leer is the verb that catches every English speaker off guard, because it means both "learn" and "teach" — a single word for the two ends of the same act. Afrikaans does not hand you separate verbs the way English does; instead, the arguments decide which way it points. Leer iets (learn something) is the student's verb; leer iemand iets (teach someone something) is the teacher's. Add a person on the receiving end and "learn" flips to "teach". This page lays out the forms and that argument logic, and shows how leer slips into the double infinitive (het my leer swem). For the family of mental-state verbs, see cognition verbs.
The forms
leer is fully regular: present leer, perfect het geleer, future sal leer. There is only one set of forms — the learn/teach split is purely a matter of what surrounds the verb, never of spelling.
| Tense / form | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | leer | ek leer, jy leer, ons leer |
| Perfect (past) | het geleer | ek het geleer |
| Future | sal leer | ek sal leer |
| Infinitive | (om te) leer | om te leer |
| Imperative | Leer! | Leer jou les! |
Ek leer Afrikaans by 'n aandklas.
I'm learning Afrikaans at an evening class.
Sy het ons baie geleer oor die geskiedenis van die land.
She taught us a lot about the country's history.
leer iets — to learn
With a single thing as its object — a subject, a skill, a body of material — leer is the learner's verb: to learn, to study, to get something into your head.
Ons leer elke dag iets nuuts.
We learn something new every day.
Hy leer vir die eksamen tot laat in die nag.
He studies for the exam until late at night.
That second example shows a common pattern: leer vir (study for) — used for swotting for a test. Plain leer with a subject as object (leer Afrikaans, leer klavier) covers the broader "learn/study" sense. With no object at all, ons leer simply means "we're learning/studying".
Jy moet jou spelwoorde leer vir Vrydag.
You have to learn your spelling words for Friday.
leer iemand (iets) — to teach
Now add a person as a second argument, and the verb flips. leer iemand iets is "teach someone something" — the person is the recipient of the teaching, the thing is what's taught.
My ouma het my leer brei toe ek klein was.
My grandmother taught me to knit when I was little.
Wie het jou leer kook? Dit is heerlik!
Who taught you to cook? This is delicious!
Die afrigter leer die kinders die nuwe reëls.
The coach is teaching the kids the new rules.
The presence of my, jou, die kinders — a person on the receiving end — is the whole signal. Without that recipient, leer is "learn"; with it, leer is "teach". English once worked this way too — "that'll learn you" survives as a dialectal fossil of the old sense — but standard English long ago split the two roles into separate words, so the Afrikaans overlap feels strange. It isn't loose or ambiguous; the argument structure removes all doubt.
leer + a verb: teaching someone to do something
When what you teach is an action, leer is followed by another verb — and here Afrikaans uses a bare infinitive, not om te: leer iemand swem ("teach someone to swim"), leer iemand ry ("teach someone to drive").
Sy het my leer swem toe ek ses was.
She taught me to swim when I was six.
The striking thing happens in the perfect. leer governing another verb forms a double infinitive — it does not become a participle. You'd expect het geleer, but in this construction leer stays a bare infinitive and the second verb follows it, also bare: het my leer swem, not het my geleer swem. Two infinitives stack at the clause end, exactly as they do after laat, hoor and sien. This is the IPP effect, and leer is one of the verbs that triggers it; the full account is on the double infinitive.
My pa het my leer fiets ry op die plaas.
My dad taught me to ride a bike on the farm.
Hulle gaan die honde leer sit en bly.
They're going to teach the dogs to sit and stay.
Compare this with plain het geleer when leer takes a thing rather than a governed verb: ek het Afrikaans geleer (I learned Afrikaans) keeps the ordinary participle. The bare-infinitive leer only appears when a second verb is in play.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek soek 'n ander woord vir 'teach' — leer beteken net 'learn'.
Mistaken — leer means both; leer iemand iets is exactly how you say 'teach'.
✅ Sy leer my Afrikaans.
She's teaching me Afrikaans.
❌ My ouma het my geleer brei.
Incorrect — with a governed verb, leer joins the double infinitive: het my leer brei, no ge-.
✅ My ouma het my leer brei.
My grandmother taught me to knit.
❌ Sy het my leer om te swem.
Over-built — leer + action takes a bare infinitive, not om te: leer swem.
✅ Sy het my leer swem.
She taught me to swim.
❌ Hy leer die eksamen.
Awkward — to study FOR a test, use leer vir die eksamen.
✅ Hy leer vir die eksamen.
He's studying for the exam.
❌ Die afrigter onderrig die kinders die reëls.
Stilted — onderrig is formal; in everyday speech you teach with leer.
✅ Die afrigter leer die kinders die reëls.
The coach is teaching the kids the rules.
Key takeaways
- leer means both "learn" and "teach" — one verb, regular forms (het geleer, sal leer).
- leer iets (a thing) = learn / study; leer iemand iets (a person) = teach.
- The recipient (a person) is what flips "learn" into "teach".
- leer vir = study for (a test).
- With a governed verb it takes a bare infinitive (leer swem) and joins the double infinitive in the perfect: het my leer swem, never geleer swem.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- 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.
- The Double Infinitive (IPP)B2 — In the perfect, causative laat, perception verbs (hoor, sien) and modals don't take a participle — they appear as a bare infinitive, producing the het + infinitive + infinitive cluster known as the IPP effect.