Learn Hardcore Afrikaans: Haar broer help haar met die huiswerk en bewonder homself in die spieël. - Her brother helps her with the homework and admires himself in the mirror.

The first haar is a possessive pronoun modifying broer, so Haar broer means “Her brother.” The second haar is an object pronoun meaning “her” as in “help her.” In Afrikaans, the possessive and object pronouns look the same (haar), but their function in the sentence is determined by their position and the words they modify or follow.

What is homself, and why doesn’t it look like the English himself?

homself is the Afrikaans reflexive pronoun corresponding to “himself.” It’s used when the subject and the object of a verb are the same person. Spelling differences:

English “himself”
Afrikaans homself Notice the vowel change (i → o) and the doubling of “s” at the end in English, which Afrikaans does not use.

Why is the order “help haar met die huiswerk” instead of “help met die huiswerk haar”?

Afrikaans, like English, generally follows a Subject–Verb–Object–Prepositional Phrase (SVO + PP) word order. So we say:

Subject: Haar broer
Verb: help
Object: haar
Prepositional phrase: met die huiswerk
Switching those around (placing the PP before the object pronoun) would sound unnatural.

Why is there “die huiswerk” (“the homework”) and not “haar huiswerk” (“her homework”)?

Using die (“the”) treats the homework as a known or definite thing, just like in English “the homework.” If you want to emphasize that it’s her own homework, you could say met haar huiswerk. Both are correct, but met die huiswerk is more general or assumes context (“the” homework you’ve already mentioned).

Is bewonder always reflexive when talking about admiration?

No. bewonder by itself is a transitive verb meaning “to admire” and normally takes an object: – Hy bewonder sy ma. (“He admires his mother.”) When you want to say someone admires themselves, you pair bewonder with the reflexive pronoun (homself, haarself, etc.): – Hy bewonder homself. (“He admires himself.”)

Can the two actions be separated into different sentences, or must they be joined by en?

You can certainly split them into separate sentences: – Haar broer help haar met die huiswerk. Hy bewonder homself in die spieël. Using en (“and”) simply connects them into one compound sentence. Both forms are correct.

Are there any pronunciation tips for spieël?

Yes. spieël (“mirror”) is pronounced something like “SPEE-uhl,” with two syllables:

spie – sounds like English “spee”
ël – a quick “uhl” sound
The “ie” is pronounced /iː/, and the “ë” indicates a schwa /ə/.