The basic time prepositions — op, in, om, voor, na for days, months, clock times — are covered on time prepositions. This page goes after the ones that carry real nuance and that English handles with a single overloaded word, especially since, during, within, and the deceptively simple in. The payoff is precision: Afrikaans forces you to distinguish a point from a span, and a future span from a contained period — distinctions English often blurs.
sedert and vandat — "since" a starting point
sedert means "since" in the sense of from a point in the past up to now. It marks the beginning of a stretch of time that is still running.
Sedert Maandag voel ek baie beter.
Since Monday I've been feeling much better.
Ons ken mekaar al sedert 2010.
We've known each other since 2010.
The crucial thing for English speakers: sedert is a preposition and is followed by a noun or a point in time (sedert Maandag, sedert die ongeluk). When you want to start a clause — "since I arrived" — you switch to the conjunction vandat (or sedert dat in more formal writing):
Vandat ek hier woon, slaap ek beter.
Since I've lived here, I sleep better.
Hy het nie weer gebel vandat hy weg is nie.
He hasn't called again since he left.
gedurende and tydens — "during" a span
Both gedurende and tydens mean "during" — they locate something inside a stretch of time. They are largely interchangeable, with a slight nuance: gedurende tends to suggest throughout the whole span, while tydens points more to a moment within an event.
Gedurende die vakansie het ons baie gelees.
During the holiday we read a lot.
Tydens die vergadering het sy 'n goeie punt gemaak.
During the meeting she made a good point.
Moet asseblief nie praat tydens die toets nie.
Please don't talk during the test.
In practice you can use either with most nouns; tydens feels a touch more formal and is the go-to with events (tydens die wedstryd, tydens die ramp). Both are followed straight by a noun.
binne — "within" a span
binne means "within" a period — the action happens before the span runs out. It looks identical to the spatial binne ("inside"), and that is no accident: a deadline is a container you must stay inside.
Ek bel jou binne 'n uur terug.
I'll call you back within an hour.
Die pakkie behoort binne drie dae aan te kom.
The parcel should arrive within three days.
Binne 'n week was alles weer normaal.
Within a week everything was back to normal.
oor — the future "in" that English speakers always miss
Here is the single most important distinction on this page. To say "in a week" meaning a week from now, Afrikaans does not use in. It uses oor.
Ek sien jou oor 'n week.
I'll see you in a week. (a week from now)
Die trein vertrek oor tien minute.
The train leaves in ten minutes.
Oor 'n maand of wat trek ons Kaapstad toe.
In a month or so we're moving to Cape Town.
This is precisely where English's overloaded in causes trouble. English uses in for two different things: a contained period ("I did it in an hour" = it took an hour) and a future point ("I'll do it in an hour" = an hour from now). Afrikaans refuses to let those two meanings share a word. The logic behind oor is spatial: oor basically means "over / across," and a future point is reached by travelling across an interval of time — you arrive at the event by going oor the week that separates you from it. Once you feel that image, oor 'n week ("across a week" → "in a week's time") stops feeling arbitrary. Here is the full split:
| Meaning | Afrikaans | Example |
|---|---|---|
| future point ("a week from now") | oor | oor 'n week |
| before a deadline ("within a week") | binne | binne 'n week |
| contained duration ("it took a week") | in / oor | in 'n week klaar |
Ons het die hele huis in 'n week geverf.
We painted the whole house in a week. (it took a week)
Ons begin oor 'n week verf.
We start painting in a week. (a week from now)
voor and na — "before" and "after"
The everyday pair voor (before) and na (after) anchor one event relative to another. They are straightforward, but two points trip English speakers up. First, voor meaning "before in time" is the same word as voor meaning "in front of" in space — context decides, exactly as with English "before." Second, when a clause follows rather than a noun, you switch to the conjunctions voordat and nadat (the -dat signals a subordinate clause and sends the verb to the end).
Ons eet altyd voor sewe-uur.
We always eat before seven o'clock.
Na die fliek het ons koffie gaan drink.
After the film we went for coffee.
Bel my voordat jy ry.
Call me before you drive off.
