Most attributive adjective forms are predictable: you decide whether to add -e by syllable count and final sound (see the attributive -e page), and where -e triggers a spelling change you reason it out from the stem-change rules. But a small set of adjectives breaks the pattern in ways no rule recovers — and here is the cruel twist: they are some of the most frequently used adjectives in the language. Old, new, good, other come up in nearly every conversation, so getting their attributive forms wrong is the most audible adjective mistake a learner can make. This page is deliberately short and prioritised by frequency, not alphabet. Learn these ten or so forms as fixed units and you will sound far more natural than someone who has memorised a hundred regular ones.
Why frequency, not rules, is the right lens here
A textbook that lists irregular adjectives alphabetically buries ou and goeie among rarities you will use once a year. That is exactly backwards. The reason these particular words went irregular is because they are so common — high-frequency words resist regularisation across every language. So the practical move is to drill the frequent ones until they are automatic, and not worry about the long tail.
The three that change shape: ou, nuwe, goeie
These three are the headline irregulars. Their predicative form (after the noun) is the plain dictionary word, but their attributive form (before the noun) is a memorised special.
| Predicative (after noun) | Attributive (before noun) | Meaning | Why it's irregular |
|---|---|---|---|
| oud | ou | old | the d drops; the living form is just ou, not oude |
| nuut | nuwe | new | the t becomes w → nuwe, never nuute |
| goed | goeie | good | d drops and an unexpected i appears → goeie, not goede |
ou — old
The most common of the three. In front of a noun, "old" is simply ou: die ou man, 'n ou hond, my ou skoene, die ou dae. The form oude survives only in frozen names and semi-archaic compounds (die Oude Kerk in Cape Town, oudergewoonte "out of habit"); treat it as a fossil. After the noun, the predicative form returns to oud: die man is oud.
Die ou hond lê heeldag in die son op die stoep.
The old dog lies in the sun on the porch all day.
Sy het haar ou skoene weggegooi en nuwes gekoop.
She threw away her old shoes and bought new ones.
My oupa vertel graag stories van die ou dae.
My grandfather likes to tell stories of the old days.
nuwe — new
"New" before a noun is nuwe: die nuwe kar, 'n nuwe huis, die nuwe planne. The bare predicative is nuut (die kar is nuut), so you never write nuute attributively — the t has turned to w. This pairs neatly with ou: my ou skoene versus my nuwe skoene.
Hulle het 'n nuwe huis in die voorstad gekoop.
They bought a new house in the suburbs.
Ek hou van die nuwe planne vir die park.
I like the new plans for the park.
Die kar is nog splinternuut — net 'n maand oud.
The car is still brand-new — only a month old.
goeie — good
The trickiest, because two things happen at once: the d drops (as in oud → ou) and an unexpected i appears, giving goeie — not the goede you would logically predict. Die goeie nuus, 'n goeie idee, goeie kos, 'n goeie vriend. The form goede lives on only in elevated religious or literary phrasing and in the fossilised greetings goeiedag and goeiemôre (which started life as goeie dag, goeie môre). For everything ordinary, it is goeie.
Dit is 'n goeie idee — kom ons doen dit so.
That's a good idea — let's do it that way.
Ek het goeie nuus: ons het die kontrak gekry!
I have good news: we got the contract!
Hy is 'n goeie vriend wat altyd luister.
He is a good friend who always listens.
The invariant set: ander, beter, minder, meer
A second group is irregular in the opposite way — these adjectives never change at all, taking neither -e nor any stem change, whether before or after the noun. Three of them are comparatives that happen to function as everyday determiners.
| Form | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ander | other / different | 'n ander dag, die ander mense |
| beter | better | 'n beter opsie, die beter plan |
| minder | fewer / less | minder geld, minder mense |
| meer | more | meer tyd, meer probleme |
The trap with ander is that it looks like it should take -e (it ends in -er, it is two syllables), but it is fixed: die ander man, never die andere man in modern Afrikaans. Andere exists only as an archaic or very formal variant. Likewise beter and minder are already comparative forms and do not take a further ending: 'n beter opsie, minder mense. For how comparatives are built more generally, see the comparative page.
Kom ons probeer 'n ander dag — vandag pas nie.
Let's try another day — today doesn't suit.
Die ander mense het al lankal gegaan.
The other people left long ago.
Dis 'n beter opsie as om met die trein te ry.
That's a better option than taking the train.
Ons het vanjaar minder reën gehad as gewoonlik.
We had less rain this year than usual.
A note on what is NOT here
Resist the urge to expand this list. Adjectives like hoog → hoë, lief → liewe, sleg → slegte feel irregular but are fully rule-governed — they are handled on the stem-changes page, because each falls out of a regular sound rule (g-deletion, f→w, inserted t). The genuinely unpredictable attributive forms — the ones you cannot derive and must store as units — are really just **ou, nuwe and goeie, plus the invariant ander / beter / minder / meer. That is the whole "irregular adjective list", and it is mercifully small.
Common mistakes
❌ Die oude man stap stadig.
Incorrect — attributive 'old' is ou (the d drops): die ou man.
✅ Die ou man stap stadig.
The old man walks slowly.
❌ Ons het 'n nuute kar gekoop.
Incorrect — the t becomes w: 'n nuwe kar.
✅ Ons het 'n nuwe kar gekoop.
We bought a new car.
❌ Dit is 'n goede idee.
Incorrect — good is irregular: goeie, not goede.
✅ Dit is 'n goeie idee.
That's a good idea.
❌ Kom ons kies 'n andere plek.
Incorrect — ander is invariant; no -e: 'n ander plek.
✅ Kom ons kies 'n ander plek.
Let's choose a different place.
❌ Hierdie is 'n betere plan.
Incorrect — beter is already comparative and invariant: 'n beter plan.
✅ Hierdie is 'n beter plan.
This is a better plan.
Key takeaways
- A tiny set of very high-frequency adjectives has irregular attributive forms; their frequency is exactly why getting them right matters most.
- ou (old), nuwe (new) and goeie (good) are the three to memorise as fixed units — die ou man, die nuwe kar, 'n goeie idee. Never oude, nuute, goede.
- Spelling watchpoints: the w in nuwe, the i in goeie; all three are plain, no diacritics.
- ander, beter, minder, meer are invariant — they take no -e at all (die ander man, 'n beter opsie), despite looking as if they should.
- Do not pad the list: hoë, liewe, slegte and friends are regular stem changes covered on stem-changes, not memory items.
- The forms here recur in nearly every sentence, so drilling them early pays off faster than any other adjective work; for the surrounding rules see attributive -e and predicative adjectives.
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
- 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.
- Stem Changes with Attributive -eB1 — The spelling changes the attributive -e triggers — hoog→hoë, oud→ou, lief→liewe, dof→dowwe — grouped into predictable classes you can reason about, not memorise.
- Afrikaans Adjectives: OverviewA1 — The central fact of Afrikaans adjectives: bare when predicative, often inflected with -e when attributive.
- Predicative AdjectivesA1 — Predicative adjectives — those after wees, word, lyk, bly — stay bare in Afrikaans, with no ending and no agreement, whatever the subject.
- 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.