Afrikaans has effectively one past tense in everyday use: the perfect, built with het plus a past participle (see the past with ge-). For an ordinary verb, the participle is the stem with ge- glued on the front: werk → gewerk, speel → gespeel. Separable verbs — the ones made of a particle plus a verb, like opstaan ("get up"), aankom ("arrive"), uittrek ("take off") — do something that surprises English speakers: the ge- goes inside the word, slotted between the particle and the stem. Opstaan becomes opgestaan, written as one solid word. This page shows exactly how that infixing works, where the participle sits in the sentence, and the clean contrast with inseparable-prefixed verbs, which take no ge- at all.
The rule: ge- goes between the particle and the stem
A separable verb has two parts: a particle (usually a preposition or adverb like op, aan, uit, af, in, terug) and a verb stem (staan, kom, trek). To make the past participle, you take the participle of the stem — which gets its own ge- — and keep the particle attached in front of it. The result is particle + ge- + stem, written solid.
| Infinitive | Particle | Stem participle | Past participle | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| opstaan | op | gestaan | opgestaan | get up |
| aankom | aan | gekom | aangekom | arrive |
| uittrek | uit | getrek | uitgetrek | take off / pull out |
| afbel | af | gebel | afgebel | cancel (by phone) |
| insit | in | gesit | ingesit | put in |
| terugkom | terug | gekom | teruggekom | come back |
So the mechanical recipe is reliable: find the bare verb's participle, then stick the particle on the front. Staan → gestaan, then op + gestaan = opgestaan. Kom → gekom, then aan + gekom = aangekom. The ge- never moves to the very front; it stays buried between the two pieces.
Ek het vanoggend baie vroeg opgestaan.
I got up very early this morning.
Die trein het presies betyds aangekom.
The train arrived exactly on time.
Sy het haar nat jas uitgetrek en by die vuur gaan sit.
She took off her wet coat and went to sit by the fire.
Written solid: one word, ge- inside
This is the orthographic point learners most often get wrong. In the present tense the particle splits off and flies to the end of the clause — Ek staan vroeg op ("I get up early") — which is why these verbs are called separable (the full present-tense word order is on separable verbs). But in the past participle the verb is written as a single solid word: opgestaan, not op gestaan and not opge staan.
Hoe laat het julle gisteraand teruggekom?
What time did you get back last night?
Hy het die ou foto's in 'n album ingesit.
He put the old photos into an album.
The contrast between the two tenses is worth seeing directly:
| Tense | Sentence | What the particle does |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Ek staan vroeg op. | splits off, goes clause-final |
| Past | Ek het vroeg opgestaan. | rejoins, solid, with ge- inside |
So the particle separates in the present but rejoins in the participle. If your English instinct is to split it in the past too ("ek het op gestaan"), that is precisely the error to unlearn — in the perfect, the whole thing is one word.
Where the participle sits: clause-finally
Because Afrikaans is a verb-second / verb-final language, the auxiliary het takes the second position and the participle is thrown to the end of the clause. Everything else — objects, time, place — packs in between het and the participle.
Ons het na 'n lang reis gisteraand laat by die huis aangekom.
After a long journey we arrived home late last night.
Die kinders het hul skoene by die deur uitgetrek.
The children took off their shoes at the door.
Notice how much material can sit between het and aangekom / uitgetrek: the participle waits patiently at the very end. This end position is the same for all participles in Afrikaans (see the past with ge-); separable verbs are not special in where they go, only in how they are built.
The clean contrast: inseparable verbs take no ge- at all
Here is the diagnostic that ties the whole topic together. Afrikaans has a second class of prefixed verbs — inseparable verbs, whose prefix is unstressed and never detaches: ver-, be-, ont-, her-, er-, ge-. Examples: verstaan ("understand"), betaal ("pay"), ontmoet ("meet"), herhaal ("repeat"), vertel ("tell"). These do not add ge- in the past at all — their participle is identical to the infinitive.
| Type | Infinitive | Past participle | ge-? |
|---|---|---|---|
| separable | opstaan | opgestaan | ge- infixed |
| separable | aankom | aangekom | ge- infixed |
| inseparable | verstaan | verstaan | no ge- |
| inseparable | betaal | betaal | no ge- |
| inseparable | ontmoet | ontmoet | no ge- |
Ek het nie verstaan wat hy probeer sê het nie.
