Possession is one of the very first things you want to say in a new language — my house, Jan's car, the colour of the sky — and it is also one of the first places where English quietly sabotages you. The Afrikaans system itself is simple and regular; the trouble is that English has its own possessive habits, and those habits leak straight into your Afrikaans. This page is not about the rules of possession (those live on the se-possessive and se vs van). It is about the four specific wrong turns English speakers take, why each one happens, and exactly how to fix it.
Error 1: the English apostrophe-s — Jan's boek
This is the single most common possessive mistake, and it comes from the deepest place: the apostrophe-s is so automatic in English that your hand writes it before your brain catches up. In English, possession on a noun is built with 's: Jan's book, the dog's tail, my mother's house. Afrikaans does not do this. It uses a separate little word, se, sitting between the owner and the thing owned — and there is no apostrophe and no extra letter on the name.
❌ Jan's boek lê op die tafel.
Incorrect — English apostrophe-s; Afrikaans has no possessive 's.
✅ Jan se boek lê op die tafel.
Jan's book is lying on the table.
The fix is mechanical and reliable: wherever English would put 's, Afrikaans puts a free-standing se instead. The owner stays completely unchanged — no apostrophe, no added s, nothing.
❌ My ma's kos is altyd die beste.
Incorrect — apostrophe-s carried over from English.
✅ My ma se kos is altyd die beste.
My mother's food is always the best.
❌ Die hond's stert is seer.
Incorrect — nouns take se, not an apostrophe.
✅ Die hond se stert is seer.
The dog's tail is hurt.
Error 2: stacking a determiner onto se — my se kar
The second error is subtler because it comes from over-applying a rule you have just learned. Once learners discover se, they sometimes attach it to everything, including the possessive determiners my, jou, sy, haar, ons, julle, hulle. But those determiners are already possessive — my means my, full stop. Adding se on top is like saying "my's car" in English: doubly marked and wrong.
❌ My se kar is in die garage.
Incorrect — my is already possessive; you cannot add se to it.
✅ My kar is in die garage.
My car is in the garage.
The way to keep these straight is to remember that Afrikaans has two different machines for possession, and you pick one or the other — never both at once. With a pronoun owner, use the bare determiner: my, jou, sy, haar, ons, julle, hulle. With a noun owner (a name or a thing), use se: Jan se, die kind se, die maatskappy se. The contrast is laid out fully on possessive determiners vs the se-construction.
❌ Hulle se huis is naby die see.
Incorrect — hulle already means their; no se needed.
✅ Hulle huis is naby die see.
Their house is near the sea.
✅ Jan se huis is naby die see.
Jan's house is near the sea.
Note the last pair carefully: hulle huis (their house) takes no se because hulle is a determiner, but Jan se huis (Jan's house) does take se because Jan is a noun. Same idea, two machines.
Error 3: spelling se as sê
This one is purely orthographic, but it changes the word completely, so it matters. Se (the possessive) has no circumflex. Sê (with a circumflex on the e) is an entirely different word — it is the verb to say. Drop the accent where it belongs or add it where it does not, and you have written a different word.
| Form | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| se | possessive marker ('s / of) | Jan se boek — Jan's book |
| sê | verb: to say | Wat sê jy? — What do you say? |
❌ Jan sê boek is op die tafel.
Incorrect — this reads 'Jan says book...'; the possessive is se, no circumflex.
✅ Jan se boek is op die tafel.
Jan's book is on the table.
✅ Wat sê jou ma daarvan?
What does your mother say about it? (here sê IS correct — it's the verb)
Because online and texting Afrikaans often drops diacritics, you will see se used loosely for both — but in careful writing, keep them apart: se for possession, sê for saying.
Error 4: using se where van is idiomatic
The last error is about choice rather than form. Afrikaans has two ways to express an of-relationship: the se-construction and the van-construction (literally of). English speakers, having learned se, tend to use it everywhere — but for many abstract, part-whole, or measure relationships, van is the natural choice, and se sounds off.
❌ die kleur se hemel
Incorrect — the colour of the sky needs van, not se.
✅ die kleur van die hemel
the colour of the sky
A useful rough guide: se is at home with a clear, often human or animate possessor (Jan se kar, die kat se bak), while van handles material, origin, parts, and abstract relations ('n glas van glas, die einde van die storie, die dak van die huis). The two are not always interchangeable, and the full decision logic is on se vs van.
❌ die einde se storie was hartseer
Incorrect — the end of the story takes van.
✅ die einde van die storie was hartseer
the end of the story was sad
✅ die kind se speelgoed lê oral rond
the child's toys are lying all over (here se is right — a human possessor)
Common mistakes
❌ Sarah's tas is by die deur.
Incorrect — apostrophe-s; English transfer.
✅ Sarah se tas is by die deur.
Sarah's bag is by the door.
❌ Ons se motor het gebreek.
Incorrect — ons already means our; no se.
✅ Ons motor het gebreek.
Our car broke down.
❌ Die dokter sê spreekkamer is op die tweede vloer.
Incorrect — possessive is se (no circumflex); sê means 'says'.
✅ Die dokter se spreekkamer is op die tweede vloer.
The doctor's consulting room is on the second floor.
❌ Wat is die naam se hierdie straat?
Incorrect — the name of this street takes van.
✅ Wat is die naam van hierdie straat?
What is the name of this street?
❌ Jou se idee is goed.
Incorrect — jou is already possessive; drop se.
✅ Jou idee is goed.
Your idea is good.
Key takeaways
- Never write an apostrophe-s. Where English uses
's, Afrikaans uses a separate se and the owner word stays unchanged: Jan se boek. - Never stack a determiner with se. Pronoun owners (my, jou, sy, haar, ons, julle, hulle) are already possessive; noun owners take se. Pick one machine, not both.
- se (possessive) has no circumflex; sê (with the accent) is the verb to say — keep them distinct in careful writing.
- For colours, parts, ends, materials and abstractions, the idiomatic of is usually van, not se: die kleur van die hemel.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- The se-Possessive: Jan se boekA1 — How Afrikaans shows possession with the invariant marker se, the everyday equivalent of English 's.
- se vs van (possession)B1 — When to use the se-possessive (Jan se boek) and when to reach for van (die dak van die huis) — a soft animate-versus-inanimate rule that resolves most cases.
- Possessive Determiners vs the se-ConstructionB1 — Afrikaans splits possession cleanly: pronoun owners use a determiner (my boek), while named or phrasal owners use noun + se (Jan se boek) — and the two never combine.
- Possessive Determiners: my, jou, sy, haar, ons, julle, hulleA1 — The invariant Afrikaans words for my, your, his, her, our and their that go in front of a noun.
- Common Mistakes: OverviewA2 — A map of the most frequent Afrikaans errors, sorted by their source — English transfer, Dutch transfer, and internal Afrikaans difficulties — because the two learner groups make opposite mistakes.