Coordinating conjunctions are the joiners that link two equal partners — two words, two phrases, or two full clauses of the same rank. Afrikaans has a tight set of them, and the single most important thing about the whole group is what they do not do: they do not disturb word order. A clause that follows a coordinator keeps the ordinary subject–verb order it would have if it stood alone. That contrasts sharply with the subordinators (see subordinating conjunctions), which kick the verb to the end. The headline drama of this page is the pair want and omdat — both translate "because", yet they belong to opposite classes and therefore build the sentence in opposite ways.
The four true coordinators
The core coordinating conjunctions are en (and), maar (but), of (or), and want (for/because). Each joins equals, and each leaves the following clause in plain main-clause order: subject first, then the finite verb in second position.
| Conjunction | Meaning | Joins | Word order after it |
|---|---|---|---|
| en | and | anything equal | subject–verb (unchanged) |
| maar | but | contrasting equals | subject–verb (unchanged) |
| of | or / whether | alternatives | subject–verb (unchanged) |
| want | for / because | clause + its reason | subject–verb (unchanged) |
en — and
The workhorse joiner. It links nouns, adjectives, verbs, and whole clauses.
Ek wil brood en botter hê.
I'd like bread and butter.
Sy maak die deur oop en sy stap uit.
She opens the door and she walks out.
Notice the second clause: sy stap uit — subject sy, then the verb. English does the same, so en feels completely natural. The trap comes later, when learners assume every joiner behaves like en.
maar — but
Marks contrast. The clause after it is, again, plain main-clause order.
Ek wil gaan, maar ek mag nie.
I want to go, but I'm not allowed to.
Dit is duur, maar dit is die moeite werd.
It's expensive, but it's worth it.
of — or, and "whether"
of is "or" between alternatives. It also does a second job that surprises English speakers: it introduces an indirect (embedded) question meaning "whether". In that second role it actually behaves like a subordinator and sends the verb to the end — so watch the two uses carefully.
Wil jy koffie of tee hê?
Would you like coffee or tea?
Ek weet nie of hy kom nie.
I don't know whether he's coming.
In the first sentence of coordinates two equal options. In the second, of hy kom is an embedded yes/no question — "whether he is coming" — and the verb kom sits at the clause end. That is the subordinating use; the of-uses split is worth keeping straight.
want — for / because (and it is coordinating)
Here is the heart of the page. want gives a reason, so its meaning overlaps with English "because". But grammatically it is a coordinator, and so the clause after it keeps ordinary word order: the verb stays in second position.
Hy bly tuis, want dit reën.
He's staying home, because it's raining.
Ek koop nie die kar nie, want dit is te duur.
I'm not buying the car, because it's too expensive.
Look closely at want dit reën: subject dit, verb reën — normal order, exactly as a standalone sentence. That is the signature of a coordinator.
The want vs omdat showdown
Afrikaans has two everyday words for "because", and they are not interchangeable in structure. want is coordinating; omdat is subordinating. They mean almost the same thing, but they build the clause in mirror-opposite ways.
| want (coordinating) | omdat (subordinating) | |
|---|---|---|
| Class | coordinator | subordinator |
| Verb position after it | second (normal) | last (clause-final) |
| Can it start the sentence? | no — joins to a preceding clause | yes — the omdat-clause can come first |
Compare the same idea built both ways:
Ek bly tuis, want ek is moeg.
I'm staying home, for I'm tired. (want — verb 'is' in second position)
Ek bly tuis omdat ek moeg is.
I'm staying home because I'm tired. (omdat — verb 'is' pushed to the end)
Same meaning, different machinery. After want you say ek is moeg (verb second). After omdat you say ek moeg is (verb last). If you can hear that the verb has moved, you have grasped the difference between the two whole classes of conjunction. There is a dedicated page comparing them at want vs omdat.
A word on dus, nog … nog, and inverting joiners
The original list of "coordinators" often includes dus ("so/therefore"), but dus is not a true coordinator — it is an inverting connector. When dus opens a clause it forces inversion, putting the verb before the subject: Dit reën, dus bly ons tuis (It's raining, so we stay home — bly before ons). That verb-first flip never happens after en, maar, of, or want. We cover dus and its relatives (daarom, toe, dan) on the inverting conjunctions page.
Dit reën, dus bly ons tuis.
It's raining, so we're staying home. (dus inverts: verb 'bly' comes before 'ons')
The correlative nog … nog ("neither … nor") links two negated alternatives and likewise causes inversion in each conjunct, so it too sits outside the simple coordinator group:
Nog Jan nog Marie wou kom.
Neither Jan nor Marie wanted to come.
The honest summary: only en, maar, of, want are pure coordinators that leave word order untouched. Everything else that "feels like" a coordinator in English — so, therefore, then — behaves differently in Afrikaans.
Common mistakes
❌ Hy bly tuis, want dit reën nie buite kan speel nie.
Incorrect — after want you keep normal order; don't import omdat-style verb-final structure.
✅ Hy bly tuis, want hy kan nie buite speel nie.
He's staying home, because he can't play outside.
❌ Ek bly tuis want ek moeg is.
Incorrect — want is coordinating, so the verb stays second: 'ek is moeg', not 'ek moeg is'.
✅ Ek bly tuis, want ek is moeg.
I'm staying home, because I'm tired.
❌ Sy maak die deur oop en stap sy uit.
Incorrect — don't invert after en; English-speakers sometimes flip the verb.
✅ Sy maak die deur oop en sy stap uit.
She opens the door and she walks out.
❌ Ek weet nie of kom hy nie.
Incorrect — the 'whether' use of of is subordinating; the verb goes to the end: 'of hy kom'.
✅ Ek weet nie of hy kom nie.
I don't know whether he's coming.
Key takeaways
- The true coordinators are en, maar, of, want — they join equals and leave normal subject–verb order intact.
- want is a coordinator meaning "because/for"; the verb after it stays in second position.
- omdat means the same thing but is a subordinator — it pushes the verb to the clause end. The verb's position is the whole difference.
- of does double duty: "or" (coordinating) and "whether" (subordinating, verb-final).
- dus and nog … nog are not pure coordinators — they trigger inversion, unlike the four true joiners.
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- Subordinating: dat, omdat, as, toe, terwyl, sodatB1 — The conjunctions that introduce a dependent clause — dat, omdat, as, toe, terwyl, sodat and friends — and the one rule they all share: they send the finite verb to the very end of their clause.
- Inverting Conjunctions: dus, daarom, toe, danB1 — The conjunctive adverbs — dus, daarom, derhalwe, gevolglik, toe, dan, anders, nietemin, tog — that sit in first position and force the verb before the subject.
- Coordination and Shared ElementsB1 — How en, maar, of, want and dus join two main clauses without inverting the second — and why want ('because') keeps main-clause order while omdat sends the verb to the end.
- want vs omdat (both 'because')B1 — Both mean 'because', but want is coordinating (keeps main-clause word order) and omdat is subordinating (sends the verb to the end) — the choice is purely syntactic.
- Conjunctions: OverviewA2 — Why Afrikaans conjunctions are best sorted by their word-order effect — coordinators keep normal order, subordinators force the verb to the end, and a third group triggers inversion.