voel, ruik, proe — Sense Verbs | Afrikaans Grammar

When you reach out and touch a scarf and say "it feels soft," English uses feel as a linking verb — a copula — connecting it to the adjective soft. Afrikaans does exactly the same with voel (feel), ruik (smell), proe (taste) and klink (sound): dit voel sag, dit ruik lekker, dit proe soet, dit klink goed. This page is about that copular use — a sense verb plus a bare adjective. (When these verbs instead take a whole clause as their object — Ek voel die reën val, "I feel the rain falling" — that is the perception/AcI construction, handled on perception verbs. Here we only do the copular sense.)

Forms

All four are regular and all take het in the perfect. Watch the participles: proe keeps its long vowel as geproe, and ruik simply prefixes ge- → geruik.

Verb	Present	Perfect	Future	Meaning
voel	voel	het gevoel	sal voel	feel
ruik	ruik	het geruik	sal ruik	smell
proe	proe	het geproe	sal proe	taste
klink	klink	het geklink	sal klink	sound

Die kombers voel heerlik sag teen jou wang.

The blanket feels wonderfully soft against your cheek.

Die kos het gisteraand fantasties geruik.

The food smelled fantastic last night.

The copular pattern: subject + sense verb + bare adjective

The structure is simply subject + sense verb + adjective, with the adjective in its plain, undeclined form. There is no agreement, no ending, and — crucially — no adverb. English already gets this half right: we say it smells nice, not it smells nicely. Afrikaans is the same: the word after the sense verb describes the subject (the thing), not the manner of smelling, so it stays a flat adjective.

Hierdie sop proe 'n bietjie sout — gooi nog water by.

This soup tastes a little salty — add some more water.

Jou plan klink goed, maar ek wil eers met die span praat.

Your plan sounds good, but I want to talk to the team first.

Die badkamer ruik nog vars na die skoonmaak.

The bathroom still smells fresh from the cleaning.

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The adjective after a sense verb describes the subject, not the action. Die brood ruik lekker means "the bread is the kind of thing that is lekker to smell" — so it stays a bare adjective. This is why you never add an ending or an adverb here.

voel — feelings as well as textures

voel does double duty. With a bare adjective it works exactly like the others (dit voel koud — "it feels cold"). But it is also the verb for how a person feels, and there the same copular pattern applies: Ek voel siek (I feel sick), Ek voel beter vandag (I feel better today). A very common turn is voel soos ("feel like") plus a noun.

Ek voel vanoggend baie beter — die koors is weg.

I feel a lot better this morning — the fever's gone.

Dit voel soos 'n droom dat ons eindelik hier is.

It feels like a dream that we're finally here.

Sy het skuldig gevoel omdat sy die afspraak vergeet het.

She felt guilty because she'd forgotten the appointment.

ruik na — "smell of"

To name what something smells of, Afrikaans uses ruik na (literally "smell toward"). The same holds for proe na (taste of). This is a fixed preposition, not a free choice.

Die hele huis ruik na vars koffie en roosterbrood.

The whole house smells of fresh coffee and toast.

Die wyn proe effens na heuning en perskes.

The wine tastes faintly of honey and peaches.

klink — for impressions and ideas

klink ("sound") is used both literally (a noise) and figuratively — how a plan, an idea or a piece of news sounds to you. As with English "that sounds great," it pairs naturally with a bare adjective.

Dit klink na 'n goeie plan — kom ons doen dit so.

That sounds like a good plan — let's do it that way.

Jou stem klink hees; word jy dalk siek?

Your voice sounds hoarse; are you maybe coming down with something?

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Three sense verbs take a fixed preposition when you name the source: ruik na (smell of), proe na (taste of), klink na / soos (sound like). With a bare quality, though, no preposition at all: dit ruik lekker, dit klink goed.

Why English speakers get tripped up

The trap is not the copular idea — English shares it — but the adjective ending. Afrikaans attributive adjectives often take an -e ending before a noun ('n sagte kombers, "a soft blanket"). Learners over-generalise and add that -e after a sense verb too: die kombers voel sagte. Wrong — in predicate position, after a copula, the adjective is bare: die kombers voel sag. The -e belongs only in front of a noun, never after voel / ruik / proe / klink. So the rule has two halves: attributive (before a noun) may take -e; predicative (after the verb) never does.

A second, smaller trap: do not reach for an adverb. There is no "-ly" form to add. English already resists it smells nicely; trust that instinct in Afrikaans and keep the word flat.

Common mistakes

❌ Die kombers voel sagte.

Wrong — after a copula the adjective stays bare; the -e ending only appears before a noun.

✅ Die kombers voel sag.

The blanket feels soft.

❌ Die kos ruik lekkerlik.

Wrong — there is no '-ly' adverb here; the sense verb takes a plain adjective.

✅ Die kos ruik lekker.

The food smells nice.

❌ Die sop proe na soutig.

Wrong — 'na' is only for naming a source noun; with a bare quality, use no preposition.

✅ Die sop proe sout.

The soup tastes salty.

❌ Ek is siek gevoel die hele dag.

Wrong — voel takes het, not is, in the perfect: het gevoel.

✅ Ek het die hele dag siek gevoel.

I felt sick all day.

❌ Jou plan klink goeie.

Wrong — predicate adjective, so no -e: klink goed.

✅ Jou plan klink goed.

Your plan sounds good.

Key takeaways

voel, ruik, proe, klink act as copulas: subject + sense verb + bare adjective (dit voel sag, dit ruik lekker, dit klink goed).
The adjective describes the subject, so it never takes the attributive -e ending and never becomes an adverb.
All four take het in the perfect: het gevoel, het geruik, het geproe, het geklink.
To name a source, use the fixed preposition: ruik na (smell of), proe na (taste of), klink na / soos (sound like).
voel also expresses how a person feels (Ek voel beter) and pairs with voel soos
- noun.
When a sense verb takes a whole clause instead of an adjective (Ek voel die grond bewe), that is the perception-verb construction, not the copular one.

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