sulke, so 'n, sodanige: 'such'

English makes do with a single word, such, for an enormous range of "of this kind" meanings: such a day, such people, such weather, in such cases. Afrikaans splits that one word into three, and chooses among them mainly by number — singular versus plural-or-mass — plus a register distinction for formal writing. Get this wrong and you produce the single most audible "such"-error English speakers make: stretching so 'n across a plural. This page sorts the three out and pins down exactly when each is right.

The headline split: so 'n vs sulke by number

The core rule is clean, and English gives you no clue about it, so state it sharply:

so 'n precedes a singular noun phrase. sulke precedes a plural or an uncountable (mass) noun.

That is the whole spine of the topic. so 'n literally contains 'n, the indefinite article (a / an), so it can only attach to something that takes an indefinite article — a single countable thing. The moment the noun goes plural or becomes a mass noun (where 'n is impossible), the article-bearing so 'n is structurally ruled out, and sulke takes over.

The mass-noun case is the one English speakers least expect. Weer (weather), kos (food), musiek (music), geld (money) are uncountable — you cannot say 'n weer — so they take sulke, never so 'n: sulke weer, sulke kos, sulke musiek.

so 'n in detail: the article is built in

Because so 'n already contains the indefinite article, you do not add another 'n. The whole phrase is so + 'n + (adjective) + noun, and any attributive adjective inside it inflects normally with -e where the rules require (see the attributive -e).

Keep the apostrophe in 'n: it is so 'n, two words with the apostrophe-n contraction, never son or so n. The apostrophe marks 'n as the reduced form of the old article een, and it is obligatory in writing.

sulke in detail: plural and mass, and it inflects

sulke already ends in -e and is the form you use directly before plurals and mass nouns. It does not change further. Any adjective that follows still inflects on its own terms.

Note that sulke mense is often best translated as people like that or such people, and it frequently carries a faint evaluative or dismissive colour — sulke mense can mean "that sort of person" with a raised eyebrow. That nuance, which English such also has, comes through naturally in context.

sodanige: the formal register

The third member, sodanige, means the same "such / such-like / of that kind", but it lives almost entirely in formal, legal, official and academic writing. You will meet it in contracts, regulations, scholarly prose and bureaucratic notices, almost never in conversation. In speech it sounds stiff to the point of comic.

A useful feature of sodanige is that it also works as a free-standing pronoun-like word meaning "as such" or "the said" in legalese — die kontrak en sodanige ("the contract and such"). But for a learner the main job is recognition: when you see sodanige, read it as the dressed-up, document-register cousin of sulke, and do not import it into your own everyday speech.

A quick map of the three

Read the table top to bottom as a decision: singular and ordinary, so 'n; plural or mass and ordinary, sulke; formal document, sodanige.

How English misleads you

The damage all flows from one fact: English such is invariant. Such a day, such people, such weather — the word such never changes, so the English speaker has no internal alarm telling them the number matters. The result is the classic error of forcing so 'n onto a plural — so 'n mense, so 'n idees — which is ungrammatical because so 'n carries a singular indefinite article that cannot sit in front of a plural.

The fix is to internalise the article test until it is automatic. Before you say "such", silently ask whether you would attach a/'n to the noun. Such a day → yes, 'n dag → so 'n dag. Such people → no, no 'n before a plural → sulke mense. Such weather → no, weer is mass → sulke weer.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• English's single such hides a number split in Afrikaans: so 'n before a singular, sulke before a plural or mass noun.
• so 'n contains the indefinite article 'n, so it only fits a single countable thing — keep the apostrophe, add no second 'n.
• sulke already ends in -e and goes straight before plurals (sulke mense) and mass nouns (sulke weer); it often carries a "that sort of" colouring.
• sodanige is the formal / legal / academic word for "such"; recognise it in documents, but don't use it in speech.
• The reliable test is the article test: if the noun can take 'n, use so 'n; if it can't, use sulke.
• For related "kind/quantity" determiners, see quantifiers; for the adjective inflection inside these phrases, see the attributive -e.