
" hij " , hij ,, ., hij ,, ,, 
z ij , , zij , , zij , , 
ODS , , ODS , , ODS , , 
jullie ,, ~, jullie ,, , jullie , . , 
h ullie , , h ullie , , h ullie , , 
The Future Perfect, which is not in general use, is 
formed by both the auxiliaries zal and he, and the Past 
Participle. 
21 
ik zal geloop he = Lshall have walked. 
j ~j 
hij " " 
" " 
" 
" zij , , ,2 
ODS , , , 
jullie , , , 
hullie , , , 
Similarly: ik zal geslaap he; ik zal ge·eet he. 
Of the verbs he (to have) and wees (to be) a Past 
'fi:mse is sometimes used : ik had = I bad ; ik was = 
I was. tIL f<:.-.... 
Occasionally a Conditional Mood is used, which is then . 
formed by means of the auxiliary zou, which is in reality 
the past tense of the verb zal, f. i. 
ik zou loop; 
etc. 
ik zou slaap; 
etc. 
ik zou eet 
etc. 
Staan, gaan, doen and slaan, differ from the above 
examples only in the Present Tense, which is not exactly 
the same as the Infinitive, the forms being: 
ik sla (I beat) 
ik ga (I go) 
ik doe (I do) 
ik sta (I stand) 
One bears, however, forms like: ik gaan; hij gaat; 
ons gaan; hij slaat; ons slaan; ons doen; ons stnan; 
bij staat (or staan). 
The Verb he (to have) is conjugated as follows: 
Pres. ik het_ (but he-j?j = have you). 
Perf. ik het gehad. 
Fut. ik zal he. 
Fut. Per f. ik zal gehad he. 
Cond. ik zou he. 
22 
Wees = to be, goes as follows. 
Pres. ik is. 
Perf. ik is gewees. 
Fut. ik zal wees. 
Fut. Perf. ik zal gewees he. 
Cond. ik zou wees. 
N. B. The student is recommend to write out in full, 
the ten.ses of the following verbs: 
blaas = to blow. rook = to smoke. 
maak = to do. brand = to burn. 
praat = to talk. neem = to take. 
waag = to venture. vra = to ask. 
The Imperative is the same as the Present, without 
the Personal Pronoun, e. g. 
loop! slaap! eet! 
IX. 
One class of verbs in Cape Dutch is somewhat more 
intricate, and, as they are very often used, they deserve 
special notice. They are called Compound Verbs, and 
consist of an Adverb, Adjective, or Preposition, and a 
Verb. For instance the verb udoodmaak" = uto kill", 
really means ''to make dead", of which dood is the 
. adjective and maak the verb. 
These two parts are separable, and can take up different 
positions towards each other. ' If we call the first part, 
i.e. the adjective, adverb, or preposition, the Prefix, and 
the second part the Verb, we may state their positions 
in the various tenses and moods as follows: 
Infinitive. 1. Prefix. 2. Verb. 
Present. 1. Verb. 2. Prefix. 
Past Participle. 1. Prefix. 2. ge. 3. Verb. 
-· Applying these rules we therefore conjugate the verb 
doodmaak as follows: 
20 
Present. Ik maak dood, jij maak dood, etc. 
Perfect. Ik bet doodgemaak, jij he.t doodgemaak, etc. 
Future. Ik zal doodmaak, jij zal doodmaak, etc. 
Future Per(. Ik zal doodgemaak he, etc. 
Conditional. Ik zou doodmaak, etc. 
Imperative. Maak dood. 
In the Present Tense, the prefix can stand some 
distance after the Verb, e. g. 
Hij ga zeker nie morre dood nie. 
He certainly will not die to-morrow. 
N B. It should be remembered that, as far as the 
Present Tense of the Compound Verbs is concerned, the 
above rules apply only in Principal Sentences; in Subor­
dinate sentences the Present Tense follows the usual rule, 
and is like the Infinitive. 
