Mobiele data werk nie.

Cellular internet access is not working.

Breakdown of Mobiele data werk nie.

• werk: to work
• nie: not
• mobiele data: cellular internet access

Questions & Answers about Mobiele data werk nie.

Why is there no word for does in this sentence?

Afrikaans does not use do/does the way English does.

So English Mobile data does not work becomes simply:

• Mobiele data = mobile data
• werk = works / work
• nie = not

Afrikaans just negates the main verb directly. You do not need a separate helper like does.

I thought Afrikaans used double negatives. Why is there only one nie here?

Good question. Afrikaans often uses the nie ... nie pattern, but when the first nie would already come at the end of the clause, you normally only see one nie.

So:

• Mobiele data werk nie. = Mobile data doesn’t work.

There is nothing after nie, so a second nie is not added.

Compare:

• My mobiele data werk nie vandag nie. = My mobile data is not working today.
• Die data werk nie op my foon nie. = The data doesn’t work on my phone.

In those examples, something comes after the first nie, so the final nie appears too.

Why is it mobiele and not mobiel?