A demonstrative pronoun is one that stands alone, replacing a whole noun: English "I want this," "that is too expensive," "I'll take this one." Afrikaans does this with three words — dié ("this one / that one"), hierdie ("this / these"), and daardie ("that / those") — and the one detail you must get right from the start is the acute accent on dié. That accent is the only thing, in writing, that separates the demonstrative pronoun dié from the ordinary definite article die ("the"). Drop it and you have changed the word. This page covers the standalone, pronominal use; for the same words placed before a noun, see demonstrative determiners.
dié — "this one / that one"
Dié (with the acute) is the stressed, standalone demonstrative. It points at something already known from the context — what you are holding, looking at, or have just mentioned — and it works for both "this one" and "that one"; the situation makes clear which. It is the word you reach for when you single something out.
Gee my dié, asseblief.
Give me this one, please.
Ek wil dié hê, nie daardie een nie.
I want this one, not that one.
Van al die opsies hou ek die meeste van dié.
Of all the options I like this one best.
The accent matters because die (no accent) is just "the." Compare die boek ("the book") with dié standing alone ("this one"). In speech the demonstrative dié is stressed and the article die is unstressed, so they are easy to tell apart by ear — but on the page, the accent is doing all the work.
hierdie and daardie standing alone
Hierdie ("this / these") and daardie ("that / those") are most familiar before a noun — hierdie boek, daardie huis. But they pronominalise freely: drop the noun and they stand alone as full demonstrative pronouns.
Hierdie is myne, daardie is joune.
This one is mine, that one is yours.
Daardie is te duur — wys my iets goedkoper.
That one's too expensive — show me something cheaper.
Ek vat hierdie.
I'll take this one.
Hierdie points to what is near (here), daardie to what is far (there) — the same here/there contrast as English this/that. When they stand alone they carry the full meaning of the noun they replace, just as English "this one / that one" does.
Number is not marked
This is a relief for English speakers: Afrikaans demonstrative pronouns do not change for singular versus plural. Hierdie covers both "this" and "these"; daardie covers both "that" and "those"; dié covers "this one," "that one," "these," and "those." There is no separate plural form to learn — context and any accompanying verb supply the number.
| Afrikaans | Singular sense | Plural sense |
|---|---|---|
| dié | this one / that one | these / those |
| hierdie | this | these |
| daardie | that | those |
Hierdie is al wat oor is.
These are all that's left.
Dié is die mooiste van die hele klomp.
These are the prettiest of the whole lot.
In Hierdie is al wat oor is, hierdie is plural in meaning ("these"), but the word itself is unchanged — there is no hierdies.
die een / daardie een — "this one / that one" the long way
Alongside the bare demonstratives, Afrikaans very commonly uses die een ("this/that one") and daardie een ("that one") with the explicit "one" word een. This is especially natural in contrasts, where you set one item against another.
Ek hou van dié een, maar nie van daardie een nie.
I like this one, but not that one.
Watter een wil jy hê — hierdie een of daardie een?
Which one do you want — this one or that one?
Die een is reg, die ander een is verkeerd.
This one is right, the other one is wrong.
Note dié een keeps the accent on dié (it is still the stressed demonstrative), while die een without an accent leans more on een to do the pointing. Both are heard; in a clear this-versus-that contrast, dié een is the crisper choice.
Emphatic dít and dát
For extra emphasis — "this, precisely this" — Afrikaans has the stressed forms dít and dát (with acutes), built on the neuter pronoun dit ("it"). They sharpen the pointing and are common in spoken emphasis and in writing that wants to underline a contrast.
Dít is presies wat ek bedoel.
This is exactly what I mean.
Nie dít nie — dát wil ek hê.
Not this one — that's the one I want.
These are emphatic variants; the neutral, unaccented dit ("it / this / that") is far more frequent in ordinary sentences and is covered on its own page, the pronoun dit. Use dít/dát when you are genuinely contrasting or insisting.
Pronoun vs determiner — keep them separate
The same words hierdie and daardie are determiners when they sit before a noun (hierdie boek "this book") and pronouns when they stand alone (Hierdie is myne "this one is mine"). The form does not change — only whether a noun follows. Dié likewise works both ways: dié boek ("this book", determiner) and Gee my dié ("give me this one", pronoun). For the before-a-noun use in full, see demonstrative determiners; for how the stressed dié is told apart from the article die, see hierdie vs die.
Common mistakes
❌ Gee my die.
Incorrect — without the accent this reads as the article 'the', not 'this one'.
✅ Gee my dié.
Give me this one.
❌ Hierdies is myne.
Incorrect — demonstratives don't take a plural ending; hierdie is already 'these'.
✅ Hierdie is myne.
These are mine.
❌ Daardies is te duur.
Incorrect — no plural form; daardie covers 'those'.
✅ Daardie is te duur.
Those are too expensive.
❌ Ek wil die een hê, nie die een nie.
Confusing — without accents you can't see the this/that contrast.
✅ Ek wil dié een hê, nie daardie een nie.
I want this one, not that one.
❌ Dit is presies wat ek bedoel — maar met klem op 'this'.
Weak for strong emphasis — use the stressed dít when you're insisting.
✅ Dít is presies wat ek bedoel.
This is exactly what I mean.
Key takeaways
- Standalone demonstratives are dié ("this/that one"), hierdie ("this/these"), and daardie ("that/those").
- The acute on dié is essential: it is the only thing in writing that separates the stressed pronoun dié from the article die ("the").
- Demonstrative pronouns are unmarked for number — hierdie = "this" and "these", with no plural ending.
- Use die een / dié een / daardie een to spell out "this/that one", especially in contrasts.
- The emphatic dít / dát sharpen the pointing; the neutral dit is the everyday choice. Don't confuse the pronoun use with the determiner use.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Demonstratives: hierdie, daardie, diéA1 — How Afrikaans points to things with hierdie (this/these), daardie (that/those), and the stressed dié.
- The Definite Article: dieA1 — Afrikaans die is a single invariable 'the' — where it matches English, where Afrikaans keeps it but English drops it, and how it differs from the stressed demonstrative dié.
- The Pronoun dit: it, this, thatA2 — Afrikaans dit is the all-purpose 'it' — subject and object of things, a dummy subject in weather and time phrases, a pointer back to whole ideas, and the source of the contraction dis.
- hierdie/daardie vs die (this/that vs the)A2 — Afrikaans die is purely the article 'the' and never means 'this/that', so pointing always needs hierdie/daardie — or the stressed standalone dié, written with an acute accent.
- Standalone Possessives Reference: myne, joune, ons s'nB1 — A quick-reference table of every standalone possessive pronoun — myne, joune, syne, hare, ons s'n, julle s'n, hulle s'n, u s'n — each with its predicative example and the rule behind the s'n forms.