Afrikaans lets you take an adjective and use it straight as a noun, with no propping-up word in between — die armes means "the poor", die goeie means "the good (thing/part)". English usually demands a dummy noun ("the poor ones", "the good part"), and that reflex is exactly what trips learners up: they reach for a noun Afrikaans doesn't need. This page shows how the die … -e pattern nominalises adjectives, when it denotes people versus an abstract quality, and how it pluralises. It builds on the attributive -e ending covered at the attributive -e.
The basic mechanism: die + adjective + -e
Put die (the) in front of an adjective and add -e, and the adjective becomes a noun phrase. The -e is the same inflectional ending the adjective takes attributively (die ou man → die oue), but here there is no following noun — the adjective carries the whole meaning on its own.
Die rykes word ryker en die armes word armer.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Die jonges verstaan dit dadelik.
The young ones understand it immediately.
In die armes, arm (poor) plus -e plus the article die gives a noun meaning "the poor (people)". No word for "people" or "ones" is needed — Afrikaans packs it into the adjective itself. This is the compactness English lacks: where English says "the poor" only in a fixed, plural-feeling phrase, Afrikaans treats the construction as fully productive and even pluralises it with -s (see below).
Denoting people: die … -e (and the plural -s)
Used of people, the nominalised adjective behaves like a count noun. In the plural it adds -s on top of the -e: die oues (the old ones), die jonges (the young ones), die armes (the poor), die rykes (the rich), die dowes (the deaf), die blindes (the blind).
| Adjective | As a noun (plural) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| arm (poor) | die armes | the poor |
| ryk (rich) | die rykes | the rich |
| oud (old) | die oues | the old ones |
| jonk (young) | die jonges | the young ones |
| blind (blind) | die blindes | the blind |
| siek (sick) | die siekes | the sick |
Die siekes word eerste behandel.
The sick are treated first.
Die ou skoene is te klein; gee die kleintjies vir die jonges.
The old shoes are too small; give the small ones to the young ones.
Notice oud (old) loses its final d before -e — the attributive form is oue (as in die oue), and the plural noun is die oues — one of the stem changes that go with the attributive ending. For a single individual you can use the indefinite article: 'n blinde ("a blind person"), 'n ou (an old one) — though ou alone is also a common informal word for "guy/chap", so context matters.
'n Blinde het ander sintuie wat skerper word.
A blind person has other senses that grow sharper.
Denoting an abstract quality: die goeie, die slegte
The same pattern, used without a plural and often without referring to people, names an abstract quality or category — "the good", "the bad", "the beautiful (of it)". Here the nominalised adjective is uncountable, like English "the good in everyone".
In elke situasie is daar die goeie en die slegte.
In every situation there is the good and the bad.
Sy sien altyd die goeie in mense.
She always sees the good in people.
A particularly Afrikaans turn of phrase uses die … daarvan to mean "the X of it" — die mooie daarvan literally "the beautiful of it", i.e. "the beauty of it / what's beautiful about it". This is the construction English would render with an abstract noun ("the beauty"), but Afrikaans builds it straight from the adjective.
Die mooie daarvan is dat almal kan deelneem.
The beauty of it is that everyone can take part.
Die moeilike daarvan is om te begin.
The hard part of it is getting started.
The superlative nominalised: die belangrikste, die mooiste
The superlative form nominalises in exactly the same way, and this is extremely common — die belangrikste ("the most important thing"), die mooiste ("the most beautiful one"), die beste ("the best"). The superlative already ends appropriately, so you simply put die in front and let it stand alone, with no following noun. See the superlative.
Die belangrikste is dat almal veilig is.
The most important thing is that everyone is safe.
Van al die skilderye is hierdie een die mooiste.
Of all the paintings, this one is the most beautiful.
Ons doen ons beste, en die res sal regkom.
We do our best, and the rest will work out.
Why this matters: the missing dummy noun
The recurring English-speaker error is inserting a dummy noun Afrikaans doesn't want. English "the old ones" pushes learners to write die ou ennes or to hunt for a word for "ones"; Afrikaans simply says die oues. English "the most important thing" tempts die belangrikste ding; Afrikaans prefers the bare die belangrikste. The construction is more compact than English, and trusting that compactness is the whole skill.
Die armes het ook regte.
The poor have rights too.
Onthou die belangrikste: wees op tyd.
Remember the main thing: be on time.
Common mistakes
❌ Die arm mense ones het ook regte.
Incorrect — no dummy 'ones'; nominalise directly: die armes.
✅ Die armes het ook regte.
The poor have rights too.
❌ Die belangrikste ding is om op tyd te wees.
Overstuffed — Afrikaans drops the dummy noun: die belangrikste alone.
✅ Die belangrikste is om op tyd te wees.
The most important thing is to be on time.
❌ Die ou het die boodskap verstaan.
Ambiguous for 'the old ones' — the plural needs -s: die oues.
✅ Die oues het die boodskap verstaan.
The old ones understood the message.
❌ Sy sien die goed in mense.
Wrong word — die goed means 'the stuff/things'; the abstract quality is die goeie.
✅ Sy sien die goeie in mense.
She sees the good in people.
❌ Die mooiheid daarvan is dat almal kan deelneem.
Stilted here — Afrikaans builds it from the adjective: die mooie daarvan.
✅ Die mooie daarvan is dat almal kan deelneem.
The beauty of it is that everyone can take part.
Key takeaways
- die + adjective + -e turns an adjective into a noun — no supporting noun needed: die armes = "the poor".
- For people, it counts and pluralises with -s: die oues, die jonges, die blindes.
- For an abstract quality, it's uncountable: die goeie en die slegte, and die mooie daarvan = "the beauty of it".
- The superlative nominalises the same way and is very common: die belangrikste, die beste, die mooiste.
- Don't insert a dummy noun ("ones", "thing") — Afrikaans nominalises the adjective directly. See the attributive -e.
Now practice Afrikaans
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Afrikaans Adjectives: OverviewA1 — The central fact of Afrikaans adjectives: bare when predicative, often inflected with -e when attributive.
- The Attributive -e: When to Add ItA2 — The single hardest Afrikaans adjective rule, made predictable: when an adjective in front of a noun takes -e, and when it stays bare.
- Superlatives: -ste and die meesA2 — The superlative adds -ste and an obligatory die (die grootste, die mooiste); long adjectives use die mees, and the article die clings on even in places where English would drop 'the'.
- Comparatives: -er and meerA2 — How Afrikaans builds the comparative — most adjectives add -er (groter, duurder), longer ones take meer, and 'than' is always as, never dan.
- Abstract and Concrete Nouns; Suffix PatternsB2 — How Afrikaans builds abstract nouns with -heid, -ing, -te, -nis and -skap, why these abstractions resist the plural, and the transparent -te pattern that turns an adjective into a quality noun (hoog → hoogte), which English handles irregularly.