So the choice mirrors sedert/vandat: a noun takes the preposition (voor sewe-uur, na die fliek), a clause takes the -dat conjunction (voordat jy ry, nadat ons geëet het).
teen — "by" a deadline
teen marks a deadline: by a certain time, no later than. (It also means "against," but the time sense is clear from context.)
Die verslag moet teen Vrydag klaar wees.
The report has to be finished by Friday.
Ons moet teen sesuur daar wees.
We have to be there by six o'clock.
Teen die einde van die jaar het hulle alles betaal.
By the end of the year they had paid everything off.
Do not confuse teen (by, a deadline) with voor (before). Teen Vrydag means "by Friday, Friday at the latest"; voor Vrydag means "before Friday, sometime earlier than Friday."
vanaf … tot — "from … to"
To frame a stretch with both endpoints, Afrikaans pairs vanaf (from) with tot (until/to). For time you will also see plain van … tot.
Die winkel is oop vanaf nege tot vyf.
The shop is open from nine to five.
Ons bly daar van Maandag tot Vrydag.
We're staying there from Monday to Friday.
met — "at" with festivals and special days
A small but very Afrikaans point: with holidays and named occasions, the preposition is met, not op or by.
Met Kersfees kom die hele familie kuier.
At Christmas the whole family comes to visit.
Wat doen julle met Paasfees?
What are you doing at Easter?
Met haar verjaarsdag het ons 'n groot ete gehou.
On her birthday we had a big meal.
This met of occasions is idiomatic and worth memorising as a set: met Kersfees, met Paasfees, met Nuwejaar, met jou verjaarsdag. English's "at Christmas / on your birthday" maps onto a single Afrikaans met.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek sien jou in 'n week.
Incorrect — for 'a week from now' Afrikaans uses oor, not in.
✅ Ek sien jou oor 'n week.
I'll see you in a week.
❌ Sinds Maandag voel ek beter.
Non-standard — use sedert (Dutch sinds is not standard Afrikaans).
✅ Sedert Maandag voel ek beter.
Since Monday I've been feeling better.
❌ Sedert ek hier woon, slaap ek beter.
Awkward — a following clause needs the conjunction vandat, not the preposition sedert.
✅ Vandat ek hier woon, slaap ek beter.
Since I've lived here, I sleep better.
❌ Die verslag moet voor Vrydag klaar wees.
Wrong nuance if you mean a deadline — voor means 'earlier than', teen means 'by/no later than'.
✅ Die verslag moet teen Vrydag klaar wees.
The report must be finished by Friday.
❌ Op Kersfees kom die familie kuier.
Unidiomatic — occasions take met: met Kersfees.
✅ Met Kersfees kom die familie kuier.
At Christmas the family comes to visit.
Key takeaways
- sedert
- noun and vandat
- clause both mean "since" a starting point; avoid Dutch sinds.
- noun and vandat
- gedurende and tydens both mean "during"; tydens is slightly more formal and event-oriented.
- binne = "within / before the span is up"; oor = the future "in" ("oor 'n week" = a week from now).
- The big trap: never use in for future time. oor for "a … from now," binne for "within," in only for "it took that long."
- teen = "by" a deadline (not voor); vanaf … tot frames a span; met is the preposition for festivals and birthdays.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Time Prepositions: om, op, in, voor, na, tydensA2 — Afrikaans temporal prepositions follow a tidy size ladder — om for the hour, op for days, in for months and longer — plus voor, na, tydens and sedert.
- Abstract and Figurative PrepositionsB2 — How Afrikaans prepositions extend from space into abstract meaning — in gevaar, op grond van, met betrekking tot — and why the compound ones are a formal-register resource you learn as fixed chunks.
- Fixed Prepositional PhrasesB1 — Set phrases like op pad, te koop, in die geheim and aan die brand, where the preposition is idiomatic, the article is often dropped, and the whole phrase must be learned as a unit.
- Adverbs of Time: nou, dan, gister, môre, altydA1 — The everyday words that locate an action in time — nou, dan, gister, vandag, môre, altyd, dikwels, soms, nooit — where they sit in the sentence, and the famous two-way ambiguity of netnou.
- Temporal Conjunctions: toe, as, wanneer, terwyl, nadat, voordatB1 — The subordinators that locate one event in time relative to another — toe, as, wanneer, terwyl, nadat, voordat, sodra — all sending the verb to the clause end.