English has one verb, "think", that does at least three different jobs: it calls something to mind ("I'm thinking of you"), it expresses an opinion ("What do you think of it?"), and it states a belief ("I think that it's true"). Afrikaans dink does all three too — but it sorts them out with three different grammatical frames, and choosing the right one is the whole skill of this verb. Get the complement right and you sound fluent; mix them up and you produce sentences that are grammatical but mean the wrong thing. For the family of mental-state verbs that dink belongs to (glo, weet, meen), see cognition verbs.
The basic forms
dink is regular in the modern language: present dink, perfect het gedink, future sal dink.
| Tense / form | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | dink | ek dink, jy dink, ons dink |
| Perfect (past) | het gedink | ek het gedink |
| Future | sal dink | ek sal dink |
| Infinitive | (om te) dink | om te dink |
| Imperative | dink! | Dink mooi! |
Ek dink dis 'n goeie plan.
I think it's a good plan.
Het jy al gedink oor wat jy wil bestudeer?
Have you thought yet about what you want to study?
There is also an old preterite dag (also spelt dog), and a participle variant gedag/gedog, all meaning roughly "I was under the impression / I supposed". You may meet Ek dag jy kom nie ("I thought you weren't coming") in speech and older writing, but in modern standard Afrikaans the perfect het gedink has almost completely taken over. Treat dag/dog as something to recognise, not to produce — it survives only because dink is such a high-frequency verb.
dink aan — calling to mind
dink aan means to think of/about something — to have it present in your mind, to direct your attention to it. This is the frame for the person you miss, the task you mustn't forget, the memory that surfaces. The preposition is aan (literally "on/to"), and it is fixed.
Ek dink heeldag aan jou.
I think about you all day.
Dink asseblief daaraan om die deur te sluit.
Please remember to lock the door.
Sy dink nog steeds aan haar oorlede oupa.
She still thinks about her late grandfather.
Notice the second example: when the object of aan is a thing rather than a person, aan fuses with a pronoun to give daaraan ("of/about it"). This is the regular Afrikaans pattern — aan dit is not used; you say daaraan.
dink van — having an opinion
dink van asks or states what you make of something — your opinion, your evaluation. English uses "think of/about" here too, which is exactly why learners reach for aan by mistake. But the opinion sense in Afrikaans wants van.
Wat dink jy van die nuwe restaurant?
What do you think of the new restaurant?
Ek weet nie wat om van sy storie te dink nie.
I don't know what to make of his story.
Hulle dink baie van haar werk.
They think highly of her work.
The contrast is sharp. Ek dink aan die film means "the film is on my mind" — maybe I'm replaying it, maybe I miss it. Ek dink die film is goed or Wat dink jy van die film? is about judgement. If someone asks Wat dink jy aan? they are asking what is occupying your mind right now, not your verdict on anything.
dink dat — believing
The third frame is the most common of all. dink dat introduces a belief — a whole clause stating what you hold to be true. This is the "I think that…" of opinion-as-belief, and it overlaps closely with glo ("believe"). The conjunction dat can usually be dropped in informal speech, just as English drops "that".
Ek dink dat dit gaan reën.
I think it's going to rain.
Ek dink ons is verdwaal.
I think we're lost.
Sy het gedink dat hy lieg, maar sy was verkeerd.
She thought that he was lying, but she was wrong.
A word-order note worth flagging: after dat, the finite verb goes to the end of the clause (dat dit gaan reën, not dat dit reën gaan… — well, both verbs cluster at the end). When you drop dat, the embedded clause keeps ordinary main-clause order: ek dink dit gaan reën. Dropping dat is the more conversational option.
A quick decision guide
| You mean… | Frame | Example |
|---|---|---|
| have on your mind | dink aan | Ek dink aan jou. |
| have an opinion of | dink van | Wat dink jy van dit? |
| believe (a whole statement) | dink (dat) … | Ek dink dit reën. |
Common mistakes
❌ Wat dink jy aan die nuwe baas?
Wrong frame — for an opinion use dink van, not dink aan.
✅ Wat dink jy van die nuwe baas?
What do you think of the new boss?
❌ Ek dink van jou heeldag.
Wrong frame — to mean 'you're on my mind' use dink aan.
✅ Ek dink heeldag aan jou.
I think about you all day.
❌ Ek dink aan dit.
Incorrect — aan + a thing-pronoun fuses to daaraan.
✅ Ek dink daaraan.
I'm thinking about it.
❌ Sy het gedag dat hy lieg.
Dated — the modern past is het gedink; dag/dog is fading and informal.
✅ Sy het gedink dat hy lieg.
She thought that he was lying.
❌ Ek dink dat dit gaan reën nie.
Incorrect — there is no negation here, so no nie belongs at the end.
✅ Ek dink dat dit gaan reën.
I think it's going to rain.
Key takeaways
- Forms are regular: present dink, perfect het gedink, future sal dink.
- The old preterite dag / dog ("I supposed") is recognisable but fading; use het gedink.
- dink aan = have on your mind (with aan; aan + it → daaraan).
- dink van = have an opinion of (with van).
- dink (dat) = believe; the dat is optional and often dropped in speech.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Verbs with aan and op (dink aan, wag op)B1 — A lookup table of Afrikaans verbs that govern aan or op — dink aan, glo aan, wag op, reken op, let op, antwoord op — with the meanings, examples, and the wag op / wag vir split that English hides.
- Cognition Verbs: dink, glo, weet, verstaan, onthou, vergeetB1 — A lookup table of Afrikaans mental-state verbs, organised by what complement each one takes (dat-clause, om te, direct object) and how it builds the perfect — including the no-ge- inseparables verstaan, vergeet and besef.