I didn't understand what he was trying to say.
Ons het die rekening reeds betaal.
We've already paid the bill.
Hulle het mekaar op universiteit ontmoet.
They met each other at university.
So the ge- behaviour diagnoses the verb type cleanly: a separable verb infixes ge- (op-ge-staan); an inseparable verb suppresses ge- entirely (verstaan, unchanged). The deciding factor is stress — the particle of a separable verb is stressed (ÓP-staan) and detachable, while an inseparable prefix is unstressed (ver-STÁAN) and fused. The full inseparable set is on inseparable prefixes, and the minimal pairs where the same prefix can go either way are on particle vs prefix pairs.
A note on "is" verbs of motion
A few separable verbs of motion and change of state take is rather than het as their auxiliary in careful or older usage — but in modern spoken Afrikaans, het has almost completely taken over and is always acceptable. So die trein het aangekom is the safe everyday form; you may occasionally read die trein is aangekom in more formal or literary prose. The auxiliary choice does not change how the participle is built — aangekom is aangekom either way. The full het-versus-is story is on het vs is in the perfect.
Teen die tyd dat ons daar aangekom het, was die winkel al gesluit.
By the time we arrived there, the shop was already closed.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek het vroeg op gestaan.
Incorrect — in the past the participle is solid; don't split the particle: opgestaan.
✅ Ek het vroeg opgestaan.
I got up early.
❌ Die trein het gekom aan.
Incorrect — the particle rejoins inside the participle: aangekom, placed clause-finally.
✅ Die trein het aangekom.
The train arrived.
❌ Sy het haar jas geuittrek.
Incorrect — ge- goes between particle and stem, not in front: uitgetrek.
✅ Sy het haar jas uitgetrek.
She took off her coat.
❌ Ek het nie geverstaan nie.
Incorrect — inseparable ver- verbs take no ge-: verstaan stays unchanged.
✅ Ek het nie verstaan nie.
I didn't understand.
❌ Ons het die rekening gebetaal.
Incorrect — betaal is inseparable; no ge- is added.
✅ Ons het die rekening betaal.
We paid the bill.
Key takeaways
- A separable verb's participle is particle + ge- + stem, written solid: opstaan → opgestaan, aankom → aangekom, uittrek → uitgetrek. Build it by making the bare stem's participle, then gluing the particle on the front.
- In the present the particle splits off (ek staan op); in the perfect it rejoins into one word with ge- inside (ek het opgestaan). Don't split it in the past.
- The participle sits clause-finally, after het and everything else: ons het ... aangekom.
- Inseparable prefixed verbs (ver-, be-, ont-, her-) take no ge- at all — verstaan, betaal, ontmoet are unchanged. The presence or absence of ge- diagnoses the verb type.
- Stress decides: stressed, detachable particle = separable (ÓP-staan); unstressed, fused prefix = inseparable (ver-STÁAN).
- A few motion verbs allow is in formal usage, but het is the modern default and never changes how the participle is formed; see het vs is.
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Separable Verbs: opstaan, aankom, uitgaanA2 — How separable verbs split — the stressed particle drops to the end of a main clause but rejoins the stem in subordinate clauses and infinitives.
- The ge- Prefix and Its RulesA2 — The past participle adds ge- to the stem (gewerk, gespeel) — but inseparable prefix verbs (verstaan, begin) take no ge- at all, and vowel-initial stems need a diaeresis (geëet).
- Inseparable Prefixes: be-, ver-, ont-, her-, er-, ge-B1 — The unstressed bound prefixes be-, ge-, her-, ont-, ver- and er- that never detach from the verb and suppress the ge- of the past participle — with stress as the diagnostic.
- 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'.
- Same Particle, Two Verbs: deurloop vs deurloopC1 — A handful of Afrikaans verbs are spelled identically but split into a separable, literal verb and an inseparable, figurative one — distinguished by stress alone, with different participles.
- Choosing the Perfect Auxiliary: hetB1 — Afrikaans uses het as the perfect auxiliary for every active verb — there is no hebben/zijn or haben/sein split — and the only is + participle you ever meet is the passive, not an active perfect.