A compound sentence is two complete main clauses welded together with a coordinating conjunction — en (and), maar (but), of (or), want (because/for), dus (so). The headline news for a learner is how little happens: nothing moves. Each clause keeps its normal main-clause shape, the verb stays in second position in both halves, and you simply set the conjunction between them. That makes coordination the safe way to combine clauses, in sharp contrast to subordination, where the verb gets thrown to the end. This page shows you the coordinators, the no-inversion rule, the comma conventions, and the critical want versus omdat distinction.
Two main clauses, both unchanged
Take two sentences that could each stand alone — Ek werk (I work) and sy speel (she plays) — and join them with en. The result keeps both halves exactly as they were:
Ek werk en sy speel.
I work and she plays.
Ons eet eers en dan slaap ons.
We eat first and then we sleep.
Look closely at the second one. After en dan you might expect the German-style inversion dan slaap ons to spread across the join — and indeed dan does trigger inversion within its own clause (dan slaap ons, verb before subject, because dan is fronted). But the coordinator en itself changes nothing; the inversion there is caused by the fronted adverb dan, not by the coordination. The plain case makes this crystal clear:
Ek werk en sy speel.
I work and she plays.
No inversion. sy speel stays subject-then-verb, exactly as if it were a standalone sentence. A coordinating conjunction does not count as the first element of the clause — so it does not push the verb anywhere.
The five everyday coordinators
| Conjunction | Meaning | Comma before it? |
|---|---|---|
| en | and | usually no |
| maar | but | yes |
| of | or | usually no |
| want | because, for | yes |
| dus | so, therefore | yes |
Ek wil gaan, maar ek is moeg.
I want to go, but I'm tired.
Wil jy koffie of verkies jy tee?
Do you want coffee or do you prefer tea?
Sy bly tuis, want dit reën.
She's staying home, because it's raining.
In every case both clauses are full main clauses with the verb in second position — ek is moeg, verkies jy tee, dit reën — and the conjunction simply links them.
Comma rules
The punctuation is mostly intuitive once you know the convention. Afrikaans puts a comma before maar, want and dus, because they introduce a contrast, a reason, or a consequence — a clear break in thought. Before en and of, you normally use no comma when they simply join two clauses.
Ek het die deur gesluit en die ligte afgesit.
I locked the door and switched off the lights.
Ons kan nou ry, of ons kan wag tot dit ophou reën.
We can drive now, or we can wait until it stops raining.
Hy was honger, dus het hy 'n broodjie gemaak.
He was hungry, so he made a sandwich.
Note dus in that last example: like the fronted adverb dan, dus at the head of its clause triggers inversion inside that clause (dus het hy), because dus fills the first slot. That is a property of dus as an adverb-like connector, not a contradiction of the no-inversion rule for true coordinators — and it is exactly why dus gets grouped with the inverting connectors elsewhere. For the cleanest mental model, anchor on en, maar, of, want: those four never invert the following clause.
want versus omdat: the trap
Here is the distinction that separates a confident speaker from a hesitant one. Both want and omdat translate as "because", but they are grammatically opposite:
- want is a coordinating conjunction → the clause after it keeps normal main-clause order (verb second).
- omdat is a subordinating conjunction → the clause after it goes verb-final (verb at the end).
| want (coordinating) | omdat (subordinating) |
|---|---|
| Sy bly tuis, want dit reën. | Sy bly tuis omdat dit reën. |
| verb stays in 2nd position | verb pushed to the end |
With the short clause dit reën the verb position happens to look identical, so swap in a longer clause and the difference jumps out:
Sy bly tuis, want dit reën vandag hard.
She's staying home, because it's raining hard today.
Sy bly tuis omdat dit vandag hard reën.
She's staying home because it's raining hard today.
In the want version the verb reën sits in second position with the rest trailing after it. In the omdat version the verb reën is flung to the very end of its clause. Choosing want keeps you on the easy, no-movement coordination path; choosing omdat commits you to verb-final subordinate order. Subordination is treated fully on complex sentences.
Compound versus complex
This gives you the clean distinction at the heart of clause-combining:
- A compound sentence joins equal main clauses with a coordinator (en, maar, of, want). Nothing moves — both clauses keep main-clause order.
- A complex sentence attaches a subordinate clause to a main clause with a subordinator (omdat, dat, as, terwyl). The subordinate clause goes verb-final.
Coordination is the "safe" join precisely because it demands no reordering. When you are unsure whether a conjunction triggers verb-final order, a coordinator never does — so a compound sentence is the lower-risk way to link two ideas.
Ek het gebel, maar niemand het geantwoord nie.
I called, but nobody answered.
Ons gaan see toe of ons bly by die huis.
We're going to the sea or we're staying at home.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek werk en speel sy.
Incorrect — no inversion after a coordinator; keep subject–verb order.
✅ Ek werk en sy speel.
I work and she plays.
en does not occupy the first slot of the clause, so it cannot trigger inversion. The second clause stays subject-then-verb.
❌ Sy bly tuis want dit vandag hard reën.
Incorrect — want is coordinating, so the verb must stay in 2nd position, not at the end.
✅ Sy bly tuis, want dit reën vandag hard.
She's staying home, because it's raining hard today.
Using want with verb-final order mixes up the two "because" words. After want, keep main-clause order; verb-final belongs to omdat.
❌ Sy bly tuis omdat dit reën vandag hard.
Incorrect — omdat is subordinating, so the verb must go to the end.
✅ Sy bly tuis omdat dit vandag hard reën.
She's staying home because it's raining hard today.
The mirror error: after omdat the verb must be clause-final. Don't leave it in second position.
❌ Ek wil gaan maar ek is moeg.
Punctuation slip — maar takes a comma before it.
✅ Ek wil gaan, maar ek is moeg.
I want to go, but I'm tired.
maar introduces a contrast and takes a comma in front of it.
Key takeaways
- A compound sentence joins two main clauses with a coordinator — en, maar, of, want, dus.
- Coordinators sit outside the clauses, so they cause no inversion: each clause keeps plain subject–verb (V2) order.
- Comma before maar, want, dus; no comma before en and of when they link two clauses.
- want (coordinating, verb stays 2nd) vs omdat (subordinating, verb goes last) both mean "because" — don't mix their word order.
- Coordination is the safe join: it needs no reordering, unlike complex/subordinate sentences.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Coordination and Shared ElementsB1 — How en, maar, of, want and dus join two main clauses without inverting the second — and why want ('because') keeps main-clause order while omdat sends the verb to the end.
- Coordinating: en, maar, of, wantA2 — The coordinating conjunctions en, maar, of, and want keep normal main-clause word order — and want's coordinating status is exactly why it differs from omdat.
- Complex SentencesB1 — Building sentences from a main clause plus subordinate clauses — the verb-final order inside the subordinate clause, and the inversion that follows a fronted one.
- Subordinating: dat, omdat, as, toe, terwyl, sodatB1 — The conjunctions that introduce a dependent clause — dat, omdat, as, toe, terwyl, sodat and friends — and the one rule they all share: they send the finite verb to the very end of their clause.
- Building Sentences: OverviewA1 — The handful of basic sentence patterns — statement, copular, existential, question, command — that get you speaking Afrikaans before you tackle the finer points of word order.
- The V2 Rule: Finite Verb SecondA1 — Why the finite verb always lands in second position in Afrikaans main clauses — and why the subject must follow it when anything else comes first.