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Questions & Answers about Hulle wag voor die deur.
What does Hulle mean in this sentence?
Hulle is the third-person plural pronoun “they” in Afrikaans. Use it whenever referring to more than one person or thing, regardless of gender.
Why doesn’t wag take an “-s” ending for hulle?
Afrikaans verbs stay the same for all persons and numbers in the present tense. So you say ek wag (I wait), jy wag (you wait), hulle wag (they wait) without adding or changing endings.
What tense is wag here, and how does it compare to English?
Wag is in the simple present tense. Unlike English, which often uses the present progressive (“they are waiting”), Afrikaans normally uses the simple present for ongoing actions: Hulle wag can mean “they wait” or “they are waiting.”
How do you pronounce wag, voor, and deur?
- wag: sounds like “vakh” – the w is like English v, the g a guttural sound (similar to the ch in German Bach).
- voor: pronounced “fohr” – long o, rolled r.
- deur: pronounced “dyr” with the vowel like the French eu in peur. Approximate IPA: [dyr].
What does voor die deur literally and idiomatically mean?
Literally, voor = “before” or “in front of,” die = “the,” deur = “door.” Idiomatically, voor die deur means “in front of the door.”
Why is die used before deur, and how would you say “in front of a door”?
Afrikaans uses die as the definite article “the.” To say “a door,” use the indefinite article ’n. So “in front of a door” is voor ’n deur.
Could you say Hulle wag by die deur instead? What’s the difference between voor and by?
Yes, Hulle wag by die deur (“they wait by the door”) is also correct.
- voor emphasizes position directly in front of the door.
- by means at or beside the door more generally.
Can you change the word order, for example putting voor die deur first?
Yes. Voor die deur wag hulle is grammatically fine and puts emphasis on the location. Standard neutral order remains Subject – Verb – Adverbial: Hulle wag voor die deur.
Is there a way to express the progressive “are waiting” more explicitly?
For emphasis you can say Hulle is besig om voor die deur te wag, literally “they are busy to wait in front of the door,” which clearly conveys “they are waiting.”