Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk.

we

Breakdown of Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk.

• die melk: the milk
• gebruik: to use
• koud: cold

Questions & Answers about Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk.

Why is ons used here? Does it always mean we?

In this sentence, ons means we and is the subject of the verb: Ons gebruik ... = We use ...

A useful thing to know is that ons can also mean us in Afrikaans, so the same word is used for both subject and object.

• Ons gebruik koue melk. = We use cold milk.
• Hulle help ons. = They help us.

So you have to tell from the sentence structure whether ons means we or us.

What does gebruik mean, and does it change for different subjects?

Gebruik means use.

One nice feature of Afrikaans is that verbs usually do not change according to the subject the way they do in English. So you get:

• Ek gebruik = I use
• Jy gebruik = you use
• Ons gebruik = we use
• Hulle gebruik = they use

So gebruik stays the same. That is much simpler than English, where you have I use but he uses.

What does hoofsaaklik mean?