Beginning Afrikaans Trivia Quiz

Answer: All of these are correct

Any one of these answers would be an acceptable form of greeting in Afrikaans, although "hallo" is probably the most commonly used, as the others are considered a little too formal.

Just as a side note, the "g" in Afrikaans is pronounced like the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch." This can take some getting used to, but it does help if you think to "choke" the word out.

Answer: "Hoe gaan dit met jou?"

"Hoe gaan dit met jou?" would be the correct way of inquiring after someone's wellbeing in Afrikaans. They might understand you if you were to say any of the others (even though the word order is messed up), but it would still be grammatically incorrect.

Answer: "Ek kan nie Afrikaans praat nie."

A useful sentence to keep in mind should you ever visit South Africa (you'll probably need it!) However, most Afrikaans people are also pretty fluent in English, so you shouldn't have too much trouble making yourself understood.

Just some vocabulary from these answers:

"Praat" means talk.
"Taal" means language.
"Hoor" means hear.
"Loop" means walk.

Answer: Your name

"Wat is jou naam?" would be a way of asking someone what their name was in Afrikaans. This is one of those lucky sentences where you can translate each word from English into Afrikaans, keep the same word order, and still get a grammatically correct sentence.

The answer is fairly simple too. You would simply say "My naam is Johnny," or whatever your name really is.

Answer: No

This is a common error made by many people beginning Afrikaans; they try and directly translate the English into Afrikaans. This works in some cases, but more often than not, it'll turn out to be wrong.

The correct way of asking what the time is in Afrikaans would be "Hoe laat is dit?"

Answer: "Be careful!"

"Pasop" basically means "Be careful!" or "Beware!" or "Watch out!" It is often used on road signs and sometimes as signs that people tack up on their walls outside of their homes.

Answer: "Herhaal dit stadiger vir my asseblief"

There are a couple of ways listed above in which you could ask someone to repeat what they said, but "Herhaal dit stadiger vir my asseblief" is the only polite way. The others, while grammatically correct, are considered fairly rude, particularly if the person in question is doing you a favour by repeating themselves.

Answer: "Go over the bridge, and round the corner."

Learning how to give and understand directions is important in any language. While the odds that you'll EVER need to know this particular sentence are pretty slim, it is useful to keep the following in mind:

Om die hoek = Round the corner
Oor die brug = Over the bridge
Aan die linkerkant = On the lefthand side
Aan die regterkant = On the righthand side

Answer: "Baie dankie."

There's quite a funny joke surrounding the expression "baie dankie," in which an American man buys an Afrikaans girl a drink. Being polite, she says "baie dankie," to which he replies "No thanks, I already got a horse!"

"Baie dankie" basically means "Many thanks" and is the most common way of expressing thanks.

While both "veels" and "baie" mean "many" or "very," hence you might be thinking that "veels dankie" could be the same thing, it is not grammatically correct to say "veels dankie."

Answer: All of these are correct

All of the expressions above are correct ways of saying goodbye in Afrikaans, even though they don't mean exactly the same thing.

"Tot siens" means "goodbye."
"Tot volgende keer" means "until next time."
"Mooi loop" basically means go well.

Thanks for playing. I'd appreciate any kind of feedback, and please don't forget to rate it!

Tot siens!