Ons moet water kry voordat ons groente kook.

We must get water before we cook vegetables.

Breakdown of Ons moet water kry voordat ons groente kook.

• die water: the water
• ons: we
• moet: must
• kry: to get
• kook: to cook
• voordat: before
• die groente: the vegetables

Questions & Answers about Ons moet water kry voordat ons groente kook.

Why does the sentence use voordat instead of voor?

In Afrikaans, voordat means before in a temporal sense—indicating one action (getting water) happens before another (cooking vegetables). Voor can also mean before, but it often refers to physical placement or position, or it can mean in front of, rather than a sequence of actions. So, voordat makes it clear that one event must happen in time before the other.

Why is there no article before water?

Afrikaans typically doesn’t use an indefinite article (like 'n) with uncountable nouns such as water, melk (milk), or suiker (sugar). These nouns are often treated as mass nouns, which don’t require an article.

What does moet mean, and where does it go in the sentence?

Moet means must or have to. As a modal verb, it usually appears second in a sentence (after the subject), with the main verb (kry) often coming directly after it. So you get the structure: Ons (subject) + moet (modal) + water kry (main verb phrase).

What is the difference between kry and neem?

Kry often means to obtain or to get, focusing on the result of acquiring something, whereas neem means to take, often highlighting the action of physically picking something up or removing it from somewhere. In this sentence, kry suggests that you are procuring or obtaining water, not just physically taking it from a specific place.

Is groente ever written in plural form?

The word groente is a collective noun in Afrikaans and generally stays the same whether referring to one type of vegetable or multiple vegetables. Some speakers may occasionally say groentes, but groente is widely accepted to refer to vegetables in general.