Ek het geen tyd om siek te wees nie, want die eksamen is binnekort.

I have no time to be sick, because the exam is soon.

Breakdown of Ek het geen tyd om siek te wees nie, want die eksamen is binnekort.

• ek: I
• die: the
• hê: to have
• wees: to be
• nie: not
• die tyd: the time
• want: because
• om: to
• siek: sick
• geen: no
• die eksamen: the exam
• binnekort: soon

Questions & Answers about Ek het geen tyd om siek te wees nie, want die eksamen is binnekort.

Why does the sentence use geen … nie to negate tyd?

In Afrikaans you often wrap a noun in a double negation. Geen precedes the noun to show “no/none,” and a closing nie goes at the end of the clause. So
• Ek het geen tyd nie = “I have no time.”
Dropping either part weakens or changes the meaning:
• Ek het nie tyd nie works colloquially as “I don’t have time,” but formally you’ll see geen … nie around a noun.

How do you form the negative infinitive clause om siek te wees nie?

To negate an om … te infinitive, place nie at the very end:
• om (to) + siek (sick) + te wees (to be) + nie (not) = “to not be sick.”
Without that final nie, the clause would remain positive (“to be sick”).

Why is the verb “have” written as het here instead of hê?

Afrikaans has two forms of the verb “to have”:
• hê = the infinitive (e.g. ek wil hê “I want to have”)
• het = present tense (e.g. ek het “I have”).
So in Ek het geen tyd nie, het is simply “I have.”

What’s the difference between want and omdat when meaning “because”?

Both translate as “because,” but they behave differently:
• want is coordinating: it keeps normal word order in the next clause.
– … want die eksamen is binnekort. (subject-verb order)
• omdat is subordinating: it pushes the finite verb to the end.
– … omdat die eksamen binnekort is → die eksamen … is at the end of that clause.

Why is binnekort written as one word with double n?

Binnekort (“soon”) is a compound of binne (“within”) + kort (“short”). In Afrikaans you write it as one word, carrying over the double n from binne—no hyphen needed.

Can I translate it as “I don’t have time to be sick” instead of “I have no time to be sick”?

Yes. Afrikaans often says Ek het geen tyd nie, literally “I have no time.” English speakers naturally say “I don’t have time.” You could mirror that by saying either:
• Ek het geen tyd nie om siek te wees. (“I have no time…”)
• Ek het nie tyd om siek te wees nie. (“I don’t have time to be sick.”)
Both convey the same idea; the first is a bit more emphatic.

Could I drop the final nie after om siek te wees?

No. In Afrikaans negatives you must close each negation:
• With geen … nie, the closing nie cannot be omitted.
• With an infinitive negation (om … te …), nie always goes at the end.
Omitting it would make the clause positive again.

Why is the adjective siek placed before te wees instead of after?

In an om … te construction, adjectives precede the verb. The pattern is:
• om + [adjective] + te + [verb]
So om siek te wees = “to be sick.” You can’t flip it to om te wees siek—that would be ungrammatical.