Many Afrikaans verbs come welded to a particular preposition, and that preposition is not something you can reason out — it has to be learned as part of the verb. Wag on its own means "wait", but "wait for someone" is wag vir iemand, and the choice of vir is simply a fact about the verb, not a logical consequence of anything. This page is a lookup reference for the most common verb-plus-preposition pairs. For what the prepositions mean in general, see the prepositions overview; here we treat the fixed combinations as vocabulary.
Why you cannot guess the preposition
This is the central point, so it is worth stating plainly: the preposition after a verb is unpredictable and rarely matches English. English speakers wait for, listen to, think about, and look at. Afrikaans makes different choices that line up with none of these consistently — and they also differ from Dutch, so prior Dutch knowledge does not rescue you either. The honest advice is the same as for irregular verbs: there is no shortcut. Learn the pair as a single chunk — hou van, dink aan, luister na — the way you would learn a single word.
The high-frequency reference table
These are the combinations you will use and hear constantly. The "vs English" column flags where the Afrikaans preposition diverges from the natural English one — those are the pairs most likely to trip you up.
| Verb + preposition | Meaning | vs English |
|---|---|---|
| hou van | to like (lit. "hold of") | no "of" in English |
| wag vir | to wait for | matches "for" |
| dink aan | to think of / about | "of/about", not "aan" |
| luister na | to listen to | "to", not "na" |
| kyk na | to look at / watch | "at", not "na" |
| vra vir | to ask (someone) | often no preposition in English |
| soek na | to search for | "for", not "na" |
| glo in | to believe in | matches "in" |
| lag vir | to laugh at | "at", not "vir" |
| trou met | to marry (someone) | no preposition in English |
| bang wees vir | to be afraid of | "of", not "vir" |
| hoop op | to hope for | "for", not "op" |
| reken op | to count / rely on | "on", not "op" |
| gewoond wees aan | to be used to | "to", not "aan" |
The most frequent verbs, with examples
hou van — to like
The single most common one, and a classic trap. Hou by itself means "hold/keep"; "to like" is hou van, literally "hold of". Drop the van and the sentence is broken.
Ek hou baie van koffie in die oggend.
I really like coffee in the morning.
Hou jy van die nuwe plek waar ons gaan eet het?
Did you like the new place where we ate?
wag vir — to wait for
Here the preposition happens to match English ("wait for"), but the trap is the English word voor ("in front of"), which looks like "for" and is wrong. The fixed form is wag vir.
Wag vir my by die hek — ek is amper daar.
Wait for me at the gate — I'm almost there.
Ons het 'n hele uur vir die bus gewag.
We waited a whole hour for the bus.
dink aan, luister na, kyk na — the "na/aan" group
This cluster is pure transfer pain, because none of the prepositions match. You think aan ("on/to") something, you listen na ("toward") something, and you look na something.
Ek dink heeldag aan jou.
I think about you all day.
Hy luister na die radio terwyl hy kook.
He listens to the radio while he cooks.
Kyk na daardie sononder — dis pragtig!
Look at that sunset — it's gorgeous!
vra vir, lag vir, bang wees vir — the "vir" group
Several verbs take vir where English uses a different preposition or none at all. You ask vir someone, you laugh vir (at) something, and you are afraid vir (of) something.
Vra vir die kelner of hulle nog tafels het.
Ask the waiter if they still have tables.
Moenie vir hom lag nie — hy het regtig sy bes probeer.
Don't laugh at him — he really tried his best.
My dogtertjie is bang vir die donker.
My little daughter is afraid of the dark.
hoop op, reken op — the "op" group
Two important verbs take op where English uses "for" and "on". Hoop op is "hope for"; reken op is "count/rely on".
Ons hoop op beter weer vir die naweek.
We're hoping for better weather for the weekend.
Jy kan op my reken — ek sal daar wees.
You can count on me — I'll be there.
trou met — to marry
A neat one: where English marries someone with no preposition, Afrikaans marries met ("with") them.
Hulle gaan in Maart met mekaar trou.
They're getting married in March.
A note on the pronoun forms
When the object of one of these verbs is a thing rather than a person, the preposition often fuses with daar- into a single word: van koffie → daarvan, aan jou werk → daaraan, op die uitslae → daarop. This is the waar-/daar- compound system, and it is why you hear Ek hou daarvan ("I like it") rather than Ek hou van dit. The fixed preposition is still doing its job — it has just merged with the pronoun. See prepositions with pronouns for the full pattern.
Ek hou daarvan om vroeg op te staan.
I like getting up early.
Moenie daaraan dink nie — dit is verby.
Don't think about it — it's over.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek wag voor jou.
Incorrect — voor means 'in front of'; 'wait for' is wag vir.
✅ Ek wag vir jou.
I'm waiting for you.
❌ Ek hou koffie.
Incorrect — hou van needs its van: 'like' is not 'hou' alone.
✅ Ek hou van koffie.
I like coffee.
❌ Hy luister die radio.
Incorrect — the preposition na is obligatory: luister na.
✅ Hy luister na die radio.
He listens to the radio.
❌ Sy is bang van die hond.
Incorrect — 'afraid of' takes vir, not van: bang wees vir.
✅ Sy is bang vir die hond.
She's afraid of the dog.
❌ Hulle trou vir mekaar.
Incorrect — 'marry' takes met: trou met mekaar.
✅ Hulle trou met mekaar.
They're marrying each other.
Key takeaways
- The preposition after a verb is a fixed, unpredictable property of that verb — learn it as one unit (wag vir, not wag).
- Afrikaans prepositions rarely match English and also differ from Dutch, so they are a memorisation set, not a derivable rule.
- High-frequency traps: hou van (like), bang wees vir (afraid of), dink aan / luister na / kyk na (none match English), hoop op / reken op.
- With a thing as object, the preposition usually fuses into a daar- word: hou van → hou daarvan. See prepositions with pronouns.
- When in doubt, look it up here rather than transferring the English preposition.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Afrikaans Prepositions: OverviewA1 — A map of the Afrikaans preposition system — invariant little words, many cognate with English, plus the destination postposition 'toe' and circumpositions English lacks.
- Verb-Preposition CollocationsB2 — Many Afrikaans verbs demand a specific, fixed preposition — wag vir, dink aan, reken op — and the preposition rarely matches the English one, so the safest strategy is to learn the verb and its preposition as a single chunk.
- Reflexive Verbs and PronounsB1 — Afrikaans builds reflexive constructions from the ordinary object pronouns (ek was my, sy skaam haar) — there is no special reflexive like Dutch zich — and -self adds emphasis.
- Fixed Prepositional CollocationsB2 — Adjectives that lock to a particular preposition — trots op, lief vir, gewoond aan — and why you cannot guess them from English.
- Prepositions with PronounsA2 — Prepositions take object pronouns (vir my, met hom, by ons) — but with the inanimate dit you must switch to a daar-compound (daarmee, not 'met dit'). The person/thing split, plus vir as the all-purpose dative marker.