speel ("to play") is a friendly, fully regular verb — but it carries three distinct senses (play a game, play an instrument, act in a film or on stage), and it follows one rule that English speakers find genuinely surprising: with games and instruments it takes no article and no preposition. You speel klavier ("play piano"), not play the piano. This page lays out the forms, the three senses, the no-article rule, and a couple of useful separable derivatives.
The forms
speel is regular in every respect. The present equals the infinitive (speel), the perfect adds ge- to give gespeel, the future uses sal, and the imperative is the bare stem.
| Form | Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (om te) speel | to play |
| Present (all persons) | ek / jy / hy speel | I / you / he play(s) |
| Perfect (past) | het gespeel | played / have played |
| Future | sal speel | will play |
| Conditional | sou speel | would play |
| Imperative (sg.) | Speel! | Play! |
Die kinders speel elke middag in die park tot dit donker word.
The children play in the park every afternoon until it gets dark.
Ons het gister rugby gespeel en gewen.
We played rugby yesterday and won.
Sense 1: play a game — no article
This is the first transfer trap. To play a sport or game, you put the game straight after speel, with no article: speel sokker, speel rugby, speel skaak, speel tennis. English inserts no article here either ("play soccer"), so games feel easy — but the same bare pattern carries over to instruments, where English does add "the," and that is where learners slip.
Speel jy sokker of verkies jy krieket?
Do you play soccer or do you prefer cricket?
My ouma speel elke Saterdag kaart met haar vriendinne.
My grandmother plays cards every Saturday with her friends.
Sense 2: play an instrument — still no article
Here is the rule competitors quietly skip. To play a musical instrument, Afrikaans again uses speel + bare instrument: speel klavier ("play piano"), speel kitaar ("play guitar"), speel viool ("play violin"). There is no article and no preposition — nothing stands between speel and the instrument. English says "play the piano"; Afrikaans says simply speel klavier. Drop the "the."
Sy speel klavier sedert sy ses jaar oud is.
She has played the piano since she was six years old.
Hy het as kind kitaar leer speel.
He learned to play the guitar as a child.
Kan jy enige instrument speel?
Can you play any instrument?
Sense 3: act or perform
speel also covers acting and performing — playing a part in a film, a play, or on stage. The key collocation is 'n rol speel ("play a role / part"), used both literally (an actor's part) and figuratively (something that "plays a role" in an outcome). To say where someone acts, use in 'n film speel / in 'n toneelstuk speel.
Sy het die hoofrol in die nuwe Afrikaanse film gespeel.
She played the lead role in the new Afrikaans film.
Geld speel 'n groot rol in hierdie besluit.
Money plays a big role in this decision.
Daardie akteur speel al jare lank in dieselfde sepie.
That actor has been acting in the same soap opera for years.
Notice that 'n rol speel does take the article 'n ("a role") — because here rol is a genuine countable noun, not a bare activity-word like klavier or sokker. The no-article rule is specifically about games and instruments, not about every object of speel.
Separable derivatives: afspeel and saamspeel
speel is the base of several separable verbs. Two are worth knowing early:
- afspeel ("to play back / to take place"). With a recording it means play (back): die liedjie afspeel. Reflexively, afspeel means to take place / unfold: die verhaal speel hom af in Kaapstad ("the story takes place in Cape Town").
- saamspeel ("to play along / play together / cooperate"). Literally to play together, figuratively to go along with something.
Both are separable: the prefix splits off in a main clause (ek speel die liedjie af, die kinders speel saam) and the perfect infixes ge- (afgespeel, saamgespeel).
Speel die boodskap weer af — ek het dit nie gehoor nie.
Play the message again — I didn't hear it.
Die hele storie speel hom in die 1980's af.
The whole story takes place in the 1980s.
As almal saamspeel, is ons binne 'n uur klaar.
If everyone plays along, we'll be done within an hour.
The diminutive: speletjie
From the noun spel ("game / play") Afrikaans forms the diminutive speletjie ("a little game / a game"), which is the everyday word for a game you play. It shows the diminutive ending -(e)tjie in action: spel → speletjie. (Note the everyday noun for a single game is usually speletjie, while spel leans toward "play / gameplay" in the abstract or compounds like woordspel, "word game / pun.")
Kom ons speel 'n speletjie terwyl ons wag.
Let's play a game while we wait.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek speel die klavier.
Incorrect — instruments take no article after speel: speel klavier.
✅ Ek speel klavier.
I play the piano.
There is no die between speel and an instrument. English "play the piano" simply has no article in Afrikaans.
❌ Hy speel op die kitaar.
Incorrect — speel does not take op (or any preposition) before an instrument.
✅ Hy speel kitaar.
He plays the guitar.
Don't reach for a preposition like op ("on"). The instrument attaches directly: speel kitaar, speel viool, speel klavier.
❌ Ons het gister op sokker gespeel.
Incorrect — games take no preposition either; you play sokker, not 'op sokker'.
✅ Ons het gister sokker op die veld gespeel.
We played soccer on the field yesterday.
Games behave exactly like instruments: speel sokker, never speel op sokker. (A preposition like op die veld can of course mark the location, but not the game itself.)
❌ Sy het die rol speel in die film.
Incorrect — the perfect needs the participle gespeel, not the bare speel.
✅ Sy het die rol in die film gespeel.
She played the role in the film.
The past is het … gespeel, with the participle at the end of the clause. The bare stem speel never appears in the perfect.
Key takeaways
- speel is fully regular: present speel, perfect het gespeel, future sal speel, imperative Speel!
- Games and instruments take no article and no preposition: speel sokker, speel klavier — drop the English "the."
- The acting sense centres on 'n rol speel ("play a role"), which does keep the article 'n.
- Separable derivatives: afspeel (play back / take place), saamspeel (play along) — both infix ge- in the perfect.
- The everyday noun for a game is the diminutive speletjie.
Now practice Afrikaans
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