Ons lees die volledige verslag.

we

Breakdown of Ons lees die volledige verslag.

• lees: to read
• die verslag: the report
• volledig: complete; fully

Questions & Answers about Ons lees die volledige verslag.

What does ons mean here?

Here ons means we.

So Ons lees ... = We read / We are reading ...

A useful extra point: ons can also mean our in other sentences, but not here. In this sentence it is clearly the subject pronoun we because it comes right before the verb lees.

Why is the verb lees right after ons?

Afrikaans usually follows normal subject–verb–object word order in a simple main clause, just like English.

So the sentence breaks down as:

• Ons = subject
• lees = verb
• die volledige verslag = object

That makes the structure very familiar for an English speaker:

• We read the complete report
• Ons lees die volledige verslag

Does lees change depending on the subject?

Usually, no. One of the nice things about Afrikaans is that verbs generally do not change much for different persons.

For example:

• Ek lees = I read / I am reading
• Jy lees = you read / you are reading
• Ons lees = we read / we are reading
• Hulle lees = they read / they are reading

So unlike English I read / she reads, Afrikaans keeps lees the same.

What tense is here?