When the action is over and you care about the result, Afrikaans uses is plus a past participle: die werk is gedoen ("the work has been done" / "the work is done"). This is the counterpart to the dynamic word-passive: where word shows an action in progress, is shows a completed action and the state it leaves behind. This page covers the is/was-passive only. The action-in-progress passive with word (die werk word gedoen, "the work is being done") has its own page, The Passive with word, and the two are set side by side in Choosing: word vs is in the passive.
One form, two readings: perfect and resultant state
The phrase is + participle does double duty in Afrikaans, and English splits these into two separate constructions.
- The perfect passive — "has been Xed". This reports a completed event: die brief is geskryf = "the letter has been written" (someone finished writing it).
- The resultant-state passive — "is Xed". This describes the lasting state that the event produced: die deur is gesluit = "the door is locked" (it now sits in a locked state).
The same Afrikaans string carries both. Context — usually a time adverb — tells you which is foregrounded.
Die werk is gedoen.
The work has been done. / The work is done.
Die deur is gesluit.
The door is locked. / The door has been locked.
Die brief is gister geskryf.
The letter was written yesterday.
In the third example the adverb gister ("yesterday") anchors the event in the past, so the perfect-event reading ("was written / has been written") dominates. In die deur is gesluit, with no time adverb, the resulting-state reading ("is locked") comes to the front. The construction itself is neutral between the two; the surrounding words decide the emphasis.
word vs is = action vs result
This is the spine of the entire Afrikaans passive system, so it is worth stating bluntly. The choice between word and is is not a choice of tense — it is a choice of aspect: action-in-progress versus completed-result.
| Auxiliary | Meaning | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| word | action in progress | Die huis word gebou. | The house is being built. |
| is | completed action / state | Die huis is gebou. | The house has been built (and now stands). |
| was | completed action / state, in the past | Die huis was gebou. | The house had been built (by then). |
The minimal pair die huis word gebou versus die huis is gebou is the cleanest illustration in the language: one and the same participle, two auxiliaries, two completely different situations — a construction site versus a finished home.
Die huis word gebou.
The house is being built (work is underway).
Die huis is gebou.
The house has been built (it now stands finished).
The big trap: 'has been built' is is gebou, NOT word gebou
English speakers reliably get this backwards, because the English present perfect passive contains the word "been", which feels like an active, dynamic verb. So learners reason "has been built" → word gebou. Wrong. "Has been built" reports a completed action — exactly the territory of is, not word.
Die brug is reeds gebou.
The bridge has already been built.
Al die foute is reggestel.
All the mistakes have been corrected.
There is a historical reason this trips up speakers who also know Dutch. Dutch distinguishes the dynamic perfect passive (is geschreven / older is geworden) from the stative, and uses worden in the present. Afrikaans collapsed that system: it dropped the geword(en) perfect-passive auxiliary entirely. So the single form is + participle in Afrikaans covers what Dutch would express with both is geschreven and the now-archaic is geschreven geworden. The upshot is a clean rule that nonetheless surprises learners:
"has been built" = is gebou. Never word gebou (that means "is being built"), and never het gebou (that is the active perfect — "has built").
Past stative: was + participle
To shift the resultant state into the past — "was Xed", "had been Xed" — replace is with its past form was. This gives the state as it held at some earlier moment.
Die deur was gesluit toe ek daar aankom.
The door was locked when I arrived there.
Alles was reeds gepak voordat die taxi opdaag.
Everything was already packed before the taxi showed up.
Die tafel was mooi gedek.
The table was nicely set.
Here was gesluit describes the door's state at a past reference point — it was, at that time, in a locked condition. This is the natural way to set a scene in the past: the state already obtained before the events of your sentence began. Compare the present die deur is gesluit ("the door is locked", state holds now) with the past die deur was gesluit ("the door was locked", state held then).
Die winkel was reeds gesluit, so ons het omgedraai.
The shop was already closed, so we turned back.
How the participle behaves
The participle in the is/was-passive is the ordinary past participle, identical to the one in the active perfect and in the word-passive. Most verbs add ge- (doen → gedoen, sluit → gesluit, pak → gepak); verbs with an unstressed inseparable prefix take no ge- (betaal → betaal, bevestig → bevestig); separable verbs infix the ge- (regstel → reggestel, opeet → opgeëet). And, as always, it parks at the end of the clause.
Die bestelling is reeds bevestig.
The order has already been confirmed.
Al die borde was nog nie afgewas nie.
None of the plates had been washed up yet.
Common mistakes
Using word for a completed action. The cardinal error: "has been Xed" feels dynamic in English, but it is done, so it needs is.
❌ Die huis word reeds gebou — ons kan intrek.
Incorrect — word gebou means still under construction, which contradicts 'we can move in'.
✅ Die huis is reeds gebou — ons kan intrek.
The house has already been built — we can move in.
Using het for the perfect passive. Het + participle is the active perfect ("has built"), with a subject who does the building. The passive needs is.
❌ Die brief het geskryf.
Incorrect — het geskryf needs an active subject ('X has written'); as a passive it is wrong.
✅ Die brief is geskryf.
The letter has been written.
Using is for an action still in progress. The mirror of the first error: if the work is underway, you need word, not is.
❌ Wees stil — die toets is geskryf!
Incorrect — if the test is being written right now, this needs word.
✅ Wees stil — die toets word geskryf!
Be quiet — the test is being written!
Forgetting to shift to was for past states. Describing a past scene with present-tense is misplaces the state in time.
❌ Die deur is gesluit toe ek gisteraand daar aankom.
Incorrect — a past scene needs was, not present is.
✅ Die deur was gesluit toe ek gisteraand daar aankom.
The door was locked when I arrived there last night.
Key takeaways
- is + participle is both the perfect passive ("has been written") and the resultant-state passive ("is written"); a time adverb usually decides which reading is in focus.
- The deep contrast is word = action in progress versus is = completed action / resulting state — aspect, not tense.
- "Has been built" is is gebou, never word gebou (that is "is being built") and never het gebou (that is the active "has built"). Afrikaans collapsed the old Dutch is geword(en) passive into plain is.
- For a past state, use was + participle: die deur was gesluit ("the door was locked").
- When you must decide between the two auxiliaries in a real sentence, work through Choosing: word vs is in the passive.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- The Passive with wordB1 — How Afrikaans forms the dynamic (action) passive with word plus a past participle, and why word — not is — is the auxiliary for an action being carried out.
- The Past Tense: het + ge-participleA1 — Afrikaans has one ordinary past tense — het plus a ge-participle at the end of the clause — and it covers both 'I walked' and 'I have walked'.
- word vs is (dynamic vs stative passive)B2 — Afrikaans splits the passive in two: word + participle for an action in progress, is/was + participle for the finished result — disambiguating what English smears together.