Examples. 
Ons maak hem dood. 
We kill him, but, 
D'is tijd, dat ons hem doodmaak (subord, sent). 
It is time, that we kill him. 
The following is a list of the most important Compound 
Verbs in Cape Dutch; for convenience's sake we have 
given the Infinitive, Present, and Perfect of the first three. 
uitblaas (to blow out), ik blaas uit, ik bet uitgeblaas 
doodgaan (to die), ik ga dood, ik bet doodgegaan 
uitgaan (to go out), ik ga uit, ik bet uitgegaan. 
thuiskom to come home 
binnekom to come in 
doorloop to run on 
voorloop to run in front 
ansteek t 
opsteek ~ to light. 
opgaan to go up, to rise (of the sun) 
opstaan to arise 
24 
ondergaan to go down 
loslaat to let go 
vasmaak to fasten 
losmaak to loosen 
opemaak to open 
toemaak to shut 
inspan to harness 
uitspan to unharness 
opschrijf to write down, to enter (in a 
o'erschrijf to copy book) 
antrek to dress 
uittrek to undress 
neerzit to sit down 
neerzet to put down 
klaarmaak to finish 
opschep to dish up 
ophang to hang 
hardloop to run 
o'ereenkom to ag.ree 
weggaan to depart 
ankom to arrive 
rechmaak to repair, to settle 
uitschel to scold 
opbouw to rebuild 
afbreek to demolish 
afwascb. to wash off 
nadenk to reflect 
aanbid to adore 
volhou to continue 
volmaak to fill 
leegmaak to empty. 
Verbs beginning with be, ge, ont, ant and ver are never 
Compound Verbs. They have (with the exception of one 
beginning with ant) the peculiarity of not using ge in 
forming their Past Participle, although this rule is not 
. always adhered to; one does sometimes h¥e "ge·verkrij." 
t~ 
Examples. 
begrijp (to understand) 
. geloof (to believe) 
- ontvang (to receive) 
verkrij (to get) 
· antwoord (to answer) 
ik begrijp ik het begrijp 
ik geloof " ik het geloof 
ik ontvang ik het ontvang 
ik verkrij ik het verkrij 
ik antwoord ik het· ge-antwoord. 
X. 
Adverbs have usually the same form as the adjectives 
to which they belong, e.g. goed means good, and also 
. well. But Cape Dutch has a number of adverbs and · 
adverbial expressions, which are peculiar to it; as these 
are very often used, we give here a list of the most 
. ' important ones, which the student should commit to 
memory. 
Banja (or bain) 
gnieps 
liewers 
glad 
glad nie 
amper or ampertjies 
heeltemaal 
hoe kom? ,l 
waarom? ~ 
stad~~gies . ~r 
partiJ keer 
alledag 
dikkels 
eens 
en tijdjie lang 
lang gele'e 
vandaag 
morre 
gister 
o'ermorre 
much, many. 
in an underhand manner. 
rather 
altogether 
_by no means 
nearly. 
quite. 
why? 
slowl~. <;l<,~ ~~. 
sometimes. 
every day. 
often. 
once. 
for some time. 
a long time ago. 
to day. 
to morrow. 
yesterday. 
the day after to morrow. 
. u.v..~: ~~~ 
eergist'er 
verle'e week 
verle'e maand 
verle'e jaar 
vollende jaar 
eindelijk t 
t en leste ~ 
erg 
net 
in tijd 
~~~~ 
€ler_..... 
voor 
elke slag 
stilletjies 
al 
op die plek 
da'elijk t 
net nou ~ 
dalkies ~ 
miskien ~ 
onderwijl 
weer 
kamma-kamma 
al te banja 
zeker 
alles 
almaal· 
rechtig 
makaar 
zoo rna zoo 
huistoe 
bier 
daGJV 
hierbo'e 
26 
the day before yesterday. 
last week. 
last month. 
last year. 
next year. 
at last. 
very. 
just. 
