Legal and administrative Afrikaans is almost a dialect of its own. Where everyday Afrikaans is famously plain and short, the language of contracts, statutes, court judgments, and government circulars is dense, impersonal, and studded with words and constructions you will meet nowhere else. Crucially, it is the one register where archaic grammar is still in productive, everyday use — the te-infinitive after fossilised prepositions, complex compound prepositions, and formulae inherited almost unchanged from older Dutch legal language. For the advanced learner this register is a kind of living museum: it preserves grammar that the rest of the language has long since shed. This page documents how it works. General formal style (the kind you would use in an essay or a polite email) is covered separately on formal writing; here we go to the specialised extreme.
Fossilised compound prepositions
The backbone of legal Afrikaans is a closed set of compound prepositions and connectors, most of them Latinate-flavoured calques from Dutch chancery language. They are learned as fixed units, and several govern a noun where everyday Afrikaans would use a plain van or oor.
| Legal connector | Literal sense | Everyday equivalent | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ingevolge | "in consequence of" | volgens | in terms of / under (a law) |
| kragtens | "by force of" | volgens | by virtue of / under |
| ten aansien van | "in regard to" | oor / wat ... betref | in respect of |
| met dien verstande dat | "with that understanding that" | op voorwaarde dat | provided that |
| ten einde (te) | "to the end (to)" | om te | in order to |
| voormelde / voornoemde | "afore-mentioned" | bogenoemde | the aforesaid |
| hiermee / hierby | "herewith / hereby" | — | hereby |
Ingevolge artikel 12 van die wet is die ooreenkoms nietig.
In terms of section 12 of the Act, the agreement is void.
Kragtens die volmag handel die agent namens die maatskappy.
By virtue of the power of attorney, the agent acts on behalf of the company.
Ten aansien van die voormelde eis word die volgende aangevoer.
In respect of the aforesaid claim, the following is submitted.
The living te-infinitive: ten einde te ...
The headline grammatical fact about legal Afrikaans — the thing competitors never document — is that the te-infinitive of purpose survives here as a productive construction. In everyday Afrikaans, "in order to do X" is om X te doen. Legal and elevated administrative Afrikaans keeps an older alternative: ten einde te + verb, where ten einde literally means "to the end (that)."
Ten einde te verseker dat alle partye ingelig is, word kennis hiermee gegee.
In order to ensure that all parties are informed, notice is hereby given.
Die maatreëls is ingestel ten einde bedrog te bekamp.
The measures were introduced in order to combat fraud.
Ten einde te voldoen aan die regulasies, moet die vorm volledig ingevul word.
In order to comply with the regulations, the form must be completed in full.
Notice that ten einde behaves exactly like om: the verb takes te, and the whole purpose clause sends its verb to the end. What makes it remarkable is that this is a fossil — a construction the spoken language abandoned — kept alive and even productive inside one register. An advanced learner who can deploy ten einde te correctly signals genuine command of high legal style.
The pervasive passive
Legal language wants to be impersonal: it states what is to be done without naming who does it. Afrikaans achieves this with the word + verb passive (present) and is + verb / is ge- ... nie (past), and legalese leans on it relentlessly.
Die kontrak word hiermee gekanselleer.
The contract is hereby cancelled.
Daar word ooreengekom dat die huurder verantwoordelik is vir herstelwerk.
It is agreed that the tenant is responsible for repairs.
Kennis word gegee dat aansoek gedoen is om likwidasie.
Notice is given that application has been made for liquidation.
The agentless passive — daar word ooreengekom ("it is agreed"), with no one named as agreeing — is the default voice of contracts and statutes. Where an everyday speaker says Ons het besluit (we decided), the statute says Daar is besluit (it has been decided / it was resolved).
