Few situations pack as much useful grammar into so few words as stopping a stranger to ask for help. In one short exchange you need the polite u, a softened modal request, a yes/no question, and a thank-you — exactly the toolkit an A2 learner should own. Below is a short, original dialogue: a visitor, lost near the station, stops a passer-by. Read it once for the flow, then work through the line-by-line commentary, which shows where an English speaker's instincts help and where they quietly mislead.
The dialogue
A visitor cannot find the post office and stops a woman walking past.
| Speaker | Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|---|
| Besoeker | Verskoon my, mevrou. Kan u my dalk help? | Excuse me, ma'am. Could you perhaps help me? |
| Vrou | Natuurlik. Wat soek u? | Of course. What are you looking for? |
| Besoeker | Ek is op soek na die poskantoor. Weet u waar dit is? | I'm looking for the post office. Do you know where it is? |
| Vrou | Ja, dit is hier naby. Loop reguit af met hierdie straat. | Yes, it's nearby. Walk straight down this street. |
| Besoeker | Tot by die verkeerslig? | Up to the traffic light? |
| Vrou | Net daarna. Draai dan links, en dit is aan u regterkant. | Just past it. Then turn left, and it's on your right. |
| Besoeker | Sou u dit op die kaart kon wys? Ek is bang ek verdwaal weer. | Could you show it on the map? I'm afraid I'll get lost again. |
| Vrou | Met plesier. Hier — ons is nou hier, en die poskantoor is daar. | With pleasure. Here — we're here now, and the post office is there. |
| Besoeker | Baie dankie, ek waardeer dit regtig. | Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. |
| Vrou | Dis 'n plesier. Sterkte! | It's a pleasure. Good luck! |
Line-by-line commentary
Opening a request: Verskoon my
Verskoon my ("excuse me / forgive me") is the standard way to interrupt a stranger — softer and more deferential than the casual Jammer ("sorry"). It is an imperative built on verskoon (to excuse), and it opens almost any request to someone you don't know. The follow-up mevrou ("ma'am") adds courtesy; its partners are meneer ("sir") and mejuffrou ("miss"), all lowercase mid-sentence.
Verskoon my, meneer, is hierdie sitplek beset?
Excuse me, sir, is this seat taken?
Verskoon my dat ek pla, maar kan u my help?
Excuse me for bothering you, but can you help me?
The polite u with a stranger
Everything the visitor says uses u, the polite second-person address, where a friend would get jy/jou. With a stranger — and especially someone older, or in any service or official setting — u is the safe, respectful default. Note that u takes the same verb form as everything else (Afrikaans verbs don't change for person), so the only thing that shifts is the pronoun itself: Kan *u my help? versus the familiar Kan **jy my help?*
Kan u my dalk help?
Could you perhaps help me?
Wat soek u?
What are you looking for?
The possessive of u is also u: aan *u regterkant ("on your right"). Don't reach for *jou here — mixing familiar jou into an otherwise polite exchange sounds jarring, like switching from "you" to "thou" mid-sentence.
Modal requests: Kan u…? and the softer Sou u…?
The backbone of a polite request is a modal verb carrying the question. Kan u my help? ("Can/could you help me?") leads with the modal kan, which jumps in front of the subject u exactly as any yes/no question does. Crucially, there is no "do" helper: English builds Do you know where it is? with do, but Afrikaans simply puts the real verb first — Weet u waar dit is? ("Know you where it is?").
Kan u my dalk help?
Could you perhaps help me?
Weet u waar dit is?
Do you know where it is?
The word dalk ("perhaps / maybe") is doing quiet politeness work in Kan u my *dalk help?* It softens the request, making it feel less like a demand — much as English "perhaps" or "maybe" does. Dropping it is not wrong, but adding it is friendlier.
For an even more deferential request, the visitor later uses Sou u…kon…? — Sou u dit op die kaart kon wys? ("Could/would you be able to show it on the map?"). Sou is the conditional of sal (will), and pairing it with kon (the past of kan) stacks two layers of tentativeness — the Afrikaans equivalent of English "Would you be able to…?" It is the most polite request frame at this level.
