Proverb Collection: Wisdom and Caution

Proverbs are grammar with the lights turned up. Because every word has to earn its place, a good saying tends to show off one structure with unusual clarity — a conditional, a fronted element, a comparative, a verbless frame. This page collects ten traditional Afrikaans proverbs on the themes of wisdom, caution and consequence, and uses each one to teach a single grammar point cleanly. Read them as a set and you will have toured half the syntax of the language. Each is a genuine, public-domain saying; none is invented.

1. As die kat weg is, is die muis baas

Meaning: when the person in charge is absent, those under them do as they please. The classic "when the cat's away, the mice will play."

Grammar — the conditional with as, and inversion. The proverb opens with an as-clause (As die kat weg is — "when/if the cat is away"). As introduces both real conditions and "whenever" situations, and it is the everyday Afrikaans word for "if/when" — covered in full at conditional sentences. The key move is what happens in the main clause: because the whole conditional clause sits in first position, the main clause inverts, putting the verb before the subject — is die muis baas, not die muis is baas. This is the verb-second rule: front anything, and the verb jumps to second slot. Notice the satisfying echo — the sentence has is twice, once closing the condition and once opening the result.

2. Besin eer jy begin

Meaning: weigh the consequences before you start something. Look before you leap.

Grammar — the subordinator eer ('before'). The little word eer is a temporal conjunction meaning "before," a slightly literary cousin of the everyday voordat. It introduces a subordinate clause — eer jy begin — and, like other Afrikaans subordinators, it sends its verb to the end of its clause (here begin lands last). The proverb opens with a bare imperative, Besin ("reflect!"), with no subject, exactly as English imperatives drop "you." The rhyme besin / begin is what keeps it alive.

3. Al loop die leuen nog so snel, die waarheid agterhaal hom wel

Meaning: a lie may travel quickly, but the truth always overtakes it in the end. Honesty wins out.

Grammar — concessive al ('even though / however') with inversion. The clause opens with al plus nog so — a concessive frame meaning "however much / no matter how." Because the concessive clause is fronted, its verb inverts: Al *loop die leuen... (verb before subject). The main clause then delivers the punch with the particle *wel ("nonetheless, indeed") sealing the end — die waarheid agterhaal hom wel. The pronoun hom ("it") refers back to die leuen; Afrikaans uses hom for grammatically common-gender nouns where English would say "it." The internal rhyme snel / wel is the hook.

4. Moenie 'n gegewe perd in die bek kyk nie

Meaning: don't criticise or scrutinise a gift — accept it graciously. (Buyers once judged a horse's age by its teeth, so inspecting a gift horse's mouth is ungrateful nit-picking.)

Grammar — the negative imperative moenie … nie. Afrikaans wraps a prohibition in a two-part frame: moenie at the front (a fused form of moet nie, "must not") and a closing nie at the very end. Everything you are forbidden to do sits between the two negatives — Moenie [...] kyk nie. English speakers must remember that closing nie; dropping it is the single most common Afrikaans negation error. Note also gegewe, the past participle of gee ("give") used as an adjective — "a given (gifted) horse" — sitting attributively before the noun with its -e.

5. Sagte heelmeesters maak stinkende wonde

Meaning: half-measures make things worse. Treat a problem too softly and it festers; better to be firm and thorough, however unpleasant.

Grammar — the light verb maak and the generic present. The verb maak ("make") links cause (sagte heelmeesters) to effect (stinkende wonde) — a light verb carrying the proverb's logic, just as English "make" does. The whole thing sits in the generic present: it is not about one healer on one day but a timeless truth, which is why maak stays present, never past. Both adjectives wear the attributive -e — sagte (from sag, soft) and stinkende (a present-participle adjective, "stinking") — because both stand before their nouns.

6. Onbekend maak onbemind

Meaning: what people don't know, they don't warm to; distance and unfamiliarity breed indifference or distrust. (Note: this is the Afrikaans logic — the opposite of the English "familiarity breeds contempt.")

Grammar — the on- prefix and extreme ellipsis. Two negated adjectives frame the light verb maak: onbekend ("unknown," from bekend + the negating prefix on-) and onbemind ("unloved," from bemind + on-). The prefix on- is the Afrikaans equivalent of English "un-/in-," and it is wonderfully productive — eerlik → oneerlik, moontlik → onmoontlik. The proverb is also a masterclass in ellipsis: there is no article, no subject noun, nothing but adjective–verb–adjective. You supply the rest yourself ("[that which is] unknown makes [one] unloved").

7. Hoë bome vang die meeste wind

Meaning: the more prominent you are, the more criticism you attract. People in high positions take the most flak.

Grammar — the superlative die meeste. The phrase die meeste wind ("the most wind") shows the Afrikaans superlative built with die meeste + noun, the counterpart of English "the most." For ordinary adjectives the superlative is formed with -ste (hoog → hoogste, groot → grootste), but for quantity ("most") Afrikaans uses die meeste, the irregular superlative of baie/veel. Note the attributive -e on hoë (from hoog, "high") — and watch the spelling: hoog loses its g and gains a diaeresis, hoë, so the two vowels are read separately.

8. Eie roem stink

Meaning: praising yourself makes a bad impression; let others sing your praises. Modesty is wiser than boasting.

Grammar — the bare attributive eie, and the generic present. Three words, and each is a lesson. Eie ("own") is an attributive adjective that never takes -e — it is invariable, eie roem, eie huis, eie mening, always bare. Roem ("glory, self-praise") is an abstract noun used without an article — abstract nouns in general statements drop die, exactly as English drops "the" in "self-praise stinks." And stink is the generic present: a standing truth, not a one-time event. Compact and merciless.

9. Goedkoop koop is duurkoop

Meaning: the cheapest option often costs you more in the long run — you pay twice when the bargain fails. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Grammar — compound nouns and equational structure. The proverb pivots on two compounds: goedkoop ("cheap," literally good + buy) and duurkoop ("dear-buying," expensive + buy). Afrikaans builds new words by simply welding stems together, written as one word — a habit it shares with German and Dutch. The sentence is equational, an A-is-B identity ("cheap buying is dear buying"), and it leans on the contrast goedkoop / duurkoop for its bite. You will also hear the even more compressed Goedkoop is duurkoop.

10. Rome is nie in een dag gebou nie

Meaning: great things take time; be patient with slow progress. Don't expect a big undertaking to finish overnight.

Grammar — the passive and the nie … nie frame. This is a passive construction: Rome is ... gebou ("Rome was built"), formed with is/was plus the past participle gebou (from bou, "to build"). There is no actor named — the focus is on Rome, not on the builders, which is exactly what the passive is for. Wrapped around it is the double negative: nie … nie, with the first nie before the time phrase and the second nie closing the sentence. Forgetting that final nie is the classic learner slip; the frame must always close.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Conditionals and concessives front their clause, so the main clause inverts (is die muis baas; Al loop die leuen...) — see conditional sentences.
• Negation frames must close: moenie … nie, nie … nie. The dropped final nie is the number-one learner error.
• The generic present is the natural tense of proverbs — stink, maak, vang — stating timeless truths, never one-off events.
• Light verb maak links cause to effect (sagte heelmeesters maak..., onbekend maak onbemind).
• A few adjectives are bare attributively (eie), while most take -e (sagte, stinkende, hoë); watch the spelling of hoë and its diaeresis.
• Afrikaans loves compression — verbless equations, dropped articles, welded compounds (goedkoop, duurkoop) — and proverbs push that compression to its limit.