Ek het tyd om te lees.

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Breakdown of Ek het tyd om te lees.

• lees: to read
• hê: to have
• die tyd: the time
• om: for

Questions & Answers about Ek het tyd om te lees.

Why do we write om te lees instead of just lees?

In Afrikaans, om te is used before the infinitive form of a verb to show purpose or intention. So om te lees literally means to read (as in having time to do the action of reading).

Why does the sentence have het tyd and not het tyd gehad?

Ek het tyd indicates the present tense: I have time. Meanwhile, het tyd gehad would be the past tense, meaning I had time. Since you are talking about now, you use the present tense.

Is there a difference between Ek het tyd om te lees and Ek het genoeg tyd om te lees?

Both convey that you have time to read, but adding genoeg (enough) emphasizes sufficiency. Ek het genoeg tyd om te lees stresses that you have enough time to read, whereas Ek het tyd om te lees simply states that you have time.

Does the word tyd ever change form in this sentence, like adding an s to indicate plural?

No. In Afrikaans, tyd remains the same in this context because you’re talking about an uncountable concept of time, not a plural form. If you talk about multiple specific times, you would use tye, but not in this sentence.

Can we switch the word order to say Om te lees het ek tyd?

Yes, you can change the order for emphasis in Afrikaans, though Ek het tyd om te lees is the more common phrasing. Saying Om te lees het ek tyd stresses the action of reading first. Both are grammatically correct, but the standard order is more natural in everyday speech.