When English wants to express purpose or attach an infinitive, it uses "to": I work to earn money, it's hard to learn Afrikaans, she decided to stay. Afrikaans almost always renders this with om te + infinitive. The two little words split apart: om opens the clause, and te glues itself to the infinitive at the very end of that clause, with all the other material packed in between. So "to read the book" comes out as om die boek te lees — literally "om the book te read". Mastering where om and te sit is the single most important word-order skill at A2, because it appears in almost every sentence longer than a few words.
The shape: om ... te + infinitive
The frame is always the same: om at the front, the infinitive last, te immediately before that infinitive, and everything else (objects, adverbs) sandwiched in the middle.
| om | middle (objects, adverbs) | te | infinitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| om | geld | te | verdien |
| om | die boek | te | lees |
| om | die werk klaar | te | maak |
Ek werk hard om geld te verdien.
I work hard to earn money.
Sy het gebel om jou uit te nooi.
She called to invite you.
The English speaker's instinct is to keep "to" + verb together — to earn, to invite — but Afrikaans rips them apart and parks the verb at the end. This is the same end-of-clause habit you see with the perfect: het ... gedoen brackets the main clause, and om ... te brackets the infinitival clause in exactly the same spirit. See the clause-final verb for the general principle.
Purpose: "in order to"
The first and most frequent job of om te is to express purpose — the why of an action, English "in order to" or just "to".
Ek gaan stad toe om klere te koop.
I'm going to town to buy clothes.
Ons spaar om 'n huis te koop.
We're saving to buy a house.
Hy bel sy ma elke aand om te hoor hoe dit gaan.
He calls his mother every evening to hear how she's doing.
Notice the last one: when the infinitive has no object of its own, om and te end up almost next to each other — om te hoor — but they are still doing their bracketing job; there simply happens to be nothing in the middle. That bare-looking om te hoor is the same structure as om die boek te lees, just emptier.
Complement clauses: probeer, besluit, hoop, lus
The second big use is as a complement — the infinitival "thing" that a verb or adjective requires. Many everyday verbs take an om te clause as their object.
Sy het besluit om te bly.
She decided to stay.
Ek probeer om gesonder te eet.
I'm trying to eat more healthily.
Hulle hoop om volgende jaar te trou.
They hope to get married next year.
Adjectives take it too, especially after the dummy subject dit (it):
Dit is moeilik om Afrikaans te leer.
It's hard to learn Afrikaans.
Dit is lekker om weer by die huis te wees.
It's lovely to be home again.
And the common construction lus om te ("to feel like"), plus tyd om te ("time to"):
Ek is lus om 'n film te kyk vanaand.
I feel like watching a film tonight.
Material goes between om and te — including separable prefixes
Because the infinitive sits at the clause end, any object or adverb lands in the middle. Watch what happens with a separable verb like uitnooi (to invite) or klaarmaak (to finish): the te wedges itself inside the verb, between the prefix and the stem.
Hy het 'n boodskap gestuur om almal uit te nooi.
He sent a message to invite everyone.
Ek het gebly om die werk klaar te maak.
I stayed to finish the work.
So uitnooi becomes uit te nooi, and klaarmaak becomes klaar te maak. The te always immediately precedes the verb stem, even when that means splitting a compound verb. This trips up almost everyone at first — just remember that te hugs the stem (nooi, maak), and the prefix stays in front of it.
When you need om — and when te stands alone
The default is om te. But there is a closely related construction, the bare te infinitive, used after a small fixed set of verbs (posture verbs like staan te wag, and behoort/hoef) where om is wrong. And after modals — kan, moet, wil, mag, sal — you use the bare infinitive with no te at all.
| After... | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| most verbs / adjectives | om te + infinitive | Ek probeer om te slaap. |
| modals (kan, moet, wil...) | bare infinitive, no te | Ek wil slaap. |
| posture verbs, behoort, hoef | bare te, no om | Hy staan te wag. |
Ek wil môre vroeg opstaan.
I want to get up early tomorrow. (modal — no te)
Ek probeer om môre vroeg op te staan.
I'm trying to get up early tomorrow. (om te)
The contrast between wil opstaan (no particle) and probeer om ... op te staan (om te) is the cleanest illustration of the system. Modals swallow the bare infinitive directly; ordinary verbs need the om te bracket. The bare-te cases are covered on the te-infinitive without om, and modals on the modals overview.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek werk hard te verdien geld.
Incorrect — om is missing and the infinitive must close the clause: om geld te verdien.
✅ Ek werk hard om geld te verdien.
I work hard to earn money.
❌ Sy het besluit te bly.
Incorrect — besluit takes om te, not bare te.
✅ Sy het besluit om te bly.
She decided to stay.
❌ Ek wil om huis toe te gaan.
Incorrect — after a modal you use a bare infinitive, no om te.
✅ Ek wil huis toe gaan.
I want to go home.
❌ Dit is moeilik om te leer Afrikaans.
Incorrect — the object 'Afrikaans' goes between om and te; the infinitive closes the clause.
✅ Dit is moeilik om Afrikaans te leer.
It's hard to learn Afrikaans.
❌ Hy het gebel om uitnooi jou.
Incorrect — the separable verb splits around te and goes to the end: om jou uit te nooi.
✅ Hy het gebel om jou uit te nooi.
He called to invite you.
Key takeaways
- om te is the standard Afrikaans infinitive clause, covering English "to / in order to": om geld te verdien.
- om opens the clause; te is glued to the infinitive, which sits at the end, with objects and adverbs between them: om die boek te lees.
- It expresses purpose (om klere te koop) and serves as a complement to verbs and adjectives (besluit om te bly, moeilik om te leer).
- With separable verbs, te wedges inside: uitnooi → uit te nooi, klaarmaak → klaar te maak.
- Modals take a bare infinitive with no te (ek wil gaan); a few posture verbs and behoort/hoef take bare te without om. Everything else uses om te.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- The Infinitive: loop, om te loopA1 — The Afrikaans infinitive is just the bare verb — used directly after modals, and wrapped in 'om te' for purpose and complement clauses.
- Modal Verbs: kan, mag, moet, wil, salA1 — The Afrikaans modals kan, mag, moet, wil and sal each take a bare infinitive that lands at the end of the clause — your first taste of verb-bracket word order.
- Subordinate Clauses: Verb to the EndA2 — In an Afrikaans subordinate clause the finite verb moves to the very end — the single biggest word-order adjustment English speakers have to make.
- The te-Infinitive Without omB2 — A small, closed set of posture verbs and fixed expressions take a bare te-infinitive — staan te wag, is te koop, het te doen met — distinct from the productive om te clause.
- The Verb Bracket: Clause-Final Non-Finite VerbsA2 — In Afrikaans, the finite verb sits second while every other verb — participle, infinitive, separable particle — drops to the very end, framing the clause in a 'verb bracket'.