A normal relative clause leans on a head noun: die boek wat jy gelees het ("the book that you read") needs die boek for wat to point back to. A free relative — also called a headless relative — has no such head. The relativiser supplies its own antecedent and the whole clause stands in as a full noun phrase: Wat jy sê, is waar ("What you say is true"), where the wat-clause is itself the subject of is waar. English does the same with "what / whoever / wherever", but English speakers learning Afrikaans tend to bolt on a dummy head — "the thing that…", "the one who…" — out of habit. Afrikaans is more compact: the bare wat / wie / waar-clause does the work of an entire noun phrase on its own.
wat: "what / that which"
Wat introduces a free relative referring to a thing, idea or situation: "what" in the sense of "that which". The clause it heads can serve as subject, object, or complement.
Wat jy sê, is waar.
What you say is true.
Wat jy wil hê, kan jy kry.
What you want, you can have.
Ek verstaan nie wat jy bedoel nie.
I don't understand what you mean.
In the first two the wat-clause is the subject ("what you say" / "what you want" is the thing the sentence is about); in the third it is the object of verstaan. Notice there is no head noun anywhere — no die ding wat. Afrikaans speakers do occasionally say die ding wat jy sê for extra concreteness, but the headless wat is the cleaner, more idiomatic default, and inserting a head where none is needed marks you as a learner.
wie: "whoever / he who"
Wie heads a free relative referring to a person: "whoever, anyone who, he who". This is the form English most often dresses up as "the one who" or "whoever". Afrikaans needs neither dummy head — wie alone carries "the person who".
Wie laaste lag, lag die lekkerste.
Whoever laughs last, laughs best.
Wie soek, sal vind.
Whoever seeks shall find.
Wie dit gedoen het, moet opstaan.
Whoever did it must stand up.
These are crisp, proverb-like structures — and indeed many Afrikaans proverbs use exactly this frame (Wie nie waag nie, wen nie, "nothing ventured, nothing gained"). The wie-clause is the subject of the main verb (lag, sal vind, moet opstaan). English "the one who laughs last" needs four words of scaffolding where Afrikaans uses one. Resist the urge to translate "whoever" as die een wat — wie on its own is correct and far more natural.
waar: "wherever / the place where"
Waar heads a free relative of place: "where, the place where, wherever". The clause behaves like a location phrase.
Waar jy woon, weet ek nie.
Where you live, I don't know.
Sit waar jy wil.
Sit wherever you like.
Waar daar rook is, is daar vuur.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Again no head noun — no die plek waar is required, though it is available for emphasis. The headless waar covers both "where" (a known place) and "wherever" (any place), with context deciding; for an explicit "wherever, no matter where", you add ook al, which we turn to now.
ook al: adding the "-ever"
To force the open-ended "-ever" reading — "whatever it may be", "whoever it might be", "no matter where" — Afrikaans inserts ook al into the free relative. It is written as two separate words and typically sits right after the subject of the embedded clause. This is the device that distinguishes a plain "what" from an emphatic "whatever".
Waar jy ook al gaan, ek sal jou volg.
Wherever you go, I'll follow you.
Wat hy ook al sê, glo hom nie.
Whatever he says, don't believe him.
Wie ook al gebel het, hy was onbeskof.
Whoever called was rude.
The ook al concedes that the identity, content or location is unknown or irrelevant — "no matter who/what/where". Without it, wat hy sê is "what he says" (a specific thing); with it, wat hy ook al sê is "whatever he says" (any thing at all). English marks this with the -ever suffix; Afrikaans marks it with the inserted ook al. Keep the two words separate — ookal solid is a common spelling slip.
The free relative as a full noun phrase
The deep point worth isolating: a free relative is a clause doing the job of a noun phrase, with no head noun mediating. That is why it can be a subject (Wie soek, sal vind), a direct object (Ek doen wat ek kan), or the complement of a preposition (Ek dink aan wat jy gesê het). Wherever a noun phrase can go, a headless wat / wie / waar-clause can go.
Ek doen wat ek kan.
I do what I can.
Sy gee wat sy het.
She gives what she has.
This compactness is the whole appeal: one clause, no head, full noun-phrase distribution. English has it too, but only patchily — it readily says "I do what I can" yet often prefers "whoever" over a bare relative, and "the place where" over a bare where. Afrikaans uses the headless form more consistently, so the safest instinct is to drop the dummy head whenever you can. For headed relatives that do need an antecedent, see relative clauses and relative wat.
Common mistakes
❌ Die een wie laaste lag, lag die lekkerste.
Over-built — wie already means 'the one who'; drop the dummy head die een.
✅ Wie laaste lag, lag die lekkerste.
Whoever laughs last, laughs best.
❌ Die ding wat jy sê, is waar.
Unidiomatic for the general claim — the headless Wat jy sê is the natural form.
✅ Wat jy sê, is waar.
What you say is true.
❌ Wat hy ookal sê, glo hom nie.
Incorrect spelling — ook al is two separate words.
✅ Wat hy ook al sê, glo hom nie.
Whatever he says, don't believe him.
❌ Wie soek, sal hy vind.
Incorrect — the wie-clause is already the subject; don't add a resumptive hy.
✅ Wie soek, sal vind.
Whoever seeks shall find.
❌ Die plek waar jy ook al gaan, ek sal jou volg.
Over-built — the headless Waar jy ook al gaan already means 'wherever you go'.
✅ Waar jy ook al gaan, ek sal jou volg.
Wherever you go, I'll follow you.
Key takeaways
- A free (headless) relative has no antecedent noun; wat / wie / waar supplies its own and the clause acts as a full noun phrase.
- wat = "what / that which" (Wat jy sê, is waar), wie = "whoever / he who" (Wie soek, sal vind), waar = "where / wherever" (Sit waar jy wil).
- Add ook al (two words) for the open-ended "-ever, no matter" reading: wat hy ook al sê = "whatever he says".
- The headless clause can be subject, object, or prepositional complement — wherever a noun phrase fits.
- Do not insert a dummy head (die een wat, die ding wat) where Afrikaans uses the bare relative; for true headed relatives see relative clauses.
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- Relative Clause Word OrderB1 — Relative clauses with wat and the waar-compounds are just verb-final subordinate clauses — the verb goes to the end, the relativiser sits right after its antecedent, and prepositional relatives use waarmee, waaroor, waarop at the clause edge.
- Relative Pronouns: wat, wie, waar-B1 — Afrikaans collapses English who/which/that into the single all-purpose relative pronoun wat — for people and things alike — and handles prepositional relatives with met wie for people and solid waar-compounds for things.
- Indefinite Pronouns: iemand, iets, êrens, 'n mensB1 — The positive indefinite series iemand/iets/êrens, the universal series almal/alles/elkeen, and the impersonal 'n mens — Afrikaans's warm, idiomatic way of saying 'one' or generic 'you'.
- Complex Grammar: OverviewB2 — Afrikaans is morphologically simple but syntactically subtle — advanced study is about combining word-order rules, not learning new endings.