Word
Die bibliotekaris soek saam met my en bel my wanneer hy dit kry.
Meaning
The librarian searches with me and calls me when he finds it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Die bibliotekaris soek saam met my en bel my wanneer hy dit kry.
hy
he
en
and
met
with
saam
together
kry
to get
dit
it
my
me
wanneer
when
die bibliotekaris
the librarian
soek
to search for
bel
to call
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Questions & Answers about Die bibliotekaris soek saam met my en bel my wanneer hy dit kry.
What does saam met mean in this sentence?
The phrase saam met literally means together with. Here soek saam met my means “search together with me” or more naturally, “is searching with me.”
Why isn’t the verb soek changed for the singular subject Die bibliotekaris?
Afrikaans verbs do not conjugate for person or number in the present tense. The form stays the same for ek, jy, hy, ons, etc. So you always say soek (present tense) regardless of who is doing the searching.
Why does kry come at the end of the clause wanneer hy dit kry?
Because wanneer introduces a subordinate clause in Afrikaans. In subordinate clauses the finite verb is pushed to the very end. So instead of hy kry dit, you get wanneer hy dit kry.
What’s the difference between using wanneer, toe, and as for “when”?
• wanneer is used for general, present or future time (“when he finds it”).
• toe is used for a single past event (“when he found it” at a specific moment).
• as is used for conditional clauses (“if he finds it”).
What does dit refer to in wanneer hy dit kry?
dit is a third-person singular neuter pronoun meaning “it.” In this context it refers back to whatever object the librarian and you are searching for.
Why is Die bibliotekaris mentioned only once even though there are two actions (soek and bel)?
In Afrikaans you can link two verbs that share the same subject with en. You state the subject once at the start (Die bibliotekaris), then list the verbs: soek … en bel …
Where does the object pronoun my go in bel my?
Object pronouns in Afrikaans follow the verb directly. So bel my means “call me.” If you switched them (my bel), it would be ungrammatical.
Could you say met my saam instead of saam met my?
Yes. Both saam met my and met my saam are grammatically correct and mean the same thing. Placing saam either before or after met my is a matter of style or emphasis.
Does soek here correspond to the English present simple or present continuous?
Afrikaans does not distinguish between simple and continuous in the present tense. soek can mean both “search” and “is searching.” You pick up the nuance from context.