behoort te

Ought to: Behoort Te

Level 4

Behoort in second place, te + infinitive at the end: Jy behoort te rus. (You ought to rest.)

How It Works

1. Two meanings.

  • Advice or duty: Jy behoort meer water te drink. (You ought to drink more water.)
  • What you can expect: Die bus behoort nou te kom. (The bus should be coming now.) Dit behoort môre klaar te wees. (It should be ready tomorrow.)

2. Te without om. Behoort belongs to a small group of verbs that take te but no om, with hoef, skyn and blyk. Many other verbs, such as probeer, use om ... te.

3. Word order. Behoort takes second place. Te and the infinitive go to the end, and objects and other words come in between. With a separable verb, te goes inside it (see te inside separable verbs): Jy behoort vroeër op te staan. (You ought to get up earlier.)

4. Negatives. Nie follows behoort, and the closing nie comes last: Kinders behoort nie so laat op te bly nie. (Children ought not to stay up so late.)

5. Should have. For the past, put the ge- form after te and finish with het: Jy behoort dit al te betaal het. (You should already have paid it.)

Register: Behoort te sounds careful and polite. In everyday speech moet or sou moet is more common. Do not mix it up with behoort aan, which means belong to: Die boek behoort aan my. (The book belongs to me.)

Examples (6)

  1. Jy behoort te rus.

    You ought to rest.

    Word by Word: You ought to rest.

  2. Dit behoort môre klaar te wees.

    It should be ready tomorrow.

    Word by Word: It ought tomorrow ready to be.

    Here behoort says what we can expect, not what someone must do.

  3. Jy behoort meer water te drink.

    You ought to drink more water.

    Word by Word: You ought more water to drink.

  4. Die bus behoort nou te kom.

    The bus should be coming now.

    Word by Word: The bus ought now to come.

  5. Kinders behoort nie so laat op te bly nie.

    Children ought not to stay up so late.

    Word by Word: Children ought not so late up to stay not.

    Opbly is separable, so te goes inside it: op te bly.

  6. Jy behoort dit al te betaal het.

    You should already have paid it.

    Word by Word: You ought it already to paid have.

    For the past, the past form of betaal follows te, and het comes last. Betaal takes no ge-, because be- is unstressed.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out te.

    Jy behoort meer water drink.
    Jy behoort meer water te drink.

    Behoort always needs te before the infinitive.

  • Adding om.

    Jy behoort om meer water te drink.
    Jy behoort meer water te drink.

    Standard Afrikaans uses behoort with te alone. Om ... te is for verbs such as probeer and vergeet.

  • Putting te in front of a whole separable verb.

    Jy behoort vroeër te opstaan.
    Jy behoort vroeër op te staan.

    With a separable verb, te goes between the two parts: op te staan.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

behoort teLevel 4Ought to: Behoort Te

Learn This First

Behoort te + infinitive uses te without om, like hoef nie te.

Words in This Pattern

behoortte