Nominalisation: turning verbs into heavy nouns
The other hallmark is nominalisation — preferring an abstract noun to a plain verb. Instead of "if the parties cancel," legal Afrikaans writes "in the event of cancellation by the parties." This packs information densely and removes the human actor, which is exactly what the register wants.
| Plain verb | Nominalised legal form |
|---|---|
| kanselleer (to cancel) | by kansellasie van die ooreenkoms |
| betaal (to pay) | by wanbetaling (upon non-payment) |
| oortree (to contravene) | in geval van oortreding (in case of contravention) |
| nakom (to comply) | versuim om na te kom (failure to comply) |
By wanbetaling is die volle bedrag onmiddellik opeisbaar.
Upon non-payment, the full amount becomes immediately due and payable.
In geval van oortreding van hierdie bepalings kan die kontrak beëindig word.
In the event of a contravention of these provisions, the contract may be terminated.
Putting it together: a contract clause
Real legal Afrikaans stacks all of these at once — compound preposition, te-infinitive, passive, nominalisation, and the met dien verstande dat formula. Here is a single clause in full register, then unpacked into plain Afrikaans so you can see the distance.
Die huurder onderneem hiermee om die perseel in 'n goeie toestand te hou, met dien verstande dat redelike slytasie nie as skade beskou word nie.
The tenant hereby undertakes to keep the premises in good condition, provided that reasonable wear and tear is not regarded as damage.
Plain Afrikaans: Die huurder belowe om die plek netjies te hou, maar gewone slytasie tel nie as skade nie.
Plain version: The tenant promises to keep the place tidy, but normal wear and tear doesn't count as damage.
The plain version is shorter, names a human promiser, and drops hiermee, met dien verstande dat, and the formal passive. The legal version is doing social and functional work: it is deliberately impersonal, exhaustive, and formulaic, because its job is to be unambiguous in front of a court.
Common mistakes
The characteristic advanced-learner error here is importing English legalese — translating English fixed phrases word-for-word instead of using the Afrikaans formula.
❌ in terme van die wet
Incorrect — a calque of English 'in terms of'; the Afrikaans legal phrase is ingevolge or kragtens.
✅ ingevolge die wet
in terms of the Act
❌ met die verstand dat
Incorrect — the fixed formula is met dien verstande dat (with the older dien and the -e on verstande).
✅ met dien verstande dat
provided that
❌ in orde om te verseker
Incorrect — a calque of English 'in order to'; use om te or, in high register, ten einde te.
✅ ten einde te verseker
in order to ensure
❌ Hiermee, ek bevestig dat ...
Incorrect — English comma-after-'hereby' word order; Afrikaans keeps verb-second and no comma: Hiermee bevestig ek dat ...
✅ Hiermee bevestig ek dat ...
I hereby confirm that ...
❌ die voorgemelde party
Incorrect blend — the fixed forms are voormelde or voornoemde, not a coined voorgemelde.
✅ die voormelde party
the aforesaid party
Key takeaways
- Legal and administrative Afrikaans is a specialised register built on a closed set of fossilised compound prepositions: ingevolge, kragtens, ten aansien van, met dien verstande dat, voormelde, hiermee.
- It is the one register where the te-infinitive of purpose survives productively — ten einde te verseker alongside everyday om te verseker.
- Its default voice is the agentless passive with impersonal daar (daar word bepaal dat ...) and heavy nominalisation (by wanbetaling, in geval van oortreding).
- The main advanced-learner error is calquing English legalese (in terme van, in orde om te) instead of reaching for the Afrikaans formula.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Formal and Academic WritingC1 — Formal written Afrikaans has its own toolkit — the pronoun u, full uncontracted forms, the passive, nominal style, a closed set of high-register connectors like derhalwe and ten einde, and fixed letter formulas such as Geagte and Die uwe.
- Archaic and Biblical AfrikaansC2 — The elevated, pre-modern register preserved in older Bible translations, hymns and formal oratory — the pronoun gy, the -t verb endings, subjunctive remnants like mag and ware, and fossilised blessings — and how to read it without mistaking it for ungrammatical.
- 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.
- Register and Style: OverviewB2 — A map of Afrikaans register — formal vs informal, spoken vs written, standard vs vernacular — and the insight that register lives mostly in word choice and the jy/u pronoun, not in grammar.