Questions & Answers about Ons gaan môre aan.
Why is aan separated from gaan and put at the end?
Because the full verb is aangaan, which is a separable verb in Afrikaans.
In a normal main clause:
- the finite verb goes to the usual verb position near the beginning,
- and the separable part moves to the end.
So you get:
- Ons gaan môre aan.
But in a subordinate clause, it is usually written together:
- Ek dink dat ons môre aangaan.
This is very similar to separable verbs in Dutch and a bit like phrasal verbs in English, except the split is more systematic.
Is gaan here the usual future marker, like going to in English?
Not really. In this sentence, gaan is part of the full verb aangaan.
A learner may expect gaan to mean going to and then look for another main verb, but here the main verb is already present: it is just split into gaan ... aan.
The future idea comes mainly from môre because Afrikaans often uses a present-tense form plus a time word to talk about the future.
What does aan mean here? Does it literally mean on?
Not necessarily. In this sentence, aan is best understood as part of the verb aangaan, not as a separate word you should translate by itself.
A very common mistake is trying to translate each piece literally:
- gaan = go
- aan = on
That often does not give natural English. With separable verbs, it is better to learn the whole verb as one unit:
- aangaan = the meaning already given in your lesson
So here, aan is a verb particle, not just a simple preposition.
Why doesn’t the verb change for ons?
Why is môre placed before aan?
Because môre is a time adverb, and aan has to stay at the end as the separable part of the verb.
So the basic order is:
- Ons
- gaan
- môre
- aan
- môre
- gaan
That is a normal Afrikaans sentence pattern.
You can also move môre to the front for emphasis:
- Môre gaan ons aan.
But if you do that, the verb still stays in second position.
Could I also say Môre gaan ons aan?
Yes. That is grammatical.
The difference is mainly emphasis:
- Ons gaan môre aan. = neutral statement
- Môre gaan ons aan. = puts more focus on tomorrow
Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses, so when another element comes first, the finite verb still comes second.
How would I say this in the negative?
What happens to this verb in a clause with dat?
In a dat-clause, the separable verb is normally written together again:
- Ek weet dat ons môre aangaan.
So compare:
- Main clause: Ons gaan môre aan.
- Subordinate clause: ... dat ons môre aangaan.
This is a very useful pattern to learn early, because separable verbs appear often in Afrikaans.
Does môre always mean tomorrow?
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