Sou u dit op die kaart kon wys?
Could you show it on the map?
Sou u so vriendelik wees om my te wys?
Would you be so kind as to show me?
Directions in the imperative: Loop reguit… Draai dan links
When the woman gives directions she switches to the imperative — the bare verb, no subject: Loop reguit af ("Walk straight down"), Draai dan links ("Then turn left"). Giving instructions is the natural home of the imperative, and it stays polite here because the content is helpful, not because the form is softened. Notice dan ("then") sequencing the steps, and that the verb still comes first, just as in a command. See the imperative.
Loop reguit af met hierdie straat.
Walk straight down this street.
Draai dan links by die verkeerslig.
Then turn left at the traffic light.
Saying thanks and closing
The visitor closes with Baie dankie, ek waardeer dit regtig ("Thank you very much, I really appreciate it"). Baie dankie ("many thanks") is the everyday thank-you; ek waardeer dit adds warmth. The woman's reply Dis 'n plesier ("It's a pleasure", a contraction of Dit is 'n plesier) and the parting Sterkte! ("Good luck / strength!") are both fixed, friendly closers. Sterkte in particular has no neat English equivalent — it wishes someone strength or fortitude for whatever lies ahead.
Baie dankie, ek waardeer dit regtig.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate it.
Dis 'n plesier. Sterkte met die res van die dag!
It's a pleasure. Good luck with the rest of the day!
Common mistakes
❌ Kan jy my help, mevrou?
Incorrect register — with a stranger you use u, not the familiar jy.
✅ Kan u my help, mevrou?
Can you help me, ma'am?
❌ Doen u weet waar dit is?
Incorrect — Afrikaans has no do-support; the real verb leads the question.
✅ Weet u waar dit is?
Do you know where it is?
❌ Kan u my help? Dankie vir jou tyd.
Mixed register — once you use u, the possessive stays u, not jou.
✅ Kan u my help? Dankie vir u tyd.
Can you help me? Thank you for your time.
❌ Verskoon my, jy kan my help?
Incorrect — a yes/no request inverts the verb: Kan u…?, not statement order.
✅ Verskoon my, kan u my help?
Excuse me, can you help me?
❌ Ek soek vir die poskantoor — waar is hy?
Awkward — for a place use op soek na, and refer back to it with dit, not hy.
✅ Ek is op soek na die poskantoor — waar is dit?
I'm looking for the post office — where is it?
Key takeaways
- Open a request to a stranger with Verskoon my plus a title (meneer, mevrou).
- Use the polite u (and the possessive u) throughout — switching to jy/jou mid-exchange breaks register.
- Build requests with modals: Kan u…? is polite, Sou u…kon…? is very polite. See requests.
- Questions invert the verb and use no "do": Weet u…?, Kan u…? — never Doen u weet…? See yes/no questions.
- Give directions in the imperative (Loop, Draai) and close with Baie dankie and a friendly Sterkte!
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Annotated Texts: OverviewA2 — How the annotated-text pages work — a short text paired with grammar commentary — and the strict sourcing policy: every text is either an original composition or genuinely public-domain, never an in-copyright work.
- Dialogue: Asking Directions (A2)A2 — A short original Afrikaans directions dialogue, annotated for imperatives, location prepositions, and the directional postposition toe.
- Making and Responding to RequestsB1 — The full request-and-response cycle in Afrikaans — from bare imperatives softened with asseblief to conditional sou-modals, and the warm replies graag and met plesier.
- Politeness and RequestsB1 — How Afrikaans softens requests and offers — asseblief, conditional modals, and diminutives — by layering particles rather than adding 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.
- Yes/No Questions: InversionA1 — How Afrikaans turns a statement into a yes/no question by simply moving the finite verb to the front — with no 'do' anywhere.