Language/Afrikaans/Grammar/The-Rule-of-“One-Knee”

It may be a bit convoluted, but the mnemonic “one knee” should serve to remind you of the simplicity of singularity. The one nie is used only in straightforward, relatively simple sentences.

1. The single nie is used mostly in simple statement sentences, including those with reflexive or transitive verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and pronouns.
2. It’s used mostly in present tense sentences. With other tenses, the single nie works only when certain hulpwerkwoorde van tyd (literally: “auxiliary verbs of time”) occur.

Let’s take a closer look at what this means.

Don't hesitate to look into these other pages after completing this lesson: Negation, Nouns & Modal verbs (can, must, want and will).

In Simple Statement Sentences

To state the negative in Afrikaans using simple statement sentences, we put only ONE nie (knee!) after the verb, at the end of the sentence. That’s it! It looks like this:

Short statement sentences: 

• Hulle sien nie. – “They don’t see.”
• Die rekenaar werk nie. – “The computer doesn’t work.”

Statement sentences with a transitive verb and a pronoun:

Sometimes you need to be more specific and would then use a pronoun. In such a case, the One Knee rule applies mostly to statement sentences with transitive verbs in which the object is indicated with a pronoun. Read here all about Afrikaans pronouns!

• Hulle waardeer haar nie. – “They don’t appreciate her.” Literally: “They appreciate her not.”

• Sy eet dit nie. – “She doesn’t eat it.” Literally: “She eats it not.”

Statement sentences with an adjective and/or adverb:

Sometimes you need to be more descriptive in order to illuminate the subject or the action. Adding adjectives and/or adverbs won’t affect the One Knee rule.

• Die nuwe rekenaar werk ongelukkig nie. – “The new computer, unfortunately, doesn’t work.” Literally: “The new computer works unfortunately not.”

Mostly in the Present Tense

As you may have noticed, these sentences are all in the simple present tense. In fact, this practice is not too dissimilar to negating the present tense verb in English by adding not. 

• Hy sing. – “He is singing.” OR “He sings.”
• Hy sing nie. – “He is not singing.” OR “He doesn’t sing.” Literally: “He sings not.”

Note: We don’t have a continuous tense in Afrikaans! Read all about Afrikaans tenses here.

In the Afrikaans past and future tenses, the One Knee rule applies only to very short, simple statement sentences with the following auxiliary verbs that indicate tense in Afrikaans. As mentioned, we call them hulpwerkwoorde van tyd.

Past Tense:

• Hy was nie. – “He wasn’t.”
• Hy wou nie. – “He didn’t want to.”
• Hy het nie. – “He didn’t.”

Future Tense: 

• Hy sal nie OR Hy gaan nie. – “He won’t.”

Source

https://www.afrikaanspod101.com/blog/category/learn-afrikaans/afrikaans-grammar/

Other Lessons

• Common Compound Verbs + Conjugations
• Pronouns
• Formal vs Informal Imperatives
• Future Tense
• Questions
• Gender
• Conditional Mood
• Modal verbs (can, must, want and will)
• Common Errors