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Questions & Answers about Hul vriendelikheid help ons.
What does hul mean here, and how is it different from hulle?
Hul is the possessive pronoun their, not the subject pronoun “they.” Hulle (with –le) is “they.” In this sentence hul modifies vriendelikheid, so it means “their friendliness.”
Why isn’t there an apostrophe in hul?
Afrikaans does not use apostrophes for possessive pronouns. Hul is always written without one.
Why is there no article before vriendelikheid?
Vriendelikheid (“friendliness”) is an abstract, uncountable noun describing a general quality. In Afrikaans, you often omit the article when speaking about qualities in general.
How is vriendelikheid formed?
It’s the adjective vriendelik (“friendly”) plus the suffix –heid, equivalent to English –ness. So vriendelikheid = “friendliness.”
Why does the verb help not change form?
Afrikaans verbs do not conjugate for person or number in the present tense. Help stays the same for I, you, he/she, we, and they.
Why is ons used for “us,” and isn’t that the same as “we”?
In Afrikaans ons serves as both the subject pronoun “we” and the object pronoun “us.” Context tells you which meaning is intended. Here, as the object of help, it means “us.”
Is the sentence structure SVO like in English?
Yes. Hul vriendelikheid (Subject) help (Verb) ons (Object) follows the same basic order as in English.
How would you express this in the past tense?
Insert the auxiliary het and use ge- on the verb stem:
Hul vriendelikheid het ons gehelp.
Can you make it passive?
Yes:
Ons word deur hul vriendelikheid gehelp.
But the active voice (Hul vriendelikheid help ons) is more natural in everyday speech.