Mens kan dink en praat.

to speak

Breakdown of Mens kan dink en praat.

• en: and
• dink: to think
• kan: can

Questions & Answers about Mens kan dink en praat.

What does Mens mean in this sentence?

Here Mens is an indefinite pronoun meaning “one” (as in “one can…”). It doesn’t refer to a specific person but to people in general.

Why is there no personal pronoun like ek or jy?

Because Mens itself is the subject. You’re saying “one can think and talk,” so you don’t need ek (“I”) or jy (“you”), since Mens covers everyone.

Why is the modal verb kan used, and what does it do?

Kan corresponds to English “can” or “be able to.” It’s a modal that expresses ability or possibility. After kan, you use the infinitive of the main verb.

Why don’t dink and praat have a marker like to in front of them?

In Afrikaans, infinitives are just the verb stem. You don’t need a separate particle (unlike English to). So the infinitives of “think” and “talk” are simply dink and praat.

What is the word order in Mens kan dink en praat?