Kom ("to come") is among the very first verbs an Afrikaans learner needs. It is short, completely regular, and turns up everywhere — in invitations, commands, and a whole family of motion verbs built from it. The single thing to get right early is the perfect: it is het gekom, never is gekom, even though come feels like a motion verb that "should" pattern with is. Master that, and the same logic generalises across every verb derived from kom.
Core forms
Afrikaans verbs have almost no inflection, so kom has very few forms to learn. The present is just the bare stem for every person.
| Form | Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | kom | to come |
| Present (all persons) | ek / jy / hy / ons / hulle kom | I/you/he/we/they come |
| Perfect | het gekom | came / have come |
| Future | sal kom | will come |
| Imperative | Kom! | Come! |
| Present participle | komende | coming (e.g. die komende week) |
Ek kom môre vroeg by die werk aan.
I'm arriving at work early tomorrow.
Sy kom elke Sondag by ons kuier.
She comes to visit us every Sunday.
Note that the present tense doubles as the near-future in Afrikaans, especially with a time word: Ek kom môre simply means "I'm coming tomorrow." You do not need sal for a planned event.
The perfect: het gekom, not "is gekom"
This is the one trap. English "to come" is a motion verb, and learners coming from Dutch or German expect a zijn/sein-type auxiliary — Dutch says ik ben gekomen. Afrikaans does not. Every active perfect uses het, motion verbs included, so it is ek het gekom.
Ek het gister te laat by die stasie gekom.
I got to the station too late yesterday.
Almal het betyds gekom behalwe Jan.
Everyone came on time except Jan.
The participle gekom is built the regular way — plain ge- on the stem — and goes to the end of the clause, with het holding second position. For the underlying rule across all verbs, see choosing the perfect auxiliary: het.
The future: sal kom
The explicit future uses sal plus the bare infinitive kom at the end of the clause. Use it when you want to mark the future clearly, make a promise, or speak about something less than certain.
Ek sal definitief by jou partytjie kom.
I'll definitely come to your party.
Hulle sal seker later kom — hou maar kos warm.
They'll probably come later — just keep food warm.
The imperative: Kom!
Kom! on its own is one of the first commands you will hear and use. It softens easily with a following adverb or with the particle maar or gerus ("go ahead, feel free").
Kom hier, asseblief.
Come here, please.
Kom gerus enige tyd kuier.
Feel free to come and visit any time.
kom + infinitive: kom kuier, kom haal
A hallmark of kom is that it links directly to another bare-infinitive verb to mean "come and do something." Unlike English, there is no "and" between them — the two verbs simply sit side by side, with the second verb closing the clause.
Kom kuier gerus by ons hierdie naweek.
Come and visit us this weekend.
Hy het die pakkie kom haal.
He came to fetch the parcel.
Wil jy nie saam kom eet nie?
Don't you want to come and eat with us?
Notice the perfect in Hy het die pakkie kom haal — when a perfect contains this kom + infinitive chain, the verbs cluster at the end as bare infinitives (kom haal), not as participles. This is the same pattern you see with gaan, laat, and the modals.
Kom ons … — "let's"
To make a "let's" suggestion, Afrikaans uses Kom ons plus a verb. It is the everyday way to propose doing something together.
Kom ons gaan eet iewers lekker.
Let's go eat somewhere nice.
Kom ons begin — dit raak laat.
Let's start — it's getting late.
The kom family: a large set of separable verbs
This is what makes kom worth mastering early: it heads a big family of separable motion verbs, all sharing its regular participle pattern. The prefix carries the direction; kom carries the "coming."
| Verb | Meaning | Perfect |
|---|---|---|
| aankom | to arrive | het aangekom |
| saamkom | to come along | het saamgekom |
| terugkom | to come back | het teruggekom |
| inkom | to come in | het ingekom |
| uitkom | to come out | het uitgekom |
| verbykom | to come past / drop by | het verbygekom |
These all split in a main clause: the prefix detaches and goes to the end in the present, and the ge- lands inside the participle in the perfect (aan-ge-kom → aangekom). The full mechanics live on separable verbs and the separable verbs list; here, just notice how the participle generalises.
Die bus kom oor tien minute aan.
The bus arrives in ten minutes.
Hulle het laat teruggekom van die kus af.
They came back late from the coast.
Kan jy nie saamkom nie? Ons vertrek nou.
Can't you come along? We're leaving now.
kom vs gaan
Like English "come" and "go", kom points toward the speaker (or the place being talked about) and gaan points away. The pair often appears together — kom en gaan, or kom haal versus gaan haal — so it is worth learning them side by side. See gaan for its forms, and remember that gaan doubles as a future auxiliary ("going to") in a way kom does not.
Kom jy of gaan jy? Ek moet weet.
Are you coming or going? I need to know.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek is gister gekom.
Incorrect — kom takes het in the perfect, like every Afrikaans verb.
✅ Ek het gister gekom.
I came yesterday.
❌ Die trein het aankom om drie-uur.
Incorrect — in the perfect the prefix joins and ge- goes inside: aangekom.
✅ Die trein het om drie-uur aangekom.
The train arrived at three o'clock.
❌ Kom en kyk hierso!
Incorrect — no 'en' between kom and the next verb.
✅ Kom kyk hierso!
Come and look here!
❌ Hy kom aan môre.
Incorrect — in the present the prefix goes to the end of the clause: kom … aan.
✅ Hy kom môre aan.
He arrives tomorrow.
Key takeaways
- Kom is fully regular: present kom (all persons), perfect het gekom, future sal kom, imperative Kom!
- The perfect is het gekom — never is gekom. Motion verbs still take het.
- kom + infinitive means "come and do" with no "en": kom kuier, kom haal, kom eet.
- Kom ons … is the everyday "let's …".
- Kom heads a large family of separable verbs (aankom, saamkom, terugkom) whose participles follow the same pattern (aangekom) — see separable verbs.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- gaan (to go) — Full FormsA1 — gaan leads a double life: it is the everyday verb 'to go' and also the 'going-to' future marker — and in the perfect it takes het, not is.
- 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.
- Common Separable Verbs (Reference)A2 — A reference table of the most frequent Afrikaans separable verbs, each shown in its split main-clause form, its joined subordinate-clause form, and its past participle.
- The ImperativeA2 — How to give commands in Afrikaans — the bare verb stem with no subject, the inclusive 'let's' with kom ons / laat ons, and softening with asseblief.
- loop (to walk/run/go) — Full FormsA2 — loop is the everyday verb for 'walk', but it also colloquially means 'leave/go', describes machines that 'run', and is the verb you say in directions — far more than just walking.
- The Future: sal and gaanA2 — Afrikaans has two future auxiliaries — sal (will) and gaan (going to) — plus the option of the plain present with a time word; how to pick between them and where the verb goes.