Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Afrikaans grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Vandag is ’n mooi dag.
What does ’n in Vandag is ’n mooi dag mean and why does it have an apostrophe?
’n is the indefinite article in Afrikaans, equivalent to a or an in English. It’s historically a contraction of een (“one”), and the apostrophe marks the missing vowel. Today it’s simply the standard way to say “a.”
How do you pronounce vandag and the “g” in dag?
vandag is pronounced roughly “fun-DAHKH,” with the stress on the second syllable. Both vandag and dag end in a guttural “g” (a voiced velar fricative), similar to the “ch” in Scottish “loch” or German “Bach.” If that sound is hard, you can approximate with a soft “kh” or even a regular “g” as in “go.”
Why is Vandag capitalized here but not always in writing?
It’s capitalized only because it begins the sentence. In Afrikaans, adverbs of time like vandag are not normally capitalized unless they’re the very first word of a sentence.
Why doesn’t mooi take an -e ending before dag, and do adjectives ever change for number or gender?
Adjectives following the indefinite article ’n do not take an -e ending, so you write ’n mooi dag (not ’n mooie dag). Afrikaans adjectives don’t inflect for gender or number in predicative position (after is). They only get an -e when the noun is definite (preceded by die, a demonstrative, a possessive, etc.) and attributed directly.
What is the word order in Vandag is ’n mooi dag, and how does it compare to English?
Afrikaans uses Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) order, same as English. Here you have Vandag (time adverb) first for emphasis, then the verb is, then the noun phrase ’n mooi dag. In English you’d say “Today is a beautiful day,” following the same pattern.
Do I have to include the noun dag, or can I just say Vandag is mooi?
You can say Vandag is mooi, but it sounds incomplete—“Today is beautiful” without specifying what. In casual speech, speakers often drop the noun with adjectives like lekker (“nice/fun”), e.g. Vandag is lekker (“Today is fun”). With mooi, however, you typically include dag to specify ’n mooi dag (“a beautiful day”).
How would I say “Today is a great/beautiful/lovely day” using other adjectives?
Just swap out mooi for the adjective you want—word order stays the same. For example:
• Vandag is ’n pragtig dag (pragtig = gorgeous)
• Vandag is ’n lekker dag (lekker = nice/fun)
• Vandag is ’n heerlik dag (heerlik = wonderful)
None of these adjectives take -e after ’n, because that ending only appears with definite nouns or certain other triggers.