Ons het ná middagete televisie gekyk, en later het sy vir haar suster van die program vertel.

After lunch we watched television, and later she told her sister about the program.

Breakdown of Ons het ná middagete televisie gekyk, en later het sy vir haar suster van die program vertel.

• sy: she
• ons: we
• die: the
• hê: to have

Questions & Answers about Ons het ná middagete televisie gekyk, en later het sy vir haar suster van die program vertel.

Why does Afrikaans use het ... gekyk instead of a single past-tense verb for watched?

Afrikaans usually uses the perfect tense for ordinary past events: het + past participle.

So Ons het ... gekyk is the normal way to say We watched ... or We were watching ..., depending on context. English often uses a simple past, but Afrikaans often prefers this perfect form.

Why is it gekyk but just vertel, not gevertel?

kyk is a regular verb, so its past participle takes ge-: gekyk.

But vertel begins with the inseparable prefix ver-. Verbs with prefixes like be-, ge-, her-, er-, ont-, and ver- normally do not add ge- in the past participle.

So:

• kyk → gekyk
• vertel → vertel

Why is the second clause later het sy ... vertel and not later sy het ... vertel?