draai is one of the most useful verbs to know early, because it does triple duty — turn, rotate, and twist — and because it anchors almost everything you need for giving and following directions. "Turn right at the traffic light," "the Earth turns," "turn the key" all use draai. On top of the plain verb sit a family of separable derivatives — omdraai (turn around), wegdraai (turn away) — that show off the separable-verb pattern on an everyday action. This page lays out the forms and the senses; for the prepositions that go with directions, see direction with toe, and for a worked direction-giving dialogue, see dialogue: directions.
The forms
| Form | draai (turn) | omdraai (turn around, separable) |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (om te) draai | (om) om te draai |
| Present (all persons) | ek / jy / hy draai | ek / jy / hy draai om |
| Perfect (past) | het gedraai | het omgedraai |
| Future | sal draai | sal omdraai |
| Imperative (sg.) | Draai! | Draai om! |
The plain verb draai is wholly regular: the aai ending stays intact and the perfect simply prefixes ge- → het gedraai. The derivatives are separable: the particle (om, weg) detaches in a main clause and goes to the end (hy draai om), and in the perfect the ge- is infixed → omgedraai, weggedraai, written as one solid word.
Draai regs by die robot, dan is die winkel aan jou linkerkant.
Turn right at the traffic light, then the shop is on your left.
Die aarde draai om sy eie as in vier-en-twintig uur.
The Earth turns on its own axis in twenty-four hours.
Directions: the high-frequency use
For directions, draai combines with links (left) and regs (right), and with the preposition by ("at") to name the landmark you turn at. This is the single most practical pattern on the page — you will use it the first time you ask a stranger the way. Note the South African quirk: robot is the everyday word for a traffic light (the formal term is verkeerslig), so draai by die robot is completely natural, not slang to avoid.
Draai links by die tweede straat en hou aan tot by die kerk.
Turn left at the second street and keep going until you reach the church.
By die garage draai jy regs, dan ry jy reguit.
At the petrol station you turn right, then you drive straight on.
Ek het verkeerd gedraai en heeltemal verdwaal.
I turned the wrong way and got completely lost.
Rotate and twist: the same verb
Where English splits turn, rotate, spin, and twist across several verbs, Afrikaans is happy to let draai cover the whole range of circular motion. The Earth draai, a wheel draai, you draai a key in a lock, you draai the lid off a jar, you draai the volume up on the knob. The shared idea is rotation about an axis, and one verb carries it.
Draai die sleutel na links om die deur oop te sluit.
Turn the key to the left to unlock the door.
Hy draai die deksel styf vas sodat dit nie lek nie.
He twists the lid on tightly so it doesn't leak.
Die wiele het in die modder bly draai sonder om vat te kry.
The wheels kept spinning in the mud without getting traction.
omdraai: turning around
omdraai is the model separable derivative: om ("around") plus draai. It means turn around — reverse your facing direction, or turn an object over. In a main clause the om splits off (hy draai om = "he turns around"); in the perfect it goes back in with ge- infixed → het omgedraai. This solid participle, omgedraai, is worth memorising as a clean example of the pattern (see separable verbs).
Hy het omgedraai toe hy sy naam hoor roep.
He turned around when he heard his name called.
Draai die pannekoek om voordat dit brand.
Turn the pancake over before it burns.
Ons het halfpad omgedraai omdat ons die kaartjies vergeet het.
We turned back halfway because we'd forgotten the tickets.
A close cousin is wegdraai (turn away), which works the same way — particle weg splits in main clauses, perfect het weggedraai.
Sy het weggedraai sodat niemand haar trane sien nie.
She turned away so that no one would see her tears.
Common mistakes
❌ Hy het omdraai toe hy my sien.
Incorrect — the perfect of omdraai infixes ge-: omgedraai.
✅ Hy het omgedraai toe hy my sien.
He turned around when he saw me.
The participle of a separable verb puts ge- in the middle: om-ge-draai. The bare form omdraai is the infinitive, not the past participle.
❌ Hy omdraai by die hoek.
Incorrect — in a main clause the particle om must split off.
✅ Hy draai om by die hoek.
He turns around at the corner.
In a finite main clause the particle detaches and moves to the end: hy draai om. The verb only stays glued in the infinitive (om om te draai) and after a modal.
❌ Draai by die robot regs.
Marked word order — the direction word comes right after draai.
✅ Draai regs by die robot.
Turn right at the traffic light.
The natural order is draai + regs/links, then the by-landmark. Putting the landmark before the direction sounds clumsy.
❌ Die aarde draai rond om die son in 'n jaar.
Imprecise — for orbiting use draai om / wentel om, not draai rond.
✅ Die aarde draai om die son in 'n jaar.
The Earth goes around the Sun in a year.
For one body circling another, draai om ("turn around / revolve around") is idiomatic; draai rond suggests aimless spinning in place.
Key takeaways
- draai is regular: perfect het gedraai, future sal draai. One verb covers turn, rotate, and twist.
- For directions, use draai + links/regs + by + landmark: draai regs by die robot ("turn right at the traffic light"; robot = traffic light in South Africa).
- The separable derivatives omdraai (turn around) and wegdraai (turn away) split the particle in main clauses (draai om) and infix ge- in the perfect (omgedraai, weggedraai).
- Both participles are written solid: omgedraai, weggedraai.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Direction: na, toe, uit, deurA2 — How Afrikaans marks movement toward and away from a place — the distinctive postposition toe (huis toe), the preposition na, and the source markers uit and van … af.
- Separable Verbs: opstaan, aankom, uitgaanA2 — How separable verbs split — the stressed particle drops to the end of a main clause but rejoins the stem in subordinate clauses and infinitives.
- Dialogue: Asking Directions (A2)A2 — A short original Afrikaans directions dialogue, annotated for imperatives, location prepositions, and the directional postposition toe.