Once you can count, the next practical step is measuring the world: how old someone is, how tall, how heavy, how hot. Afrikaans builds these statements with a tidy frame — a number, then a unit, then often a describing word like lank ("tall/long") or oud ("old"). The single most important thing to internalise, and the thing English speakers reliably get wrong, is that the unit stays singular after a number: twee meter, never twee meters. Get that one convention right and the rest falls into place.
Stating age: X jaar oud, or just X
To give an age, use the frame [number] jaar oud — literally "[number] year old". Note jaar ("year") stays singular even for plural ages, and the verb is is ("is/am"), where English uses "to be" the same way.
Ek is twintig jaar oud.
I'm twenty years old.
Sy is vyf jaar oud.
She's five years old.
My oupa is twee-en-tagtig jaar oud.
My grandfather is eighty-two years old.
Just as in English ("I'm twenty"), you can drop jaar oud once the context is clearly about age and simply give the number:
Hoe oud is jy? Ek is twintig.
How old are you? I'm twenty.
Die baba is amper een.
The baby is almost one.
The question is Hoe oud is jy? ("How old are you?") — literally "how old is you", with hoe ("how") plus the adjective oud. Answer with the full frame or the bare number; both are natural.
The core rule: measurement units stay singular
Here is the convention that separates correct Afrikaans from English-shaped Afrikaans. When a number counts a unit of measurement — metres, kilograms, litres, degrees — the unit is singular, not plural. English says "two metres", "five kilograms"; Afrikaans says twee meter, vyf kilogram, with no plural ending.
| Afrikaans | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| twee meter | two metres | singular meter |
| vyf kilogram | five kilograms | singular kilogram |
| drie liter | three litres | singular liter |
| tien kilometer | ten kilometres | singular kilometer |
| dertig grade | thirty degrees | grade — see below |
Die tafel is twee meter lank.
The table is two metres long.
Die pakkie weeg vyf kilogram.
The parcel weighs five kilograms.
Ons het nog drie liter melk in die yskas.
We've still got three litres of milk in the fridge.
Why singular? In a measurement, the unit behaves like a fixed yardstick rather than a bunch of countable objects — you are measuring in metres, applying the metre repeatedly, not gathering several separate "metres". That is the underlying logic, and it is the same instinct behind English "a six-foot man" (singular foot even though it is six of them). Afrikaans simply applies that logic across the board.
The notable exception in the table is grade ("degrees"), which does take the plural -e ending: dertig grade ("thirty degrees"). Temperature degrees are felt as countable steps, so this one patterns with ordinary plurals.
Dit is vandag dertig grade buite.
It's thirty degrees outside today.
Die water kook by honderd grade Celsius.
Water boils at a hundred degrees Celsius.
Describing the dimension: lank, swaar, ver, breed
Afrikaans pairs the measurement with a dimension adjective that comes after the number-and-unit. The four you will use constantly:
| Adjective | Dimension | Question word |
|---|---|---|
| lank | tall / long | Hoe lank? (how tall/long?) |
| swaar | heavy | Hoe swaar? (how heavy?) |
| ver | far | Hoe ver? (how far?) |
| breed | wide | Hoe breed? (how wide?) |
Hy is een komma agt meter lank.
He's one point eight metres tall.
Hoe lank is jy? Ek is omtrent 'n meter sewentig.
How tall are you? I'm about a metre seventy.
Hoe swaar is jou tas? Dit weeg sowat twintig kilogram.
How heavy is your suitcase? It weighs about twenty kilograms.
Dit is nog tien kilometer ver tot by die dorp.
It's still ten kilometres to the town.
Notice lank covers both "tall" (for people) and "long" (for objects) — there is no separate word for height. So Hoe lank is jy? asks your height, while Hoe lank is die tou? asks the length of the rope. Context decides which English word fits.
The decimal comma: 1,8 meter
A point of orthography that catches English speakers off guard: Afrikaans, like most of Europe, uses a comma as the decimal separator, not a point. "1.8 metres" is written 1,8 meter and read een komma agt meter ("one comma eight metres"). The full stop, where used at all, marks thousands.
Hy is 1,8 meter lank.
He's 1.8 metres tall.
Die pakkie weeg 2,5 kilogram.
The parcel weighs 2.5 kilograms.
Die brug is 1,2 kilometer lank.
The bridge is 1.2 kilometres long.
When you read these aloud, the decimal separator is komma: een komma twee kilometer. Writing "1.8" with a point will look distinctly foreign to an Afrikaans reader, so train your hand to the comma.
Asking the questions
Pulling the question words together: age uses Hoe oud?, and each dimension has its own hoe + adjective question. These are the everyday openers you will hear and use.
Hoe oud is jou seun?
How old is your son?
Hoe lank is die rivier?
How long is the river?
Hoe ver is dit nog?
How much further is it?
Common mistakes
❌ Die tafel is twee meters lank.
Incorrect — the unit stays singular after a number: twee meter.
✅ Die tafel is twee meter lank.
The table is two metres long.
This is the signature English-speaker error — pluralising the unit. Drop the -s: twee meter, vyf kilogram, tien kilometer.
❌ Ek het twintig jare oud.
Incorrect — use 'is', not 'het', and jaar stays singular.
✅ Ek is twintig jaar oud.
I'm twenty years old.
Two slips at once: age uses is ("am/is"), not het ("have"), unlike languages that say "I have twenty years"; and jaar stays singular.
❌ Hy is 1.8 meter lank.
Incorrect — Afrikaans uses a decimal comma: 1,8.
✅ Hy is 1,8 meter lank.
He's 1.8 metres tall.
❌ Dit is vandag dertig graad.
Incorrect — temperature degrees take the plural: grade.
✅ Dit is vandag dertig grade.
It's thirty degrees today.
Grade is the exception that proves the rule — most units stay singular, but temperature grade pluralises.
❌ Hoe oud is jy oud?
Incorrect — the question is just Hoe oud is jy?, with oud said once.
✅ Hoe oud is jy?
How old are you?
Key takeaways
- Age uses the frame [number] jaar oud with the verb is — Ek is twintig jaar oud — or just the bare number (Ek is twintig).
- Measurement units stay singular after a number: twee meter, vyf kilogram, tien kilometer. This is the core rule and the top error to avoid.
- The exception is grade ("degrees"), which does pluralise: dertig grade.
- Add a dimension adjective after the unit: lank (tall/long), swaar (heavy), ver (far), breed (wide). Lank covers both "tall" and "long".
- Decimals use a comma: 1,8 meter, read een komma agt meter.
- Ask with Hoe oud?, Hoe lank?, Hoe swaar?, Hoe ver? — see also cardinal numbers and telling the time.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Telling the TimeA2 — How to read the clock in Afrikaans — including the half-system, where half ses means 5:30 and not 6:30, the single biggest trap for English speakers.
- Quantities, Money and MeasurementsB1 — Counting with measure nouns, talking about rand and sent, the decimal comma and space-separated thousands, and hedging amounts with sowat and 'n stuk of.
- Mass and Count Nouns; Measure PhrasesB1 — Why mass nouns like water and geld resist plurals, how Afrikaans measures them with phrases like twee glase wyn, and the key difference from English: no 'of'.
- Cardinal NumbersA1 — Afrikaans cardinal numbers 0 to a million, built on one mechanical pattern: for 21 to 99 the unit comes before the ten, joined by en — een-en-twintig (21).