sal ... het

Will Have Done: Sal ... Het

Level 3

Sal + ge- form + het means will have done: Teen Vrydag sal ek die boek gelees het. (By Friday I will have read the book.)

How It Works

1. The pattern. Sal stands in second place. The ge- form and then het go to the end.

2. Finished by a later time. Use it to say something will be done before a moment in the future. The word teen (by) often marks that moment:

  • Teen Vrydag sal ek die boek gelees het. (By Friday I will have read the book.)
  • Teen die tyd dat jy kom, sal ons al geëet het. (By the time you come, we will have eaten.)

3. A guess about the past. With al (already) or seker (probably), it guesses that something has already happened: Hy sal al by die huis aangekom het. (He will have arrived home by now.) Compare sal for a guess about the present.

4. Separable verbs. The ge- form of a separable verb has ge- in the middle: aangekom, opgestaan.

Tip: in everyday speech, the simple past with het is often enough when the time word makes things clear. The sal ... het form stresses that the action will be complete.

Examples (5)

  1. Teen Vrydag sal ek die boek gelees het.

    By Friday I will have read the book.

    Word by Word: By Friday will I the book read have.

  2. Hy sal al by die huis aangekom het.

    He will have arrived home by now.

    Word by Word: He will already at the house arrived have.

    With al this is a confident guess about something that has probably happened.

  3. Teen die tyd dat jy kom, sal ons al geëet het.

    By the time you come, we will have eaten.

    Word by Word: By the time that you come, will we already eaten have.

  4. Hulle sal seker al vertrek het.

    They will probably have left already.

    Word by Word: They will surely already left have.

  5. Oor 'n jaar sal sy haar graad voltooi het.

    In a year she will have finished her degree.

    Word by Word: In a year will she her degree completed have.

    Voltooi has no ge-, because vol- is unstressed here.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the infinitive instead of the ge- form.

    Teen Vrydag sal ek die boek lees het.
    Teen Vrydag sal ek die boek gelees het.

    The verb before het must be the ge- form: gelees, not lees.

  • Putting het before the ge- form.

    Hy sal al by die huis het aangekom.
    Hy sal al by die huis aangekom het.

    In Afrikaans het comes after the ge- form at the end of the clause.

  • Putting het in second place.

    Teen Vrydag het ek die boek sal lees.
    Teen Vrydag sal ek die boek gelees het.

    Sal takes the verb slot in second place. The ge- form and het go to the end.

How It Connects

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

sal ... hetLevel 3Will Have Done: Sal ... Het

Learn This First

Sal ... het talks about what will have happened.

Words in This Pattern

sal