The modals overview gave you the structure: a modal in second position, a bare infinitive at the clause end. This page is about meaning — and here the modals are far slipperier than their one-word glosses suggest. Each one covers a spread of senses, the spreads overlap, and several carry idioms or register colourings that English does not match cleanly. Getting these nuances right is the difference between grammatically-correct and actually-sounding-Afrikaans.
kan — ability, possibility, and casual permission
The core of kan is ability ("I can swim") and possibility ("it can rain"). But in everyday speech kan also stretches into permission, the territory English reserves for may and Afrikaans formally assigns to mag.
Sy kan al lees, en sy's net vyf.
She can already read, and she's only five.
Dit kan vanmiddag reën — vat 'n sambreel saam.
It can / might rain this afternoon — take an umbrella along.
Kan ek maar hier sit?
Can I sit here? (casual permission)
That third example is the crux. In relaxed conversation, kan ek...? asks permission perfectly naturally. The slightly more formal, more polite version uses mag (below). This is a register split, treated in full on kan vs mag.
mag — permission, and faint possibility
The home of mag is permission, especially polite or rule-bound permission: "are we allowed to?". This is where English speakers go wrong. Tutored by English "may = might", they reach for mag to mean possibility — but in Afrikaans mag is mainly about permission. The possibility sense exists but is secondary and somewhat formal; for everyday "might", Afrikaans uses kan or dalk / miskien ("maybe").
Mag ek inkom?
May I come in?
Jy mag nie hier rook nie — dis 'n hospitaal.
You may not smoke here — it's a hospital.
Dit mag waar wees, maar ek glo dit nie.
It may be true, but I don't believe it. (formal possibility)
moet — obligation, and strong probability
moet is the single word for both English "must" and "have to" — Afrikaans draws no distinction between internal obligation and external requirement. Ek moet werk covers "I must work" and "I have to work" equally; there is no separate construction to choose. Beyond obligation, moet also expresses strong probability / inference ("that must be...").
Jy moet slaap — dis al ná middernag.
You have to / must sleep — it's already past midnight.
Ons moet die rekening voor die einde van die maand betaal.
We have to pay the bill before the end of the month.
Dit moet hy wees by die deur — niemand anders het 'n sleutel nie.
That must be him at the door — no one else has a key.
The third example is the inference sense: not an obligation but a confident deduction. English uses the same word ("must be"), so this one transfers cleanly.
wil — volition, insistence, and idiomatic wil hê
wil is wanting to do something — volition. Pushed harder, it expresses insistence ("she will keep doing it") or, in the negative, refusal. Its most important idiom is wil hê, "to want to have / want (a thing)". When the object of your wanting is a noun rather than an action, Afrikaans uses wil hê — note the circumflex on hê, the standard spelling of the verb "to have", which marks its long open vowel and sets it apart from the everyday short word het.
Ek wil koffie hê, asseblief.
I want coffee, please.
Sy wil môre see toe gaan, maar die weer lyk sleg.
She wants to go to the sea tomorrow, but the weather looks bad.
Die kind wil net nie sy groente eet nie.
The child simply will not eat his vegetables. (refusal)
In ek wil koffie hê, the structure is wil (modal, second position) … hê (the lexical infinitive, clause-final), with the object koffie in between — exactly the verb-bracket pattern, with hê playing the role of the main verb. Drop the hê and the sentence is wrong: you cannot say ek wil koffie to mean "I want coffee".
sal — future, prediction, promise, and present inference
sal marks the future and prediction ("it'll rain", "they'll come"). It also makes promises and, less obviously to English speakers, expresses present inference — a confident guess about the current state of affairs.
Ek sal jou môre bel, dis 'n belofte.
I'll call you tomorrow, that's a promise.
Moenie bekommerd wees nie — alles sal reg wees.
Don't worry — everything will be fine.
Dit sal hy wees wat klop — hy't gesê hy kom.
That'll be him knocking — he said he'd come.
That last sentence is the inference use: dit sal hy wees is a guess about the present ("that's probably him"), not a statement about the future. English has the same trick ("that'll be the postman"), but learners often miss that Afrikaans sal shares it. For the sal vs gaan contrast in future-marking, see the future.
behoort — ought, should
Rounding out the set is behoort (te), "ought to, should" — the modal of mild obligation and recommendation. Crucially, behoort is the one modal that takes te before its infinitive (it is not a "true" modal syntactically): jy behoort te rus. It is more bookish than the everyday moet and softens an obligation into advice.
Jy behoort 'n bietjie te rus — jy werk te hard.
You ought to rest a little — you work too hard.
Die pakkie behoort môre te arriveer.
The parcel should arrive tomorrow.
For everyday "you should...", spoken Afrikaans usually prefers moet or moet eintlik over the more formal behoort te.
The overlap map
| Sense | Primary modal | Also possible |
|---|---|---|
| ability | kan | — |
| possibility ("might") | kan (+ dalk) | mag (formal) |
| permission (casual) | kan | — |
| permission (polite/formal) | mag | kan |
| obligation / necessity | moet | behoort te (softer) |
| strong probability | moet | sal |
| wanting an action | wil | — |
| wanting a thing | wil hê | — |
| future / prediction | sal | gaan |
| present inference | sal / moet | — |
Common mistakes
❌ Dit mag reën vanaand.
Misleading — mag is mainly permission; for 'might rain' use kan + dalk.
✅ Dit kan dalk vanaand reën.
It might rain tonight.
❌ Ek wil 'n koppie tee.
Incorrect — to want a thing you need hê: wil ... hê.
✅ Ek wil 'n koppie tee hê.
I want a cup of tea.
❌ Ek wil koffie he.
Incorrect — the verb 'to have' carries a circumflex: hê.
✅ Ek wil koffie hê.
I want coffee.
❌ Jy behoort rus.
Incorrect — behoort takes te before its infinitive.
✅ Jy behoort te rus.
You ought to rest.
❌ Mag ek hierdie swaar tas optel? — ja, jy kan dit.
Mixing the register oddly; for casual ability/permission keep one register: kan throughout, or mag throughout.
✅ Kan ek hierdie swaar tas optel? — Ja, jy kan.
Can I lift this heavy bag? — Yes, you can.
Key takeaways
- kan = ability/possibility + casual permission; mag = formal permission (and only secondarily faint possibility) — a clear register split.
- For "might", use kan (+ dalk/miskien), not mag.
- moet covers "must" and "have to" with no distinction, and also strong inference ("that must be...").
- wil wants an action; wil hê (with the circumflex on hê) wants a thing — never drop the hê.
- sal marks future, promises, and present inference ("that'll be him"); behoort te (with te) is the softer "ought to".
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- 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.
- kan vs mag (can vs may)B1 — Why kan is ability and mag is permission — and the crucial trap that mag never means English 'might', so 'it may rain' is dit kan reën, never dit mag reën.
- Modals in the Past: kon, mog, moes, wou, souB1 — Afrikaans modals are the rare verbs that keep a real past tense — kon, moes, wou, sou (and dated mog) — instead of the usual het + participle, and they drive the double-infinitive construction when a modal meets the perfect.
- The Future: sal and gaanA2 — Afrikaans has two future auxiliaries — sal (will) and gaan (going to) — plus the option of the plain present with a time word; how to pick between them and where the verb goes.