Questions & Answers about Ons beweer nie dat die instaptyd duidelik is nie.
Why are there two nie words in this sentence?
Afrikaans usually uses double negation. That means a negative statement often has:
- one nie after the verb or main clause element
- and another nie near the end of the clause
So in:
Ons beweer nie ... nie.
the first nie marks the negation, and the second one closes it off.
This is one of the most important differences from English. English normally uses only one negative word, but standard Afrikaans often uses two.
Why does the sentence have beweer nie and then later another nie after is?
Because the whole sentence is being negated, and it contains a main clause plus a subordinate clause.
Structure:
- Ons beweer nie = We do not claim
- dat die instaptyd duidelik is nie = that the boarding time is not clear / or more literally, the subordinate clause is also closed with nie
In Afrikaans, the final nie often appears at the end of the clause being negated. Since the sentence includes a dat clause, the second nie ends up at the end of that clause.
So the sentence pattern is normal Afrikaans:
- first nie after the finite verb in the main clause
- second nie at the end of the full negative structure