All languages- Where it's spoken
- South Africa and Namibia
- Speakers
- around 17 million including second-language speakers
- Writing system
- Latin alphabet
Afrikaans is the fastest African language to reach conversational level if you already speak English or Dutch.
What makes Afrikaans different
- Verbs barely change form — ek is, jy is, hy is.
- Double negatives are standard: ek het nie geld nie.
- Vocabulary overlaps heavily with Dutch, with Malay and Khoi influences.
Your first Afrikaans phrases
Each phrase is written the way it's spelled, then respelled for English speakers with the stressed syllable in capitals.
- HalloHello/ha-LOH/
- DankieThank you/DAHN-kee/
- WelkomWelcome/VEL-kom/
- TotsiensGoodbye/tot-SEENS/
- JaYes/YAH/
- NeeNo/NEE-uh/
- AssebliefPlease/AH-suh-bleef/
- JammerSorry/YAH-mer/
Want the full list? Read the free Afrikaans phrasebook with pronunciation, grab the free printable Afrikaans starter kit, or compare SemaSoma with other African language apps.