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Ek eet nooit vleis nie.

Ek eet nooit vleis nie.
I never eat meat.
FromLesson 12inHardcore Afrikaans

Breakdown of Ek eet nooit vleis nie.

ek
I
eet
to eat
nie
not
die vleis
the meat
nooit
never

Questions & Answers about Ek eet nooit vleis nie.

Why is nie placed at the end of Ek eet nooit vleis nie?
Afrikaans uses a double-negation pattern often called the nie–nie construction. The first negative element (nooit) comes before the object, and the second (nie) must close the clause at the end. You can’t drop that final nie in a simple negative sentence, even though nooit already means “never.”
Where does the adverb nooit go in this sentence?
In a main clause, adverbs of frequency like nooit follow the finite verb and come before the object. That gives you the order Subject–Verb–Adverb–Object–Final nie, as in Ek eet nooit vleis nie.
What’s the difference between Ek eet nie vleis nie and Ek eet nooit vleis nie?

Ek eet nie vleis nie means I don’t eat meat (general negation).
Ek eet nooit vleis nie means I never eat meat, stressing that at no time do you eat it. The addition of nooit shifts the negation from “don’t” to “never.”

Can I say Ek eet geen vleis instead? How does that differ?
Yes. Ek eet geen vleis uses geen (“no”) directly before the noun, so it means I eat no meat / I don’t eat meat. With geen, you must omit the final nie (because geen already carries the negative). This form is slightly more formal or emphatic than the nie–nie pattern.
Why isn’t there an article before vleis?
Mass nouns like vleis (“meat”) are used without an article when you speak about them in general. For specific meat you’d say die vleis, or for “some meat” ’n bietjie vleis, but Ek eet nooit vleis nie refers to meat in general, so no article is needed.
How would I ask Do you never eat meat? in Afrikaans?

Invert verb and subject, keep nooit where it is, and finish with nie:
Eet jy nooit vleis nie?
(Verb–Subject–Adverb–Object–Final nie for yes/no questions.)

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