begin ("to begin") and ophou ("to stop") are the two verbs you will reach for constantly to talk about starting and stopping an activity. But they are worth learning side by side for a deeper reason: their past participles are built in opposite ways. begin takes no ge- in the perfect (het begin), while ophou wraps ge- into its middle (het opgehou). Put them next to each other and you have the single cleanest illustration of how Afrikaans builds its two participle types. This page is about their forms and their complements — for how they actually express phases of an action (the aspect), see aspect with loop and kom.
The forms, side by side
| Form | begin (begin) | ophou (stop) |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (om te) begin | (om) op te hou |
| Present (all persons) | ek / jy / hy begin | ek / jy / hy hou op |
| Perfect (past) | het begin | het opgehou |
| Future | sal begin | sal ophou |
| Imperative (sg.) | Begin! | Hou op! |
Look closely at the present and imperative rows. begin is a single solid word — it never breaks apart. ophou is separable: in a main clause the prefix op detaches and slides to the end (ek hou op, hou op!), exactly the way English speakers already split off particles in "I give up" or "she hands it over." Everything that follows on this page flows from that one structural difference.
Die fliek begin om agtuur — moenie laat wees nie.
The film starts at eight — don't be late.
Hou op met die lawaai, asseblief — ek probeer werk.
Stop the noise, please — I'm trying to work.
Why begin has no ge-
Afrikaans normally builds the perfect by prefixing ge-: werk → gewerk, speel → gespeel. But a small set of verbs that already open with an unstressed prefix refuse the ge-. begin is one of them: the be- at the front is an inseparable, stress-light prefix (you say be-gín, with the weight on the second syllable), and Afrikaans does not stack a second toneless prefix on top. So the past participle is simply begin — identical to the present. The only thing marking it as past is the auxiliary het.
Dit het gister begin reën net toe ons by die see aankom.
It started raining yesterday just as we arrived at the sea.
Ek het lankal begin spaar vir 'n nuwe rekenaar.
I started saving for a new computer a long time ago.
This puts begin in the same club as betaal, verstaan, ontmoet and the rest of the inseparable prefix verbs — none of them take ge-.
Why ophou infixes ge-
ophou does the opposite, because its prefix is a completely different animal. The op is a separable particle: it carries its own stress (óp-hou) and it physically detaches in main clauses. When such a verb forms the perfect, the ge- slots in between the particle and the stem — op + ge + hou → opgehou. The particle clamps onto the front, the ge- marks the participle in the middle, and the stem sits at the back.
Dit het uiteindelik opgehou reën teen die middag.
It finally stopped raining by midday.
Hulle het opgehou stry toe die afrigter inkom.
They stopped arguing when the coach came in.
So het begin versus het opgehou is a perfect minimal pair: same job (marking the past of a "phase" verb), opposite mechanics. One refuses ge- because its prefix is toneless and glued on; the other infixes ge- because its prefix is stressed and detachable. If you can explain this contrast, you understand the whole Afrikaans participle system. For more on the separable type, see separable verbs in the past.
What follows them: the complements
Both verbs typically introduce a second verb — the activity that begins or stops. There are two patterns to know.
With te (or om te): Both begin and ophou can take a following infinitive with te, often introduced by om. In careful or written Afrikaans you will see begin om te and ophou om te; in speech the om is frequently dropped, and after begin the bare infinitive (no te at all) is common too.
Sy het begin om die waarheid te vertel.
She began to tell the truth.
Ons moet ophou om so baie geld op kos te mors.
We need to stop wasting so much money on food.
Hy het begin lag toe hy die foto sien.
He started laughing when he saw the photo.
With met (only ophou): This is the construction English speakers most often miss. To say you stop an activity expressed as a noun, ophou governs the preposition met ("with") — literally "stop with the smoking," "stop with the work." English has nothing parallel; you simply have to learn that ophou met is the frame for stopping a thing.
Hy het opgehou met rook nadat sy pa siek geword het.
He stopped smoking after his father got sick.
Kan ons net ophou met hierdie argument?
Can we just stop this argument?
Note the asymmetry: begin does not take met in this way. You begin met 'n projek only in the narrow sense of making a start on a task; for ordinary "start doing X" you use the infinitive (begin werk, begin om te werk), not begin met.
Imperatives: begin vs hou op
In commands the structural difference is at its most visible. begin stays whole — Begin! ("Start!"). ophou splits — the particle goes to the end and you say Hou op! ("Stop!"), not the un-Afrikaans Ophou! The split form Hou op! is one of the most common everyday utterances in the language.
Hou op! Jy maak die hond bang.
Stop it! You're frightening the dog.
Begin sommer nou — ons het nie die hele dag nie.
Start right now — we don't have all day.
Common mistakes
❌ Dit het gister gebegin reën.
Incorrect — begin never takes ge-; the be- prefix blocks it.
✅ Dit het gister begin reën.
It started raining yesterday.
The single most common error is treating begin like a regular verb and gluing ge- to it. The form gebegin does not exist. The perfect is the bare het begin.
❌ Ek ophou nou met werk, want ek is moeg.
Incorrect placement — in a finite main clause the particle op must split off: hou ... op.
✅ Ek hou nou op met werk, want ek is moeg.
I'm stopping work now, because I'm tired.
In a finite main clause the particle of ophou must detach: ek hou op, not ek ophou. The whole word ophou only stays glued together in the infinitive (om op te hou) and after a modal (ek wil ophou).
❌ Dit het opgehou reën, maar dit was nie gehou op nie.
Incorrect — the participle is opgehou, with ge- in the middle, not gehou op.
✅ Dit het opgehou reën.
It stopped raining.
The ge- goes inside the verb (op-ge-hou), not after a split-off particle. Build the participle as one word: opgehou.
❌ Hou op rook is moeilik.
Marked — to stop an activity framed as a noun, ophou needs met (om op te hou met rook).
✅ Om op te hou met rook is moeilik.
Stopping smoking is hard.
When the thing you stop is framed as a noun, use ophou met ("stop with…"). Forgetting the met is a classic transfer error from English "stop smoking."
Key takeaways
- begin is inseparable and takes no ge-: perfect het begin (looks identical to the present).
- ophou is separable and infixes ge-: perfect het opgehou; in main clauses it splits (ek hou op, Hou op!).
- Together they are the ideal minimal pair for the two participle types — toneless-prefix-no-ge versus stressed-particle-ge-infix.
- Both take a te / om te infinitive; begin also allows a bare infinitive (begin lag).
- To stop an activity expressed as a noun, use ophou met — there is no English equivalent, so learn the frame.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Phasal Verbs: begin, ophou, aanhou, gaanB1 — The verbs that mark the start, continuation, and end of an action — begin (start), ophou (stop), aanhou (keep on), and inchoative gaan — and the complements each one takes.
- Inseparable Prefixes: be-, ver-, ont-, her-, er-, ge-B1 — The unstressed bound prefixes be-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver- and er- that never detach from the verb and suppress the ge- of the past participle — with stress as the diagnostic.
- Past Tense of Separable VerbsB1 — How separable verbs form their past participle — ge- is infixed between the particle and the stem (opstaan → opgestaan, aankom → aangekom), written solid, and placed clause-finally — and why inseparable-prefixed verbs take no ge- at all.