Weather is the universal ice-breaker, and it happens to drill two of the most useful A2 structures at once: the impersonal dit ("it's raining", "it's hot") and the comparative with as ("warmer than yesterday"). Below is a short, original dialogue between two neighbours running into each other on a grey morning. Everything in it is within A2 reach — present-tense verbs, the impersonal dit, simple comparatives, and the small phatic moves (dink jy...?, nê?) that keep a chat going. After the text, every line is unpacked, with the two transfer errors English speakers reliably make flagged as they come up.
The dialogue
Marius meets his neighbour Lena at the post boxes on a cold, cloudy morning.
| Speaker | Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|---|
| Marius | Haai Lena! Sjoe, dit is koud vanoggend, nê? | Hi Lena! Wow, it's cold this morning, isn't it? |
| Lena | Ja, dit is baie kouer as gister. Ek dink dit gaan reën. | Yes, it's much colder than yesterday. I think it's going to rain. |
| Marius | Dink jy regtig? Die lug lyk darem swaar. | Do you really think so? The sky does look heavy. |
| Lena | Dit reën al die hele week. Ek is moeg vir die nat weer. | It's been raining all week. I'm tired of the wet weather. |
| Marius | Hopelik is dit môre beter. Die weervoorspelling sê dit klaar op. | Hopefully it's better tomorrow. The forecast says it'll clear up. |
| Lena | Lekker! Dan kan ons darem 'n bietjie son kry. | Lovely! Then we can at least get a bit of sun. |
| Marius | Ek hou meer van die somer. Dit is warmer en die dae is langer. | I prefer summer. It's warmer and the days are longer. |
| Lena | Ek weet nie — die somer is partykeer té warm vir my. | I don't know — summer is sometimes too hot for me. |
| Marius | Wel, vir nou: trek warm aan! Dit gaan 'n koue dag wees. | Well, for now: dress warmly! It's going to be a cold day. |
| Lena | Dankie, jy ook. Geniet die dag, ten spyte van die weer! | Thanks, you too. Enjoy the day, despite the weather! |
Line-by-line commentary
The impersonal dit: dit is koud, dit reën
The backbone of weather talk is the impersonal dit — the "dummy" it that fills the subject slot when there is no real doer. English does exactly the same with it: it's cold, it's raining, it's going to rain. Afrikaans uses dit for every one of these.
Dit is koud vanoggend.
It's cold this morning.
Dit reën al die hele week.
It's been raining all week.
Dit gaan reën.
It's going to rain.
The verb here is genuinely subjectless in meaning — nobody and nothing is "doing" the cold or the rain — so Afrikaans plugs in dit purely to satisfy the grammar. This is the single most important pattern on the page: weather = dit + verb/adjective.
The comparative with as: kouer as gister
To compare, Afrikaans adds -er to the adjective (koud → kouer, warm → warmer, lank → langer) and joins the two things with as. The word for "than" is as, not dan. This is a notorious trap, because as in other contexts means "if" or "as" — but in a comparison it is always the right choice.
Dit is baie kouer as gister.
It's much colder than yesterday.
Dit is warmer en die dae is langer.
It's warmer and the days are longer.
The pattern is [adjective]-er + as + [the thing compared]: kouer as gister, warmer as die winter, langer as gewoonlik. Note that baie ("very/much") in front intensifies the comparison — baie kouer = "much colder" — just as English uses much before a comparative.
A phatic opener: dit is koud, nê?
Nê? is the all-purpose tag question — "isn't it? / right? / eh?" — tacked onto the end of a statement to invite agreement. It is the engine of small talk: it turns a flat observation (dit is koud) into an opening for conversation (dit is koud, nê?). It is informal and extremely common in spoken Afrikaans.
Dit is koud vanoggend, nê?
It's cold this morning, isn't it?
Mooi dag vandag, nê?
Nice day today, isn't it?
