Participles Without ge-

Level 2

besoek → Ek het my ouma besoek. (I visited my grandmother.) No extra ge-: the verb stays as it is.

How It Works

The prefixes. Het still comes second and the verb still goes to the end. Only the ge- is missing:

  • be-: besoek, betaal, begin, bestel. Ek het die rekening betaal. (I paid the bill.)
  • ge-: gebruik, gebeur, geniet, gesels. Wat het gebeur? (What happened?)
  • er-: erken, ervaar. Hy het sy fout erken. (He admitted his mistake.)
  • her-: herhaal, herken. Ek het hom nie herken nie. (I didn't recognise him.)
  • ont-: ontmoet, ontvang, ontdek. Ons het jou brief ontvang. (We received your letter.)
  • ver-: vertel, verstaan, verkoop, verloor. Ek het my sleutels verloor. (I lost my keys.)

A few verbs with an unstressed mis- behave the same way: Die plan het misluk. (The plan failed.)

Why? Say the verb out loud. In besoek and vertel the stress falls after the prefix. Afrikaans does not put a second weak syllable in front of a weak prefix, so ge- is left out.

Look-alikes that do take ge-. Some ordinary verbs just happen to begin with the same letters. They are not prefixes, so the verb takes ge- as usual:

  • gee (give) → gegee; gaan → gegaan
  • verf (paint) → geverf; bel → gebel

Verbs ending in -eer, such as studeer and probeer, also take ge-: gestudeer, geprobeer.

Related patterns. The regular past is explained in het + ge-. Separable verbs work differently again: see ge- inside separable verbs. The meanings of these prefixes are covered in be-, ver- and ont-/her-.

Examples (6)

  1. Ek het my ouma besoek.

    I visited my grandmother.

    Word by Word: I have my grandma visited.

  2. Hy het die storie vertel.

    He told the story.

    Word by Word: He has the story told.

  3. Ons het hom by die partytjie ontmoet.

    We met him at the party.

    Word by Word: We have him at the party met.

  4. Ek het jou kar gebruik.

    I used your car.

    Word by Word: I have your car used.

    Gebruik already begins with the prefix ge-, so no second ge- is added.

  5. Wat het gebeur?

    What happened?

    Word by Word: What has happened?

  6. Sy het die vraag herhaal.

    She repeated the question.

    Word by Word: She has the question repeated.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding ge- to a verb that starts with be-.

    Ek het my ouma gebesoek.
    Ek het my ouma besoek.

    Be- is an unstressed prefix, so the verb takes no ge-.

  • Adding ge- to a verb that starts with ver-.

    Hy het sy sleutels geverloor.
    Hy het sy sleutels verloor.

    Ver- is an unstressed prefix. The past form is the same as the plain verb.

  • Leaving out ge- because a verb only looks like it has a prefix.

    Hulle het die huis verf.
    Hulle het die huis geverf.

    Verf (paint) is a single word, not ver- + f. It takes ge- like any ordinary verb.

How It Connects

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

Participles Without ge-Level 2

Learn This First

Some verbs form the past without ge-, which only makes sense once the regular ge- form is known.

Words in This Pattern

ge-be-her-ont-ont-ver-