A single clause normally has one predicate — the main verb. But Afrikaans, like English, allows a second predicate riding quietly inside the same clause: a bare adjective that says something about the object rather than the subject. Sy verf die muur wit does not just mean she paints the wall; it means she paints it into a white state — the wall ends up white. This is secondary predication, and it splits into two flavours: resultatives (the object ends up in the adjective's state because of the action) and depictives (the object is already in that state while the action happens). The construction is productive, idiomatic, and — crucially — the adjective stays bare, with no attributive -e. That single fact is where almost every learner stumbles.
The resultative: the object ends up in the adjective's state
In a resultative, the action causes the object to enter the state named by the adjective. The adjective is the result of the verb. The structure is subject — verb — object — bare adjective, and the adjective always sits after the object, at the end of the clause's content (before any clause-final verb).
Sy skilder die deur groen.
She paints the door green.
The door was not green; her painting makes it green. groen predicates the resulting state of die deur. English does exactly the same — "paints the door green" — so the construction itself is familiar; what is unfamiliar is resisting the urge to inflect the adjective.
Hy drink die glas leeg.
He drinks the glass empty.
Ons het die kamer skoon gemaak.
We cleaned the room.
Look closely at drink die glas leeg: the glass becomes empty by means of his drinking. And skoon gemaak — "made clean" — is the most frozen of all: skoonmaak ("to clean") has fused the resultative skoon with maak into a separable compound verb, a fossil of this very construction. The fact that the language built an everyday verb out of a resultative shows how deep and productive the pattern runs.
Why the adjective stays bare: predicative, not attributive
This is the heart of the page. Afrikaans adjectives come in two shapes: an attributive form, often with -e, that sits before a noun ('n wit muur, "a white wall"), and a predicative form, bare, that stands after a linking verb (die muur is wit, "the wall is white"). The full rule for adding -e is on the attributive -e, and the bare predicative form on predicative adjectives.
A secondary predicate is predicative, not attributive — it is predicated of the object, the way an adjective is predicated of a subject after is. So it takes the bare form. die muur wit is logically die muur [word/is] wit ("the wall [becomes/is] white") with the linking verb absent. There is no noun for the adjective to lean on attributively; it is making a statement, not modifying.
| Use | Form | Example | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attributive (before noun) | wit + noun | 'n wit muur | a white wall |
| Predicative (after 'is') | bare | die muur is wit | the wall is white |
| Resultative (after object) | bare | sy verf die muur wit | she paints the wall white |
The resultative shares its form with the predicative because it shares its function: both assert a state, they just assert it of different things (subject vs object). Adding -e — die muur witte — is ungrammatical because -e is the attributive marker, and there is no noun to attribute to here.
Hou die deur oop, asseblief.
Keep the door open, please.
Die kinders het hulle borde leeg geëet.
The children ate their plates empty.
In hou die deur oop, oop is bare and resultative-like — keeping the door in an open state. In borde leeg geëet, leeg stays bare even though borde is plural; number does not touch a secondary predicate.
The depictive: a state that holds during the action
The second flavour, the depictive, looks identical in shape but differs in meaning: the object is already in the adjective's state while the action happens — the action does not cause it. The classic minimal pair is hot coffee:
Sy drink die koffie warm.
She drinks the coffee hot / while it's hot.
The coffee does not become hot from being drunk; it is hot as she drinks it. Compare the resultative drink die glas leeg, where the glass becomes empty. Same syntax, opposite causal direction — context and world knowledge tell them apart.
Ek eet my groente rou.
I eat my vegetables raw.
Hulle het die vis vars gekoop.
They bought the fish fresh.
In all of these the adjective stays bare for the same reason: it is predicated of the object, not attached attributively to it. die vis vars — "the fish [being] fresh" at the moment of buying.
Distinguishing from a causative with laat
When you want to make the causation explicit, or when the result is too complex for a bare adjective, Afrikaans reaches for the causative laat ("let/make"). Sy laat die muur wit verf — "she has the wall painted white" — uses a full subordinate structure rather than a secondary predicate. The bare-adjective resultative is the compact, direct version; the laat-causative is the analytic, often agentless version. The two are complementary tools, and the laat-construction has its own page: the causative laat.
Sy verf die muur wit.
She paints the wall white. (she does it herself, directly)
Sy laat die muur wit verf.
She has the wall painted white. (she gets someone to do it)
The first is a true resultative secondary predicate; the second embeds a whole clause. Choosing between them is a matter of who does the painting and how directly you want to say it.
Resultatives and purpose/result clauses
Do not confuse the one-word resultative adjective with a full result clause introduced by so ... dat ("so ... that"). The secondary predicate compresses the result into a single adjective; the result clause spells it out as a finite clause. Both express results; they sit at opposite ends of explicitness, and the clausal version is treated under result and purpose.
Hy het die glas leeg gedrink.
He drank the glass empty. (compact resultative)
Hy het soveel gedrink dat die glas leeg was.
He drank so much that the glass was empty. (full result clause)
Common mistakes
❌ Sy verf die muur witte.
Incorrect — the resultative is predicative, so the adjective stays bare; '-e' is the attributive marker and belongs only before a noun.
✅ Sy verf die muur wit.
She paints the wall white.
❌ Hy drink die glas leë.
Incorrect — same error; secondary predicates never take attributive '-e', even after a plural or definite object.
✅ Hy drink die glas leeg.
He drinks the glass empty.
❌ Die kinders het hulle leë borde geëet.
Changes the meaning — 'leë borde' (attributive) means they ate already-empty plates; the resultative 'borde leeg geëet' means they ate them until empty.
✅ Die kinders het hulle borde leeg geëet.
The children ate their plates empty.
❌ Sy verf wit die muur.
Incorrect word order — the resultative adjective follows the object, not the verb; it must close the clause: 'die muur wit'.
✅ Sy verf die muur wit.
She paints the wall white.
❌ Sy maak die muur wit verf (meaning: she has it painted).
Incorrect — to express getting it done by someone, use the causative 'laat': 'sy laat die muur wit verf', not 'maak'.
✅ Sy laat die muur wit verf.
She has the wall painted white.
Key takeaways
- A secondary predicate is a bare adjective that predicates a state of the object, not the subject.
- Resultatives mean the object ends up in that state (verf die muur wit, drink die glas leeg); the construction is productive and even fossilised into verbs like skoonmaak.
- Depictives mean the object is already in that state during the action (drink die koffie warm); same form, different causation, read from context.
- The adjective always stays bare — predicative, not attributive — so it never takes -e; that is the single most common error. See predicative adjectives and the attributive -e.
- For explicit, indirect causation use the causative laat; for spelled-out results use so ... dat result clauses.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- The Causative: laatB1 — The verb laat takes a bare infinitive to express letting, making or having someone do something — one Afrikaans verb covering English 'let', 'make' and 'have done'.
- Predicative AdjectivesA1 — Predicative adjectives — those after wees, word, lyk, bly — stay bare in Afrikaans, with no ending and no agreement, whatever the subject.
- 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.
- Result and Purpose Clauses: sodat, so ... dat, om teB2 — How Afrikaans separates purpose (intended result) from result (achieved consequence): sodat and om te mark purpose, so ... dat marks actual consequence — a distinction English's 'so that' blurs.