An idiom is a phrase whose meaning you cannot work out from the individual words, no matter how well you know each one. Afrikaans is unusually rich in them, and they cluster around a few recurring images: the farm, the weather, animals, food, and the body. Crack the picture behind each one and you not only understand the phrase — you get a window onto the rural, agrarian world in which much of the language took shape. This page covers a handful of the most common everyday idioms (the kind you will actually hear in a Cape Town kitchen or a WhatsApp group), not the longer moralising spreekwoorde (proverbs), which have their own page.
The grammar of these idioms is almost always simple and regular — present-tense verbs, ordinary word order. The difficulty is never grammatical; it is that the literal meaning is a decoy. Your job is to learn the picture and the meaning as a single unit.
Letting the secret out: die aap uit die mou laat
Literally "to let the monkey out of the sleeve." This is the Afrikaans for to let the cat out of the bag — to reveal a secret, usually by accident. The image comes from an old market trick of hiding an animal up a wide sleeve. The grammar is a plain object-plus-verb construction with the verb laat ("to let / to allow"), and the clause-final verb in the past tense behaves exactly as you would expect.
Moenie die aap uit die mou laat oor die verrassingspartytjie nie!
Don't let the cat out of the bag about the surprise party!
Sy het per ongeluk die aap uit die mou gelaat toe sy van die geskenk gepraat het.
She accidentally let the cat out of the bag when she mentioned the present.
Note that the idiom keeps its fixed shape: it is always die aap, die mou — you cannot swap in a different animal or pluralise it.
Having a bone to pick: 'n appeltjie skil met iemand
Literally "to peel a little apple with someone." This means to have a bone to pick with someone — to have a grievance you intend to take up with them. The diminutive appeltjie (little apple) is doing important work: the affectionate, small-sounding word sits in slightly menacing contrast to the confrontation it announces, which is part of the idiom's flavour.
Ek het 'n appeltjie met jou te skil oor wat jy gister gesê het.
I have a bone to pick with you about what you said yesterday.
Hy het 'n appeltjie met die bestuurder te skil.
He has a bone to pick with the manager.
Pulling someone's leg: iemand se been trek
Literally "to pull someone's leg" — and here, unusually, the Afrikaans matches the English image exactly. It means to tease or fool someone playfully. Because the picture is identical, this one feels easy, but watch the structure: Afrikaans uses the possessive se construction — iemand *se been* (someone's leg) — where English uses the apostrophe-s.
Trek jy nou my been, of is dit regtig waar?
Are you pulling my leg, or is it really true?
Hy het net jou been getrek — moenie dit ernstig opneem nie.
He was just pulling your leg — don't take it seriously.
Not my cup of tea: nie my koppie tee nie
Literally "not my little cup of tea." This is a direct calque of the English not my cup of tea — something that does not appeal to you — and it has settled comfortably into informal Afrikaans. Note that it sits inside the nie ... nie negation bracket, so the closing nie is obligatory.
Operamusiek is nie regtig my koppie tee nie.
Opera music isn't really my cup of tea.
Dis nie my koppie tee nie, maar geniet dit gerus.
It's not my cup of tea, but do enjoy it.
Looking inward: die hand in eie boesem steek
Literally "to put one's hand into one's own bosom." This means to look honestly at one's own faults before blaming others — to examine your own conscience. It is slightly more formal and reflective than the others here, and you will meet it in editorials and sermons as well as conversation. The reflexive sense is carried by eie ("(one's) own").
Voordat ons ander kritiseer, moet ons eers die hand in eie boesem steek.
Before we criticise others, we should first examine our own conscience.
Die regering moet die hand in eie boesem steek oor die mislukking.
The government should look to its own failings over the failure.
When the porridge is cooked: nou is die gort gaar
Literally "now the porridge is cooked." Far from being good news, this means now we're in trouble — the situation has reached the point of no return, the damage is done. The image is wonderfully homely: once the gort (a porridge of stamped corn or barley) is fully cooked, there is no un-cooking it.
Hy het die baas se kar gestamp — nou is die gort gaar.
