Cellar Door - Afrikaans in 1 year

[Cellar Door]

I am now through 425/625 vocab words and will likely complete the rest of them this week. So far, I can:

1. Speak in basic sentences in the past, present, and future.
2. Tell you about my family.
3. Talk to you about the time, date, and anything else regarding numbers.
4. Go to a store to buy something.
5. Talk about my likes, dislikes, my family, pets, etc. (very basic)

I think the next step in my learning is to just start building a massive amount of sentences while continuing to learn vocabulary. I have also started searching youtube to pick out a few songs to study the lyrics and pick up a few things.

I tried to follow the CA and TYA courses but they bored me to tears. I have no motivation to do book exercises.

[Cellar Door]

Adjective inflections are killing me.

This is the first grammar rule i've encountered that has a metric ton of exceptions to the common rule.

Also, I just figured out that "ou", not only means old, but also can mean "man, guy, dude", etc.

Ek is nie 'n sleg ou nie

[Cellar Door]

Ek het 'n hond. My hond is baie slim. Sonder twyfel ek het 'n slim hond. Gewoonlik my hond is op die erf. Sy hou daarvan om eekhoring te jaag.

Ek het 'n gehoorsaam hond. Partykeer my hond is 'n bietjie ongehoorsaam. Vroeër my hond het in 'n sirkel hardloop. Soms ek dink my hond is 'n snaakse hond.

Ek het 'n honger hond. Ek hou daarvan om vlies vir haar te maak. Ek hou daarvaan om te braai. Partykeer ek gee kos aan my goeie hond.

Ek het 'n wit hond. My hond is 'n corgie. Die koningin van Engeland ook het corgies. My vinnige ou hond hou daarvan om op die erf te hardloop. Ek hou daarvan om met my hond deur die bos te loop.

[Jaleel10]

Ek het 'n hond. My hond is baie slim. Sonder twyfel het ek 'n slim hond. Gewoonlik is my hond op die erf. Sy hou daarvan om eekhorings te jaag.

Ek het 'n gehoorsame hond. Partykeer is my hond 'n bietjie ongehoorsaam. Vroeër het my hond in 'n sirkel gehardloop. Soms dink ek my hond is 'n snaakse hond.

Ek het 'n honger hond. Ek hou daarvan om vlies vir haar te maak. Ek hou daarvaan om te braai. Partykeer gee ek kos aan my goeie hond.

Ek het 'n wit hond. My hond is 'n corgie. Die koningin van Engeland het ook corgies. My vinnige ou hond hou daarvan om op die erf te hardloop. Ek hou daarvan om met my hond deur die bos te loop


Lots of your pronoun placement seems to be directly translated from English It's a subtle difference but I am sure you will crack it soon. Ek's bly om te sien dat jy so goed vorder!

[Cellar Door]

Ek het 'n vraag.

The word order I have learned is Subject - Verb 1 - Time - Object - Manner - Place - Verb 2 - Infinitive

So why do you say "Partykeer is my hond"? Doesn't the subject need to come first?

[Jaleel10]

Ek het 'n vraag.

The word order I have learned is Subject - Verb 1 - Time - Object - Manner - Place - Verb 2 - Infinitive

So why do you say "Partykeer is my hond"? Doesn't the subject need to come first?

Goeie vraag....

Uhm, I do not know the rule to be honest but if I had to guess, I'd say if a phrase starts with a 'time' the verb comes directly after it.

Meeste van die tyd kom hy laat
Elke dag was sy hier
Gister het hy dit gedoen


I'll ask some of my friends if they know the exact rule

Alternatively you can follow your rule

My hond is partykeer....
Hy kom meeste van die tyd....
Hy het dit gister...
Sy was elke dag.....

I think this route is 'safer'. But yeah, if you put the time in the beginning, you have to put the verb directly after it.

[Cellar Door]

Looks like I found it:

When an adverb of time is used in a sentence with a nominal direct object, it can either precede or follow the object. However, if the object is a pronoun, it must follow the object.

Ek het dit verlede week gelees, Verlede week het ek daardie boek/dit gelees

Beginning with time thus never conflicts with TMP rule if there are additional adverbial expressions in the sentence.

Elke oggend gaan ek met die bus stad toe

[Cellar Door]

Any recommendations on shows to watch on kyknet? (which is an amazing resource by the way!)

I have started watching Jan Braai which is really good so far. There are 8 seasons so plenty of stuff to watch. Only trouble is that I really don't have any idea what he is saying

[PeterMollenburg]

Hi Cellar Door. Having studied a fair amount of Dutch in the past, it’s interesting reading your log. I used some of Donaldson’s texts including Colloquial Dutch, and found him to be a quality author. Interestingly, he was a teacher/lecturer/head of a languages dep’t at a university in my city (Melbourne), which kind of makes me like him a little more. Anyway, even the past participle rule of adding ge- to the front of the verb except for those beginning with be-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver-, is the same as Dutch.

I’d imagine, once you’re comfortable with Afrikaans, should you ever want to learn Dutch, you’d have a great headstart. Good luck!

[Jaleel10]

Any recommendations on shows to watch on kyknet? (which is an amazing resource by the way!)

I have started watching Jan Braai which is really good so far. There are 8 seasons so plenty of stuff to watch. Only trouble is that I really don't have any idea what he is saying

Die Byl is probably my favourite Afrikaans series of the last few years. It's your typical Detective show, It's kinda like the Afrikaans True Detective You can read a summary of it here - https://maroelamedia.co.za/vermaak/tele ... s-die-byl/
It's only 1 season but it is extremely well done.

If you want something a bit longer, you can watch the popular Vallei van Sluiers, it's 5 seasons long, here is a summary of the plot:
In Vallei Van Sluiers is daar drie families wat met vrugte boer en wedywer om alleenreg op hul produkte te hou: die De Bruyns, die Robertses en die Van Rhijns. “Vallei van Sluiers is soos Dallas in die Boland,” sê die uitvoerende vervaardiger, Johan van Jaarsveld. “Dis ’n storie oor mense en hul interaksie, asook die onmin, twiste en skandale in hul lewe.” https://www.netwerk24.com/huisgenoot/Pr ... e-20170823

Ek hoop jy geniet dit!