in time. 
before the time. 
before. 
before. 
every time. 
quietly. 
already. 
on the spot. 
directly. · 
perhaps. 
in the meantime. 
again. 
quasi. 
too much. 
certainly. 
everything. ~ 
all ~ 
really. 
each other. 
without any reason 
whatever. 
home. lw:~.~~'\ 
here. 'I 
there. 
above here. 
dabo'e 
da op 
davan 
toch 
ill~J. 
positief 
ja 
ne 
nog nie 
27 
above there. 
above it. 
of it. 
yet, still. 
but. 
absolutely, for certain. 
yes. 
no. 
not yet. 
XI. 
The principal 
en 
Conjunctions and Prepositions are: 
and. 
rna 
toch 
niette'enstaande 
hoewel 
daarom 
toe 
want 
nadat 
waarom 
in 
op 
deur l 
door ~ 
met. 
naast 
' buite 
langs 
achter 
binne 
dicht bij 
. buite 
rondom 
but 
yet. 
notwithstanding.~ · 
although. 
for all that. 
then. 
because, for. 
after. 
why. 
in. 
upon. 
through, by, on account of. 
with . ..;....~.~ 
next. 
without. 
alongside ot. 
behind. 
inside of. 
near. 
outside of . 
around. 
onder 
bij 
dwars 
28 
under. 
near. 
across. 
XII. 
It is unnecessary to give here a complete Syntax of 
Cape Dutch. This would require constant reference to 
High Dutch forms, and lead the student too much out 
of his course; most of the peculiarities of construction 
are best learnt by practice. Where necessary, expres· 
sions deserving special notice will be explained, in notes 
to the conversations, found later on in this book. A few 
leading rules only are given here. 
A. Cape Dutch has a double negation, which is 
expressed by the words nie - nie = not - not; e. g. 
Ik bet nie en stok nie = I have no stick. 
Sometimes even a form is used, which in reality is a 
triple negation, e. g. 
Ik weet niks nie van die ding af nie I know 
nothing of the matter. 
It should be remembered that the second nie is put 
as near the end of the sentence as possible. 
_.- In some short expressions, like : "Ik weet nie" 
(It don 't know);" ik geloof nie (I don 't believe) etc, a 
single negation is only used. 
B. In the Present Tense the Verb is usually put 
immediately after its subject, e. g. ' 
Jan loop vinnig = John walks fast. 
Die paerd bijt ver mij = The horte bites me. 
But in the Perfect and Future, as well as in the 
Conditional, the verb is divided; the auxiliary is -put as 
near the subject .as possible, but the past participle of 
the Perfect, and the Infinitive of the Future and Condi· 
29 
tional, are put as near the end of the sentence,· as can 
·conveniently be done, e. g. 
· Jan het 'banja vinnig huistoe geloop. 
John has walked home very fast. 
Jan zal vinnig na die school loop. 
John will walk fast to school. 
Die paerd het ver die arme man gebijt. 
The horse has bitten the poor man. 
, Die man zou al die dinge nie doen nie. 
The man would not do all the things. 
\ C. Cape Dutch, as usually spoken, has really no 
). transitive verbs; generally the preposition ver is placed 
between the verb and its object, e. g. 
Hij sla ver die bond He beats the dog. +;'. Steek ver die lamp ¢ =· Light the lamp. 
· N B. The more educated among the Cape Dutch 
often leave the ver out, and then, of course, the verb 
is transitive. 
C. PHRASES AND QUESTIONS . . 
Before starting long conversations, it is desirable that 
thA student should know a number of phrases and 
,questions which occur in everf-day life. A considerable 
number of these are given below, and the student would 
do well to learn these thoroughly by heart, and even, 
to copy them once or twice. As this book is intended 
principally for English-speaking persons, the English is 
put in the first column. 
Good morning! 
Good afternoon. 
Good evening. 
Goeie morre ! 
Goeie middag. 
Goeien a'end.