sê (to say) — Full Forms

Sê means "to say," and it is one of the most frequent verbs in the language — every time you report what someone said, tell someone something, or quote a saying, you reach for it. It is also the home of one of Afrikaans's nastiest spelling traps: sê (say) is identical to se (the possessive marker) except for a single circumflex over the e. Getting that little hat right is not decoration — it is the difference between two completely different words.

The forms of sê

Like every Afrikaans verb, sê does not change for person or number — one form covers all subjects (see the verb reference overview). Tense is built with auxiliaries.

Note that the past participle is gesê — the ge- prefix attaches and the circumflex stays. There is no -d or -t ending; gesê is simply ge- + sê.

sê vir — saying it to someone

To say something to someone, Afrikaans uses sê vir + the person. Where English says "tell him" or "say to her," Afrikaans says sê vir hom, sê vir haar. The vir marks the recipient, and it is not optional in the way English "tell" lets you drop "to."

Notice the word order in the past: Sy het vir my gesê — the auxiliary het comes second, vir my sits in the middle, and the participle gesê goes to the end.

Reported speech: sê dat

To report what someone said as a full statement, use sê dat (say that). The dat introduces a subordinate clause — and crucially, in that clause the verb moves to the end, which English does not do.

In casual speech, the dat is often dropped, exactly as English drops "that": Hy sê hy kom môre (He says he's coming tomorrow). One thing English speakers regularly get wrong is backshifting the tense. English says "She said she was tired" (was, not is). Afrikaans does not force this backshift — Sy het gesê dat sy moeg is keeps is, because she presumably still is tired. The full machinery of reporting is on reported speech.

sê versus se: the circumflex that changes everything

This is the trap. Two words, one circumflex apart:

The verb sê always carries the circumflex; the possessive se never does. They are pronounced differently too — sê has a longer, more open vowel — but on the page the only signal is the little hat. Writing Jan sê boek would mean "Jan says book," which is nonsense; the possessive is Jan se boek. Writing Wat se jy? would be a misspelling of Wat sê jy? (What do you say?). For why the circumflex exists and where else it appears, see the circumflex.

This single sentence holds both: sê (the verb, with the hat) and se (the possessive, without it). Reading it aloud, you can hear the difference; writing it, you must mark it.

sê versus vertel

A quick distinction that trips up learners: sê reports words (what was said), while vertel means "to tell" in the sense of relating a story, news, or an account. You sê a single thing; you vertel a tale.

A handy test: if English could swap in "say," use sê; if it really means "narrate / give an account of," use vertel. You can also compare sê with its sibling question verb on vra (to ask).

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• sê (to say) is fully regular in tense: present sê, perfect het gesê, future sal sê — and the circumflex survives on the participle gesê.
• Say something to someone with sê vir
  • person (sê vir hom, sy het vir my gesê).
• Report a statement with sê dat; the verb moves to the end of the dat-clause, and Afrikaans does not backshift the tense the way English does (see reported speech).
• The spelling trap: sê (say) carries the circumflex; se (the possessive marker, as in Jan se boek) does not. They are a minimal pair.
• Use sê for reporting words and vertel for relating a story or account.