Most Afrikaans verbs that govern a second verb link to it with om te ("in order to / to"): ek probeer om te slaap ("I try to sleep"). But a specific, closed set of verbs takes the second verb bare — a plain infinitive with no om and no te at all: ek kan slaap, ek hoor hom sing, sy laat my wag. English speakers over-insert "to" here exactly as they over-insert om te. This page gathers the entire bare-infinitive class into one table so you can see it for what it is: a coherent syntactic family — modals, causatives, perception verbs, and motion — that all behave the same way, including the famous double infinitive in the perfect.
The whole class in one table
| Class | Verbs | Example (present) |
|---|---|---|
| Modals (the five) | kan, mag, moet, wil, sal | Ek kan swem. |
| Causative | laat (let / make / have) | Sy laat my wag. |
| Help | help | Hy help my dra. |
| Perception | sien, hoor, voel | Ek hoor hom sing. |
| Motion | gaan, kom | Ek gaan slaap. |
| Continuation | bly (keep on / stay) | Hy bly praat. |
Every row obeys the same two rules: (1) the governed verb is a bare infinitive — no om te; (2) in the perfect, the governing verb does not become a participle but stays a bare infinitive too, producing the double infinitive. Below, one example per class, then the perfect behaviour they share.
The five modals
The modals kan, mag, moet, wil, sal are the cornerstone of the class. Each takes a bare infinitive that lands at the end of the clause.
Ek kan Afrikaans praat, maar nie skryf nie.
I can speak Afrikaans, but not write it.
Jy moet jou kamer skoonmaak voor jy gaan.
You have to clean your room before you go.
There is never an om te and never a "to": ek kan praat, not ek kan om te praat. For the full set and the verb-bracket word order, see modal verbs.
laat (causative) and help
laat ("let / make / have someone do") and help ("help do") both govern a bare infinitive. English already drops "to" with "make" and "let" ("she made me wait", "let him go"), which makes this half-familiar — but English keeps "to" with "help" ("help me to carry") far more often than Afrikaans does.
Sy laat my elke keer te lank wag.
She makes me wait too long every time.
Hy help my die sakke dra tot by die kar.
He helps me carry the bags to the car.
Perception verbs: sien, hoor, voel
The perception verbs sien ("see"), hoor ("hear"), and voel ("feel") take a bare infinitive naming the perceived action. This matches English perfectly in the present — "I hear him sing", no "to" — so the present tense rarely trips learners; the perfect is where it bites (next section).
Ek hoor die kinders in die tuin speel.
I hear the children playing in the garden.
Ons sien die son agter die berge sak.
We watch the sun set behind the mountains.
For perception and causative verbs as a tighter group with their object-handling, see the perception and causative group.
Motion gaan / kom and continuation bly
This is the corner English speakers least expect. The motion verbs gaan ("go") and kom ("come"), when they express going/coming to do something, take a bare infinitive — no om te. So "I'm going to sleep" is ek gaan slaap, not ek gaan om te slaap. Likewise bly ("stay / keep on") governs a bare infinitive to mean "keep doing."
Ek gaan nou slaap — ek is doodmoeg.
I'm going to sleep now — I'm dead tired.
Kom eet saam met ons vanaand.
Come eat with us tonight.
Hy bly praat al sê almal hy moet stilbly.
He keeps talking even though everyone says he should be quiet.
What they all share in the perfect: the double infinitive
Here is the payoff of grouping them. In the perfect, every verb in this class refuses its participle and stays a bare infinitive, stacking up with the governed infinitive at the clause end after het. There is no gelaat, no gehoor (in this construction), no gekan. This is the double infinitive — linguists' "IPP effect" (infinitivus pro participio).
Sy het my twee uur lank laat wag.
She made me wait for two hours.
Ek het die nagtegaal hoor sing.
I heard the nightingale sing.
Ons het nie kon kom nie, want die kar het gebreek.
We couldn't come, because the car broke down.
In each, two bare infinitives close the clause — laat wag, hoor sing, kon kom — with no participle anywhere. (Motion gaan/kom and bly lean toward a simple past instead in everyday speech, but they pattern with the class rather than ever taking a participle on the governing verb.)
Why this is a coherent group
It can look like an arbitrary list — what do "must," "let," "hear," and "go" have in common? Semantically, they are all verbs that frame or enable another event rather than describing a self-contained action: modality frames possibility/obligation, causatives frame who brings the event about, perception frames who witnesses it, motion frames going somewhere to do it. Across Germanic languages this same semantic cluster is exactly the set that takes bare complements and shows the IPP effect. So the group is not random — Afrikaans is drawing the line where its sister languages draw it. For English speakers the practical upshot is one rule, not six: recognise a class member and switch off both the "to" and the participle.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek gaan om te slaap.
Incorrect — motion gaan takes a bare infinitive; no om te.
✅ Ek gaan slaap.
I'm going to sleep.
❌ Ek kan om te swem.
Incorrect — modals take a bare infinitive; never om te after kan/moet/wil/mag/sal.
✅ Ek kan swem.
I can swim.
❌ Hy help my om te dra.
Incorrect — help governs a bare infinitive in Afrikaans: help my dra.
✅ Hy help my dra.
He helps me carry it.
❌ Ek het hom gehoor sing.
Incorrect — in the perfect the perception verb stays a bare infinitive (hoor), not a participle (gehoor).
✅ Ek het hom hoor sing.
I heard him sing.
❌ Sy het my laat gewag.
Incorrect — both verbs stay bare infinitives: laat wag, not a participle gewag.
✅ Sy het my laat wag.
She made me wait.
Key takeaways
- One closed class takes a bare infinitive (no om te): the five modals kan/mag/moet/wil/sal, laat, help, the perception verbs sien/hoor/voel, motion gaan/kom, and bly.
- The same class drives the double infinitive in the perfect — the governing verb stays a bare infinitive instead of becoming a participle: het … laat wag, het … hoor sing, het … kon kom.
- Membership predicts both behaviours at once: drop om te in the present, drop the participle in the perfect.
- It is a coherent semantic group — modality, causation, perception, motion — not an arbitrary list.
- For the mechanics, see the double infinitive and the perception and causative group; for the verb-bracket order, clause-final verb.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- 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.
- Perception and Causative Verbs Together: sien, hoor, voel, laat, helpB2 — One reference table for the Afrikaans verbs that take a bare infinitive and form the double-infinitive perfect — sien, hoor, voel, laat, help and the modals — showing why they form a single syntactic class.
- Modal Verbs: kan, mag, moet, wil, salA1 — The Afrikaans modals kan, mag, moet, wil and sal each take a bare infinitive that lands at the end of the clause — your first taste of verb-bracket word order.
- The Verb Bracket: Clause-Final Non-Finite VerbsA2 — In Afrikaans, the finite verb sits second while every other verb — participle, infinitive, separable particle — drops to the very end, framing the clause in a 'verb bracket'.