When an adjective stands after a linking verb — I am glad, she is afraid, he is sure — it often needs to say glad of what, afraid that what, sure of what. The completing material is the adjective's complement, and Afrikaans is strict about its shape: one group of adjectives takes an om te infinitive (bly om te help), another takes a dat clause (bang dat hy val), and a third takes a fixed preposition (trots op, seker van, lus vir). The crucial insight is that the choice is lexically fixed — it belongs to the adjective itself, exactly the way a verb's preposition does — so it must be learned per word, not guessed.
This page is about predicate adjectives (those after is, word, voel, lyk, bly). For the bare predicative form generally, see predicative adjectives.
Three complement types, set by the adjective
Think of each adjective as carrying a small label that says how it links to what follows. There are three labels:
| Complement type | Pattern | Example adjective |
|---|---|---|
| infinitive | ... om (te) ... | bly (glad), gretig (eager) |
| finite clause | ... dat ... | bang (afraid), seker (sure), bewus (aware) |
| preposition + noun | ... [prep] ... | trots op (proud of), seker van (sure of), lus vir (keen for) |
Many adjectives accept more than one type with a meaning difference: seker can take van + a noun (seker van homself, sure of himself) or dat + a clause (seker dat hy kom, sure that he's coming). That flexibility is itself lexical — it is part of what you learn about seker.
The om te complement: glad / eager to do
Adjectives expressing an attitude toward an action typically take the infinitive marked by om ... te: the action goes inside an om te clause, with te sitting right before the verb at the end.
Ek is bly om jou te sien.
I'm glad to see you.
Sy is gretig om te begin.
She's eager to start.
Ons is bereid om te help.
We're willing to help.
Notice the order: om opens the clause, the rest of the clause follows, and te + verb closes it — om jou te sien, om te begin. This clause-final te-infinitive is one of the more distinctly non-English features here; English keeps "to" glued to the verb at the front ("to see you"), while Afrikaans splits the frame around the object. See om te clauses.
| Adjective | With om te | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bly | bly om te help | glad to help |
| gretig | gretig om te leer | eager to learn |
| bereid | bereid om te betaal | willing to pay |
| bang | bang om te vra | afraid to ask |
The dat complement: afraid / sure that something is so
Adjectives that introduce a whole proposition — a fact, a fear, a certainty about a state of affairs — take a dat clause. The key marker that you are in dat territory: the complement has its own subject and its verb goes to the end (subordinate-clause word order).
Sy is bang dat dit reën.
She's afraid that it'll rain.
Ek is seker dat hy betyds sal wees.
I'm sure that he'll be on time.
Ons is bewus dat die tyd min is.
We're aware that there's little time.
The verb-final order is doing real work: dat dit reën (that it rains), dat hy betyds sal wees (that he on-time will be — verb cluster at the end). This is the ordinary behaviour of a subordinate clause; the dat-taking adjective simply triggers it.
| Adjective | With dat | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bang | bang dat hy val | afraid that he'll fall |
| seker | seker dat dit waar is | sure that it's true |
| bewus | bewus dat dit laat is | aware that it's late |
| jammer | jammer dat jy moet gaan | sorry that you have to go |
om te versus dat: the contrast that matters
Some adjectives — notably bang — accept both, with a clean meaning split. bang om te + infinitive means afraid to do (it yourself); bang dat + clause means afraid that (something will happen).
Ek is bang om te val.
I'm afraid to fall (afraid of falling, myself doing it).
Ek is bang dat hy val.
I'm afraid that he'll fall (worried about him).
The prepositional complement: proud OF, sure OF, keen FOR
A third group links to its complement through a fixed preposition plus a noun or pronoun. There is no logic that lets you predict the preposition from the meaning — trots happens to take op, seker takes van, lus takes vir — so these are memorised as units, just like a verb's preposition.
Hy is trots op sy dogter.
He's proud of his daughter.
Hy is seker van homself.
He's sure of himself.
Ek is lus vir 'n koppie koffie.
I'm in the mood for a cup of coffee.
| Adjective + prep | Meaning | English prep |
|---|---|---|
| trots op | proud of | of |
| seker van | sure of | of |
| bewus van | aware of | of |
| kwaad vir | angry at/with | at/with |
| lus vir | keen for / in the mood for | for |
| jaloers op | jealous of | of |
| verlief op | in love with | with |
Look at the right-hand column: English uses of for "proud of", "sure of", "aware of", and "jealous of" — yet Afrikaans splits them between op (trots op, jaloers op) and van (seker van, bewus van). The English preposition is no guide at all. This is precisely why competitors who leave these "to chance" lead learners astray: the mapping is one-to-many and must be drilled per adjective.
Putting it together
Real sentences stack these frames naturally. Notice how each adjective pulls its own complement type:
Ek is bly om te help, maar ek is bang dat ek nie genoeg tyd het nie.
I'm glad to help, but I'm afraid that I don't have enough time.
Sy is trots op haar werk en seker dat dit sal slaag.
She's proud of her work and sure that it'll succeed.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek is bly dat jou te sien.
Incorrect — bly with an infinitive takes om te, not dat: bly om jou te sien.
✅ Ek is bly om jou te sien.
I'm glad to see you.
❌ Sy is bang om dit reën.
Incorrect — when the complement is a proposition with its own subject, use dat: bang dat dit reën.
✅ Sy is bang dat dit reën.
She's afraid that it'll rain.
❌ Hy is trots van sy dogter.
Incorrect — trots takes op, not van.
✅ Hy is trots op sy dogter.
He's proud of his daughter.
❌ Hy is seker op homself.
Incorrect — seker takes van, not op.
✅ Hy is seker van homself.
He's sure of himself.
❌ Ek is lus van 'n koppie koffie.
Incorrect — lus takes vir.
✅ Ek is lus vir 'n koppie koffie.
I'm in the mood for a cup of coffee.
Key takeaways
- A predicate adjective's complement comes in three shapes: om te
- infinitive (bly om te help), dat
- clause (bang dat hy val), or preposition
- noun (trots op).
- clause (bang dat hy val), or preposition
- infinitive (bly om te help), dat
- The shape is lexically fixed — a property of the adjective, like a verb's preposition — so learn it per word, not by guessing.
- om te for the subject's own action; dat for reporting a fact or proposition. Some adjectives (bang) take both with a meaning split.
- In a dat clause the complement has its own subject and verb-final order (dat dit reën).
- The preposition does not follow English: trots op and jaloers op, but seker van and bewus van — all "of" in English. See prepositional collocations and om te clauses.
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
- Fixed Prepositional CollocationsB2 — Adjectives that lock to a particular preposition — trots op, lief vir, gewoond aan — and why you cannot guess them from English.
- Infinitival Clauses: om teA2 — The om te + infinitive clause — Afrikaans's standard 'in order to' and infinitive complement — where om opens the clause and te clings to the infinitive at the very end, bracketing everything in between.
- 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.
- Verb-Preposition CollocationsB2 — Many Afrikaans verbs demand a specific, fixed preposition — wag vir, dink aan, reken op — and the preposition rarely matches the English one, so the safest strategy is to learn the verb and its preposition as a single chunk.