Ek en my spanmaat werk saam.

My team-mate and I work together.

Breakdown of Ek en my spanmaat werk saam.

• ek: I
• my: my
• en: and
• die spanmaat: team-mate

Questions & Answers about Ek en my spanmaat werk saam.

Why is my used here? Does it mean my as in English possession?

Yes. In Afrikaans, my means my in the possessive sense, as in my teammate.

So:

• my spanmaat = my teammate

This can feel confusing for English speakers because English my is possessive, while English me is the object form. In Afrikaans, my can also appear in other functions in different contexts, but here it is clearly possessive because it comes before the noun spanmaat.

What does spanmaat mean exactly?

Spanmaat means teammate or team partner.

It is made up of:

• span = team
• maat = mate / partner / buddy

So spanmaat is literally something like team-mate.

A related word you may also see is spanlid, which means team member.
Spanmaat feels more like teammate, while spanlid is a bit more neutral and general.

Why is the verb werk and not something like werke or works?