probeer (to try) and besluit (to decide) are two everyday verbs that take a following action. They share one formal trait — both build the perfect without ge- (het probeer, het besluit) — but they differ in one revealing way: besluit always needs om te before its action, while probeer can drop om te entirely and behave almost like a modal verb, taking a bare infinitive (probeer help, "try to help"). That flexibility is the single most useful thing to know about probeer. For the om te machinery, see om te clauses; probeer + bare infinitive belongs to the same aspectual world as loop and kom.
The forms
besluit drops ge- because it is inseparable — the prefix be- is unstressed (be-sluit). probeer is a little different: it is a borrowing (from French prouver-family roots, via Dutch) with final stress (pro-beer), and standard Afrikaans treats it the way it treats inseparable verbs — the perfect is het probeer, with no ge-. So both verbs look the same in the present and the perfect.
| Tense / form | probeer | besluit |
|---|---|---|
| Present | probeer | besluit |
| Perfect (past) | het probeer | het besluit |
| Future | sal probeer | sal besluit |
| Infinitive | (om te) probeer | (om te) besluit |
| Imperative | Probeer! | Besluit! |
Ek het probeer om jou te bel, maar jou foon was af.
I tried to call you, but your phone was off.
Ons het besluit om die naweek weg te gaan.
We decided to go away for the weekend.
probeer — two ways to attach the action
This is the heart of the page. probeer lets you attach its following action in two ways, and both are correct standard Afrikaans:
Option 1 — om te. The full subordinator: probeer om te + verb, with the verb at the clause end.
Probeer om vroeg te wees, want die verkeer is sleg.
Try to be early, because the traffic is bad.
Option 2 — bare infinitive. Drop om te completely and put the second verb directly after probeer, like a modal: probeer + infinitive.
Ek probeer verstaan, maar dit is ingewikkeld.
I'm trying to understand, but it's complicated.
Hy het probeer help met die swaar bokse.
He tried to help with the heavy boxes.
Look at that last example carefully: het probeer help — probeer stays a bare infinitive in the perfect, and help follows as a second bare infinitive, with no ge- and no om te anywhere. This is exactly the verb-cluster pattern you get with modals and causatives. probeer has effectively joined that club. The two options are close in meaning; the bare-infinitive version feels tighter and more colloquial, the om te version slightly fuller.
Probeer 'n bietjie stil wees — die baba slaap.
Try to be a little quiet — the baby is sleeping.
besluit — always om te
besluit has no such flexibility. When you decide to do something, the complement is om te, full stop. There is no bare-infinitive option.
Sy het besluit om te bly in plaas van om te gaan.
She decided to stay instead of going.
Hulle het besluit om die ou huis te verkoop.
They decided to sell the old house.
When the decision is about a fact or a question rather than an action, besluit can also take dat (decide that) or an indirect question (besluit wie/wat/of...):
Die komitee het besluit dat die projek moet voortgaan.
The committee decided that the project must continue.
Note too the noun besluit ("a decision") and the fixed phrase 'n besluit neem ("to take/make a decision") — handy alongside the verb, and a reminder that the straight ASCII apostrophe in 'n matters.
Ons moet vandag 'n besluit neem oor die datum.
We have to make a decision about the date today.
Why probeer breaks the pattern
For an English speaker the lesson is counter-intuitive. English "try" always wants to ("try to help") or a gerund ("try helping"); it never drops the linker the way a modal does ("can help"). Afrikaans probeer sits between an ordinary om te verb and a true modal — it can go either way. This is why probeer help surprises learners: it looks like a missing om te, but it is in fact the correct, idiomatic, modal-like option. Treat probeer + bare infinitive not as an error to avoid but as a target to reach. besluit, by contrast, is a perfectly ordinary om te verb with no hidden tricks — which makes the pair a clean illustration of how two verbs with the same ge--dropping perfect can still differ in their complement grammar.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek het geprobeer om jou te bel.
Incorrect — probeer drops ge- in the perfect: het probeer.
✅ Ek het probeer om jou te bel.
I tried to call you.
❌ Hulle het gebesluit om te bly.
Incorrect — besluit is inseparable; the perfect is het besluit, no ge-.
✅ Hulle het besluit om te bly.
They decided to stay.
❌ Sy het besluit bly.
Incorrect — besluit always needs om te before an action; the bare infinitive is not allowed here.
✅ Sy het besluit om te bly.
She decided to stay.
❌ Probeer om verstaan.
Incomplete om te — either use full om te verstaan, or drop om te entirely for the bare infinitive.
✅ Probeer verstaan.
Try to understand.
❌ Hy het probeer om help.
Mixed — keep om te together (om te help) or use the bare infinitive (probeer help).
✅ Hy het probeer help.
He tried to help.
Key takeaways
- Both verbs build the perfect without ge-: het probeer, het besluit.
- probeer attaches its action two ways: full om te (probeer om te wees) or a bare infinitive like a modal (probeer help, probeer verstaan).
- In the perfect, probeer
- bare infinitive forms a verb cluster: het probeer help.
- besluit always needs om te for an action (or dat / an indirect question for a fact).
- The bare-infinitive probeer help is idiomatic and correct — aim for it, don't avoid it.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Infinitival Clauses: om teA2 — The om te + infinitive clause — Afrikaans's standard 'in order to' and infinitive complement — where om opens the clause and te clings to the infinitive at the very end, bracketing everything in between.
- Phasal Verbs: begin, ophou, aanhou, gaanB1 — The verbs that mark the start, continuation, and end of an action — begin (start), ophou (stop), aanhou (keep on), and inchoative gaan — and the complements each one takes.
- Inseparable Prefixes: be-, ver-, ont-, her-, er-, ge-B1 — The unstressed bound prefixes be-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver- and er- that never detach from the verb and suppress the ge- of the past participle — with stress as the diagnostic.