Learn Hardcore Afrikaans: Ek het vroeër warm tee gedrink.

In Afrikaans, past actions are usually marked by the auxiliary het plus a past participle. Here het functions like English “have,” but it actually forms the simple past. The verb drink takes the participle gedrink by adding the prefix ge- and suffix -d, so Ek het gedrink simply means “I drank.”

Where should you place a time adverb like vroeër in an Afrikaans sentence with an auxiliary?

Time adverbs most commonly appear between the auxiliary and the main verb. In this example, vroeër (“earlier”) goes right after het:
Ek het vroeër … gedrink.
You can also front-load it for emphasis:
Vroeër het ek warm tee gedrink.

What exactly is vroeër, and how does it differ from vroeg?

Vroeër is the comparative form of vroeg (“early”), so it means “earlier.” The extra -er turns it into the comparative, and the diaeresis on ë shows that the final e is pronounced in its own syllable.

Why is there no article before warm tee?

Afrikaans does not require an indefinite article for uncountable or generic nouns like tea. You say Ek drink tee for “I drink tea.” If you mean a specific tea, you’d use the definite article: Ek het die warm tee gedrink (“I drank the hot tea”).

Why isn’t the adjective warm turned into warme?

Attributive adjectives in Afrikaans get an -e ending only when the noun is definite or plural. Since warm tee is indefinite singular, the adjective remains in its base form warm.

How do you form the past participle gedrink?

Most Afrikaans verbs form their past participle by adding ge- to the front and -d (or sometimes -t) to the end of the stem. Thus drink → ge-drink. Irregular verbs may have stem changes, but the affix pattern stays the same.

How is tee pronounced in Afrikaans?

The word tee is pronounced [tiː], with a long “ee” sound, very much like the English word “tea.” The double e indicates that extended vowel.