Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding.

Hulle means they.

In this sentence, it is the subject pronoun: the people who have the relationship.

A few useful subject pronouns in Afrikaans are:

• ek = I
• jy = you
• hy = he
• sy = she
• ons = we
• julle = you all / you plural
• hulle = they

So Hulle het ... = They have ...

Het is the Afrikaans form of have in the present tense, and it does not change depending on the subject.

So:

• Ek het = I have
• Jy het = you have
• Hy het = he has
• Hulle het = they have

Unlike English, Afrikaans verbs usually do not change much for different persons. That makes Afrikaans verb conjugation simpler.

In this sentence:

• Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding = They have a good relationship

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So:

• 'n verhouding = a relationship
• 'n goeie verhouding = a good relationship

It is always written with a small letter, even at the beginning of a sentence in normal spelling. If it starts a sentence, the next word is capitalized, not 'n itself.

Example:

• 'n Goeie verhouding is belangrik. = A good relationship is important.

In pronunciation, 'n is usually very weak, like a schwa sound, similar to the unstressed a in English about.

This is a very common question.

Goed means good, but when it comes before a noun, it often changes to goeie.

So:

• goed = good
• 'n goeie verhouding = a good relationship

This is because Afrikaans adjectives often take an -e ending when used attributively, meaning directly before a noun.

Compare:

• Die verhouding is goed. = The relationship is good.
  
  • Here the adjective is after the verb, so it stays goed.
• 'n goeie verhouding = a good relationship
  
  • Here the adjective is before the noun, so it becomes goeie.

Verhouding means relationship.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• a personal relationship between people
• a romantic relationship
• a social connection
• sometimes even a ratio or relation in more formal contexts

In Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding, the most natural meaning is that they have a good relationship with each other.

Yes, in this simple main clause, the word order is very similar to English:

• Hulle = They
• het = have
• 'n goeie verhouding = a good relationship

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + object

That is one reason this sentence feels quite straightforward for English speakers.

A rough guide is:

HUL-uh het uh(n) GHUY-uh fur-HOW-ding

A few notes:

• Hulle: the u sounds are not exactly like English. Depending on accent, it may sound roughly like HUL-luh or HILL-uh to English ears.
• het: sounds roughly like het, with a short e.
• 'n: very weak sound, like uh.
• goeie: roughly GHOOY-uh or GHUY-uh.
• verhouding: roughly fur-HOW-ding, with stress around HOW.

Pronunciation varies by accent, so this is only an approximation.

Yes. The plural of verhouding is verhoudings.

Examples:

• Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding. = They have a good relationship.
• Hulle het goeie verhoudings met hul bure. = They have good relationships with their neighbors.

Notice that in the plural example, there is no 'n, because 'n means a/an, which is singular.

Afrikaans usually uses double negation.

So:

• Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding. = They have a good relationship.
• Hulle het nie 'n goeie verhouding nie. = They do not have a good relationship.

This is one of the most important grammar patterns in Afrikaans:

nie ... nie

The first nie usually comes after the verb phrase, and the second nie goes near the end of the sentence.

Yes, it could, but it does not have to.

'n goeie verhouding can mean:

• a good friendship
• a good family relationship
• a good working relationship
• a good romantic relationship

The exact meaning depends on context. If no context is given, many speakers may understand it simply as they get along well or they have a good relationship.

No, that would sound incorrect in standard Afrikaans.

Before the noun verhouding, you need the adjective form goeie, not goed:

• correct: 'n goeie verhouding
• incorrect: 'n goed verhouding

A useful pattern to remember is:

• Die boek is goed. = The book is good.
• 'n goeie boek = a good book

So after is, use goed; before a noun, often use goeie.

In this sentence, het means have in the present tense.

But het is also used as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect tense in Afrikaans.

Compare:

• Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding. = They have a good relationship.
  
  • Here het is the main verb.
• Hulle het 'n goeie verhouding gehad. = They had / have had a good relationship.
  
  • Here het helps form the perfect tense, and gehad is the past participle of hê.

So het can do two jobs, depending on the sentence.

The dictionary form is hê, meaning to have.

So:

• dictionary form: hê
• present form in normal sentences: het

Examples:

• Ek wil 'n huis hê. = I want to have a house.
• Ek het 'n huis. = I have a house.

This is worth memorizing, because hê and het are very common in Afrikaans.