Where English has to choose the right tag to match the verb (isn't it? / doesn't it? / won't they?), Afrikaans just uses one invariant word, nê, for all of them. That makes phatic agreement-seeking far easier than in English.
Asking for an opinion: dink jy...?
To ask what someone thinks, Afrikaans uses dink jy...? — verb-second inversion puts the verb dink first and the subject jy second, exactly as in any yes/no question. Regtig? ("really?") and Dink jy regtig? ("Do you really think so?") are the natural follow-ups that keep weather chat alive.
Dink jy dit gaan reën?
Do you think it's going to rain?
Dink jy regtig?
Do you really think so?
There is no do helper: you do not say Doen jy dink...?. You simply put the real verb dink first. This is the same V2 inversion you met in greetings — Werk jy hier?, Woon jy hier? — applied to opinions.
Reacting and evaluating: lekker, sjoe, darem
Small talk is held together by little reaction words. Sjoe is an exclamation of mild surprise or feeling ("wow / phew"). Lekker is the all-purpose "nice / lovely / great". Darem softens or reassures ("at least / after all / you know"). None of these carries much literal content — their job is social, signalling that you are engaged.
Sjoe, dit is warm vandag!
Phew, it's hot today!
Lekker! Dan kan ons buite sit.
Lovely! Then we can sit outside.
Die lug lyk darem swaar.
The sky does look heavy, though.
Closing the exchange: geniet die dag
The chat ends with trek warm aan! ("dress warmly!", an imperative — verb first, no subject) and the friendly send-off geniet die dag ("enjoy the day"). The tag ten spyte van die weer ("despite the weather") is a light, knowing close that signals shared resignation about the rain — a very Afrikaans way to end weather talk.
Geniet die dag, ten spyte van die weer!
Enjoy the day, despite the weather!
Common mistakes
❌ Daar reën die hele week.
Incorrect — weather 'it' is dit, not daar; daar is for existence ('there is').
✅ Dit reën die hele week.
It's been raining all week.
❌ Dit is kouer dan gister.
Incorrect — 'than' in a comparison is as, not dan; dan means 'then'.
✅ Dit is kouer as gister.
It's colder than yesterday.
❌ Dink jy doen dit reën?
Incorrect — there is no do-helper; just invert the real verb: Dink jy...?
✅ Dink jy dit gaan reën?
Do you think it's going to rain?
❌ Is koud vanoggend.
Incorrect — the subject slot must be filled; Afrikaans needs the dummy dit.
✅ Dit is koud vanoggend.
It's cold this morning.
❌ Die dae is meer lank in die somer.
Incorrect — short adjectives form the comparative with -er, not with meer.
✅ Die dae is langer in die somer.
The days are longer in summer.
Key takeaways
- Weather talk runs on the impersonal dit: dit reën, dit is koud, dit gaan reën — never daar.
- The comparative is [adjective]-er + as: kouer as gister, warmer as die winter. "Than" is as, not dan.
- Keep as ("than") and dan ("then") apart — a weather chat often uses both.
- Dink jy...? asks an opinion with plain verb-second inversion; there is no do-helper.
- The social glue is the tag nê? ("isn't it?") plus reaction words sjoe, lekker, darem — learn them as ready-made conversational moves.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Impersonal Constructions: dit and daarB2 — Afrikaans uses dummy dit for weather, time and evaluation (dit reën, dit is laat) and existential daar for 'there is/are' (daar is) — with daar is invariant for number.
- Comparatives: -er and meerA2 — How Afrikaans builds the comparative — most adjectives add -er (groter, duurder), longer ones take meer, and 'than' is always as, never dan.
- Weather and Nature ExpressionsB1 — How Afrikaans talks about weather — from dit reën dat dit giet to mooiweer praat — and how its agrarian roots turn weather into a rich source of social and emotional metaphor.
- Dialogue: Meeting Someone (A1)A1 — A short original Afrikaans greetings dialogue, annotated line by line for the grammar an A1 learner has already met.
- 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.