betaal ("to pay") is a verb you will use the moment you walk into a shop, a restaurant, or a taxi. It is morphologically simple — but it hides two things English speakers reliably get wrong: it takes no ge- in the perfect (het betaal, not gebetaal), and it splits its meaning across two prepositions, vir ("for") and met ("with"). Getting those two prepositions right, and noticing when you need neither of them, is what this page is about.
The forms
betaal opens with the unstressed prefix be- (you say be-táal, weight on the second syllable). That toneless prefix blocks the perfect marker ge-, so the past participle is simply betaal — identical to the present. Only the auxiliary het signals the past.
| Form | Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (om te) betaal | to pay |
| Present (all persons) | ek / jy / hy betaal | I / you / he pay(s) |
| Perfect (past) | het betaal | paid / have paid |
| Future | sal betaal | will pay |
| Conditional | sou betaal | would pay |
| Imperative (sg.) | Betaal! | Pay! |
Ek betaal altyd kontant by die mark.
I always pay cash at the market.
Het jy al die rekening betaal, of moet ek dit doen?
Have you paid the bill yet, or should I do it?
betaal vir: pay for something
To name what you are paying for, betaal governs vir ("for"). You pay vir die kos (for the food), vir die kaartjies (for the tickets), vir 'n ete (for a meal). This vir marks the thing whose cost you are covering.
Wie gaan vir die ete betaal vanaand?
Who's going to pay for the meal tonight?
Ek het te veel vir hierdie skoene betaal.
I paid too much for these shoes.
My ouers betaal nog vir my studies.
My parents still pay for my studies.
betaal met: pay with a means
To name how you pay — the means or instrument — betaal governs met ("with"). You pay met 'n kaart (with a card), met kontant (with cash), met 'n tjek (with a cheque). Keep the two prepositions firmly apart: vir answers for what?, met answers with what?.
Kan ek met 'n kaart betaal, of net kontant?
Can I pay with a card, or only cash?
Hy het met sy foon betaal — alles is deesdae kontantloos.
He paid with his phone — everything is cashless these days.
The transitivity nuance: betaal vir vs betaal iemand
Here is the subtle point English hides from you. In English "pay" works the same way whether you pay a person or pay for a thing — "I paid the waiter," "I paid for the meal." Afrikaans pulls these apart:
- betaal iemand (no preposition) = pay a person directly. The person is a plain object.
- betaal vir iets = pay for a thing. The thing takes vir.
So you betaal die kelner (pay the waiter) but you betaal vir die kos (pay for the food). Drop the vir in front of a person, and add it in front of the thing.
Ek het die loodgieter reeds betaal.
I've already paid the plumber.
Sy betaal die kinders om die motor te was.
She pays the children to wash the car.
Ek het die kelner betaal en ook vir die ekstra koeldrank betaal.
I paid the waiter and also paid for the extra soft drink.
Notice how the last example uses both frames in one breath: die kelner betaal (person, no vir) and vir die ekstra koeldrank betaal (thing, with vir). You can also be explicit about paying a person for a thing, in which case both elements appear: Ek betaal jou vir die werk ("I pay you for the work") — the person is the bare object, the thing takes vir.
Asking the price: Hoeveel moet ek betaal?
The single most useful betaal phrase to bank is the question you ask at any till: Hoeveel moet ek betaal? ("How much do I have to pay?"). It uses the modal moet ("must") plus the bare infinitive betaal at the end — a clean, polite, everyday formula.
Hoeveel moet ek betaal vir twee koffies en 'n koek?
How much do I have to pay for two coffees and a cake?
Ons sal volgende maand vir die vakansie moet betaal.
We'll have to pay for the holiday next month.
The noun betaling
From betaal you build the noun betaling ("payment") by adding -ing straight onto the inseparable stem — no ge-, no extra fuss. This -ing nominalizer attaches to the whole verb, so the toneless be- simply stays put: be-taal → betaling. You will meet it on invoices and bank statements (maandelikse betaling = monthly payment).
Die eerste betaling is aan die einde van die maand.
The first payment is at the end of the month.
Ons aanvaar betaling met kaart of kontant.
We accept payment by card or cash.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek het die rekening gebetaal.
Incorrect — betaal never takes ge-; the be- prefix blocks it.
✅ Ek het die rekening betaal.
I paid the bill.
The form gebetaal does not exist. Like every be- verb, betaal keeps the same shape in the perfect: het betaal.
❌ Ek het vir die kelner betaal vir die wyn.
Overmarked — the person (kelner) is paid directly, without vir; only the thing (wyn) takes vir.
✅ Ek het die kelner vir die wyn betaal.
I paid the waiter for the wine.
Don't put vir in front of the person you pay. The person is a bare object (die kelner betaal); only the thing takes vir.
❌ Kan ek vir 'n kaart betaal?
Wrong preposition — for the means of payment you need met, not vir.
✅ Kan ek met 'n kaart betaal?
Can I pay with a card?
The means of payment takes met. Betaal vir 'n kaart would mean "pay for a (physical) card," not "pay by card."
❌ Ek betaal die kos.
Incomplete in most contexts — to say 'pay for the food', betaal needs vir before the thing.
✅ Ek betaal vir die kos.
I pay for the food.
A thing you pay for normally takes vir. Without it, betaal die kos sounds as though you are paying the food itself.
Key takeaways
- betaal is inseparable: perfect het betaal, no ge- ever.
- betaal vir = pay for a thing (vir die kos); betaal met = pay with a means (met 'n kaart).
- betaal iemand (no preposition) = pay a person; the vir is only for the thing.
- Bank the question Hoeveel moet ek betaal? for any till or counter.
- The noun is betaling — -ing straight on the stem, still no ge-.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
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