sommer

Sommer (Just, For No Reason)

Level 3

Sommer means just, for no special reason or straight away: Ek het sommer gebel. (I just called.)

How It Works

1. For no special reason. The most common meaning is just, for no particular reason. It makes an action sound casual:

Ek het sommer gebel. (I just called. / I called for no special reason.)
Hoekom vra jy? – Sommer. (Why do you ask? – No reason. / Just because.)

2. Straight away, without fuss. Sommer can show that something happens at once or without planning: Hy het sommer begin lag. (He just burst out laughing.) Ons eet sommer hier. (We'll just eat here.)

3. Easily, simply. It can show that something was done without any trouble: Sy het die kar sommer self reggemaak. (She simply fixed the car herself.)

4. Really, quite. Before an amount or an adjective, sommer can add emphasis: Daar was sommer baie mense. (There were really a lot of people.)

5. Where it goes. Like mos and maar, sommer sits in the middle of the sentence, after the conjugated verb and after a short pronoun object: Ek het hom sommer gebel. It often teams up with net: Ek vra sommer net. (I'm just asking.) See stacking particles.

6. Not the same as net or pas. English just can also mean only or a moment ago. Afrikaans uses net for only (Ek het net twee rand.) and pas or nou net for a moment ago (Ek het pas geëet.). Sommer only covers the for no reason, casually meaning.

Spelling tip: sommer has a double m. Somer, with one m, means summer.

Examples (6)

Ek het sommer gebel.
I just called (for no special reason).
Word by Word: I have just called.
Hy het sommer begin lag.
He just started laughing.
Word by Word: He has just begun laugh.
Here sommer means suddenly, without any warning or reason.
Hoekom vra jy? – Sommer.
Why do you ask? – No reason.
Word by Word: Why ask you? – Just.
On its own, sommer is a casual answer meaning just because.
Ons eet sommer hier.
We'll just eat here.
Word by Word: We eat just here.
Sy het die kar sommer self reggemaak.
She simply fixed the car herself.
Word by Word: She has the car just self fixed.
Daar was sommer baie mense by die partytjie.
There were really a lot of people at the party.
Word by Word: There were just many people at the party.

Common Mistakes

Using sommer for just in the sense of only.
Ek het sommer twee rand.
Ek het net twee rand.
Sommer means for no special reason, not only. To say I only have two rand, use net.
Using sommer for just in the sense of a moment ago (intended meaning: I have just eaten).
Nee dankie, ek het sommer geëet.
Nee dankie, ek het pas geëet.
With sommer the sentence means I ate for no special reason. For something that happened a moment ago, use pas or nou net.
Spelling sommer with one m.
Ek het somer gebel.
Ek het sommer gebel.
Somer with one m means summer. The particle always has a double m.

How It Connects

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

sommerLevel 3Sommer (Just, For No Reason)

Learn This First

Sommer is a particle placed like mos.

mosMos (As You Know)
Sommer sits in the middle field, like mos.
Level 3

Words in This Pattern