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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?
Afrikaans main clauses follow a V2 (verb-second) rule. The finite verb (kan) comes in second position, after the subject (Mens), and the infinitives (dink en praat) sit at the end.
Why doesn’t kan change its form for different subjects (e.g., jy kan, ons kan)?
Afrikaans modal verbs are invariant. Whether the subject is ek, jy, ons, or hulle, you always use kan in the present tense.
Could I use a different subject to express “we can think and talk”?
Yes. Replace Mens with Ons (we):
Ons kan dink en praat.
What’s the difference between mens and mense?
- Mens (no plural ending) is the indefinite pronoun “one.”
- Mense (with -e) is the plural noun “people.”
So Mens kan dink = “One can think,” whereas Mense kan dink = “People can think.”