onthou and vergeet — to remember and forget | Afrikaans Grammar

onthou (to remember) and vergeet (to forget) are a matched pair: opposite meanings, but identical grammar. Both are inseparable verbs — their first syllable is an unstressed prefix (ont-, ver-) that never breaks off — and because of that, both build the perfect without the usual ge-: het onthou, het vergeet. And both take om te for the action you remember or forget to do. Learn one and you have essentially learned the other. For the wider family of mental-state verbs these two belong to, see cognition verbs; for why the ge- disappears, see inseparable prefixes.

The forms

The headline fact is the missing ge-. Afrikaans normally builds the past participle with ge- (werk → gewerk, speel → gespeel). But verbs beginning with an unstressed prefix — be-, ge-, ver-, ont-, her-, er- — skip it. The stress in onthou and vergeet falls on the second syllable (ont-hou, ver-geet), the prefix is unstressed, and so the participle is bare: onthou and vergeet look identical in the present and the perfect.

Tense / form	onthou	vergeet
Present	onthou	vergeet
Perfect (past)	het onthou	het vergeet
Future	sal onthou	sal vergeet
Infinitive	(om te) onthou	(om te) vergeet
Imperative	Onthou!	Vergeet! / Moenie vergeet nie!

Ek onthou jou — ons was saam op skool.

I remember you — we were at school together.

Ek het my sambreel by die werk vergeet.

I forgot my umbrella at work.

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Both perfects drop the ge-: it is het onthou and het vergeet, never het geonthou or het gevergeet. The present and the participle are spelled exactly the same — only het tells you it is past.

onthou — to remember

In its simplest use, onthou takes a direct object — a person, a fact, a thing held in memory.

Onthou jy nog haar naam?

Do you still remember her name?

Ek kan nie sy telefoonnommer onthou nie.

I can't remember his phone number.

When what you remember is a whole statement, onthou introduces a dat-clause, exactly like English "remember that".

Onthou dat ek jou liefhet, wat ook al gebeur.

Remember that I love you, whatever happens.

And when what you remember is to do something, the complement is om te plus the verb. This is the construction that maps onto English "remember to lock the door" — a remembered future action, not a recalled fact.

Onthou om die deur te sluit voordat jy gaan.

Remember to lock the door before you leave.

Notice how Afrikaans splits the om te: the om comes first, then the rest of the clause, and te + verb lands at the very end (om die deur te sluit). The object slots in between. This clause-final infinitive is the heart of the om te construction.

vergeet — to forget

vergeet mirrors onthou frame for frame. A direct object is the plain "forget something" use:

Ek het heeltemal van die afspraak vergeet.

I completely forgot about the appointment.

That example shows a quirk worth flagging: alongside the plain object, vergeet very often takes van ("of") — vergeet van iets, "forget about something". Both ek het die afspraak vergeet and ek het van die afspraak vergeet are correct and common; the van version is especially natural in speech.

Moenie van my verjaarsdag vergeet nie!

Don't forget about my birthday!

For a forgotten action — forgetting to do something — vergeet takes om te, just like onthou:

Sy het vergeet om die ligte af te sit.

She forgot to turn off the lights.

Ek vergeet altyd om terug te bel.

I always forget to call back.

And the negative imperative — moenie ... nie — is where vergeet shows up constantly, because reminding people is exactly what you use this verb for:

Moenie vergeet om melk te koop nie.

Don't forget to buy milk.

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For a remembered or forgotten action, both verbs reach for om te: onthou om te ..., vergeet om te .... For a remembered or forgotten fact, use a dat-clause or a plain object. Think "to" → om te; "that" → dat.

Why the parallel matters

English uses two unrelated words — remember and forget — with the same complement options ("remember/forget to...", "remember/forget that..."). Afrikaans does the same, and its two verbs happen to share a second, formal property English can't show: they are both inseparable, so both refuse ge- in the perfect. If you can produce het onthou you can produce het vergeet by the identical logic; there is no extra rule to learn. The only asymmetry is that vergeet additionally allows the van frame (vergeet van iets), where onthou does not normally take van.

A second point English speakers should internalise: the om te of these verbs is not optional decoration. Ek het vergeet om te bel (I forgot to call) and Ek het vergeet dat ek moes bel (I forgot that I had to call) are different sentences with the same English translation, and you must choose the frame that matches what you mean — a forgotten action versus a forgotten fact.

Common mistakes

❌ Ek het my sleutels geonthou.

Incorrect — onthou is inseparable, so the perfect drops ge-: het onthou.

✅ Ek het onthou waar my sleutels is.

I remembered where my keys are.

❌ Sy het die afspraak gevergeet.

Incorrect — no ge- on an inseparable verb; the perfect is het vergeet.

✅ Sy het die afspraak vergeet.

She forgot the appointment.

❌ Onthou om die deur sluit.

Incomplete — a remembered action needs om TE; the te must appear with the verb at the end.

✅ Onthou om die deur te sluit.

Remember to lock the door.

❌ Moenie vergeet melk te koop.

Incorrect — the negative needs its closing nie, and the action takes om te.

✅ Moenie vergeet om melk te koop nie.

Don't forget to buy milk.

❌ Ek onthou dat om te bel.

Mixed frames — choose either dat (a fact) or om te (an action), never both.

✅ Ek onthou om te bel.

I remember to call.

Key takeaways

Both verbs are inseparable, so both build the perfect without ge-: het onthou, het vergeet.
Present and participle are spelled identically; het is what marks the past.
For a remembered or forgotten action, use om te (onthou om te ..., vergeet om te ...).
For a remembered or forgotten fact, use a dat-clause or a plain object.
vergeet additionally allows van (vergeet van iets); onthou does not.

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