Questions & Answers about Ek lees nou die opdrag.
Afrikaans follows a V2 (verb-second) rule in main clauses. If you front nou, the verb still comes second:
“Nou lees ek die opdrag.”
Subject and object stay in place after the verb, so the meaning is “Now I am reading the assignment.”
No. lees remains the same for all persons:
Ek lees, Jy lees, Hy/sy lees, Ons lees, Julle lees, Hulle lees.
Only a few irregular verbs (like is) change form.
Use the perfect tense with het + past participle:
Ek het die opdrag gelees.
That literally means “I have read the assignment.”
Afrikaans negatives use double negation:
Ek lees nou nie die opdrag nie.
You can also paraphrase: Ek is nou nie besig om die opdrag te lees nie (“I’m not busy reading the assignment now”).
Yes. You can swap nou for other adverbs to change the time frame:
- Ek lees vandag die opdrag. (I’m reading the assignment today.)
- Ek lees nou net die opdrag. (I’m just reading the assignment now.)
Put the verb first (V1) for a yes/no question:
Lees ek nou die opdrag?
Informally you can also say it with rising intonation without inversion: Ek lees nou die opdrag? but the inverted form is standard.