He bumped the boss's car — now we're in real trouble.
Toe die rekening kom, was die gort gaar.
When the bill came, the trouble really started.
The fox marrying the wolf's wife: jakkals trou met wolf se vrou
Literally "the jackal is marrying the wolf's wife." This is the Afrikaans expression for a sun shower — rain falling while the sun still shines. It is one of the most charming weather idioms in the language and a perfect example of the rural-image pattern: a strange meteorological event is explained as an equally strange animal wedding. Children still say it, and it captures something competitors' word-lists miss — that Afrikaans idiom is steeped in the imagery of the veld and its animals.
Kyk, dit reën in die sonskyn — jakkals trou met wolf se vrou!
Look, it's raining in the sunshine — there's a sun shower!
My ouma het altyd gesê as die son skyn terwyl dit reën, dan trou jakkals met wolf se vrou.
My grandmother always said that when the sun shines while it rains, then it's a sun shower.
Why the grammar is easy but the meaning is hard
Notice what these idioms have in common grammatically: ordinary present-tense verbs (trou, is, steek), the everyday possessive se, the standard nie ... nie bracket, the te-infinitive. Nothing here is grammatically exotic. That is exactly why idioms are dangerous for the confident intermediate learner — every word is one you already know, so you trust the literal reading and miss the metaphor entirely. The skill being built here is not grammar; it is learning to recognise when a perfectly grammatical sentence is not meant literally.
Common mistakes
The errors English speakers make with idioms are almost never grammatical. They are errors of literal translation and of register.
❌ Dit reën katte en honde.
Incorrect as native idiom — this is a word-for-word calque of 'raining cats and dogs' and is not traditional Afrikaans.
✅ Dit reën dat dit giet.
It's pouring down. (use a genuine Afrikaans heavy-rain expression)
❌ Ek het 'n been om met jou te kies.
Incorrect — translating 'a bone to pick' word for word; the Afrikaans idiom uses an apple, not a bone.
✅ Ek het 'n appeltjie met jou te skil.
I have a bone to pick with you.
❌ Dis nie my koppie tee.
Incorrect — the closing nie of the negation bracket has been dropped.
✅ Dis nie my koppie tee nie.
It's not my cup of tea.
❌ Nou is die pap gaar.
Incorrect — swapping in pap breaks the fixed idiom; it is always die gort.
✅ Nou is die gort gaar.
Now we're in trouble.
❌ Using die hand in eie boesem steek as a casual joke with friends.
Wrong register — this is a reflective, somewhat formal idiom; it sounds pompous in light banter.
✅ Reserve die hand in eie boesem steek for serious, self-critical contexts.
Use the weightier idioms where their seriousness fits.
Key takeaways
- Afrikaans idioms have transparent grammar but non-literal meaning — the literal reading is a decoy you must learn to override.
- Many of the most vivid idioms are rural, animal, and weather images: die aap uit die mou laat, nou is die gort gaar, jakkals trou met wolf se vrou (a sun shower).
- Idioms are fixed: you cannot swap gort for pap or aap for another animal, or pluralise the nouns.
- The most common learner errors are literal calques from English (dit reën katte en honde) and wrong register, not grammar.
- Idioms inside a negation must close the nie ... nie bracket: nie my koppie tee nie.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Expressions and Idioms: OverviewA2 — A map of Afrikaans fixed expressions — social formulas, everyday idioms, proverbs and exclamations — and why so much of the imagery comes from the farm, the weather and the Dutch heritage.
- Afrikaans Proverbs: OverviewB1 — An orientation to Afrikaans spreekwoorde — their agrarian imagery, their shared roots with Dutch, and how they compress distinctive grammar into memorable form.
- Weather and Nature ExpressionsB1 — How Afrikaans talks about weather — from dit reën dat dit giet to mooiweer praat — and how its agrarian roots turn weather into a rich source of social and emotional metaphor.
- Choosing Between Confusable Forms: OverviewB1 — A guide to the Afrikaans 'which one?' problems — maak vs doen, neem vs vat, na vs toe, jy vs u and more — and why most of them hinge on register or word order rather than meaning.