Impersonal 'you' and 'one': jy, mens, 'n mens

When you want to make a claim about people in general — one never knows, you can't be too careful — you need an impersonal pronoun: a subject that stands for "anyone, everyone, people in general" rather than a named person. Afrikaans has three, and the choice between them is a fine-grained register cline that English flattens into the single word "one." This page treats them strictly as pronouns — how each agrees, what possessive and reflexive it takes, how it sits in a clause. For the wider stylistic question of how to phrase a general truth — proverbs, generic plurals, die mens for humankind — see the companion page on generic and impersonal statements.

The three impersonal pronouns at a glance

Think of it as a line running from formal to casual: 'n mens in the calm middle, jy to the casual side, mens to the terse, proverbial side. The grammar of each, though, is what concerns us here.

'n mens — the idiomatic "one"

'n mens ("a person") is the workhorse impersonal pronoun. As a subject it takes the verb in its ordinary single form — exactly like hy or sy, since Afrikaans verbs do not change for person anyway.

The pronoun-specific points to master are its apostrophe, its possessive, and its reflexive:

• The apostrophe is obligatory: 'n mens, never n mens. When it opens a sentence, 'n stays lowercase and the next word is capitalised — 'n Mens....
• Its possessive is jou or, more formally, 'n mens se: 'n Mens moet jou woord hou (One must keep one's word) is the everyday choice; 'n mens se woord is the heavier alternative.
• Its reflexive is jou / jouself: 'n Mens moet jouself nie te ernstig opneem nie (One mustn't take oneself too seriously).

Generic jy — the casual "you"

Generic jy is the you of "you can't be too careful" — not addressed to any actual listener, but standing for anyone. Grammatically it behaves like the ordinary second-person jy: its object form is jou, its possessive is jou, its reflexive is jou(self). That is precisely why it is so natural — you already know all its forms.

The catch for English speakers is consistency: once you start a generalisation in generic jy, keep it in jy — its possessive jou, its reflexive jouself. Do not drift mid-sentence into 'n mens or a third person, or the reference wobbles. Jy moet jou bes doen (You must do your best) stays in the jy/jou world throughout.

Bare mens — the proverbial "one"

Drop the article and you get bare mens, which functions as a pronoun in its own right: Mens leer elke dag (One learns every day). It is terser and more clipped than 'n mens, and it gravitates to proverb-like, gnomic statements — the register of folk wisdom and maxims. It takes the same jou-series possessive and reflexive as 'n mens.

Because bare mens looks the most pronoun-like to an English eye, learners over-reach for it as their default "one." Resist that: in ordinary flowing prose, 'n mens is warmer and more natural, and bare mens is best kept for genuinely clipped, saying-like sentences. The register difference is real and a native ear hears it. (For the full treatment of that warmth difference, and the further option die mens for humankind, see generic and impersonal statements.)

Mixing them — and when not to

In real speech a single passage can slide from one impersonal to another, typically drifting from the reflective 'n mens toward the more involving jy as the speaker warms up. This is natural and idiomatic at the level of a whole discourse. Within a single clause, though, keep one subject. 'n Mens weet nooit nie, want jy kan nie die toekoms sien nie (One never knows, because you can't see the future) is fine across two clauses; switching subjects inside one clause is not.

The impersonal-passive alternative

When you want to remove the human subject entirely rather than generalise it, Afrikaans offers the impersonal passive with placeholder daar — Daar word gesê dat... ("It is said that..."). This is not a pronoun at all; it is a subjectless construction, and it reads as more formal and neutral than any of the mens/jy options. The placeholder machinery (dit, daar) is covered on impersonal dit and daar.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Afrikaans has three impersonal pronouns for "people in general": 'n mens (the warm, idiomatic default), generic jy (casual), and bare mens (terse, proverbial) — a register cline English collapses into "one."
• 'n mens requires its apostrophe and takes the jou-series possessive and reflexive: 'n Mens moet jou bes doen / jouself.
• Generic jy behaves exactly like ordinary jy (jou, jouself); keep it consistent across a clause.
• Bare mens is the proverbial cousin of 'n mens — same jou-series forms, but reserved for clipped, saying-like sentences. Don't make it your default.
• To drop the subject entirely rather than generalise it, use the impersonal passive Daar word gesê... (see impersonal dit and daar).
• For the broader stylistics of general statements — proverbs, generic plurals, die mens — see generic and impersonal statements.