Language/Afrikaans/Grammar/The-Rule-of-“Two-Knees”

Although things may seem to be getting a bit more complicated, there’s no need to panic about the negative form in Afrikaans! You simply need to remember to find the first part of the verb (whether it’s a base or an auxiliary verb) in the sentence, put a nie after it, and then put another nie at the very end of the sentence.

As we saw in the previous example, to negate very simply, we could say: Hy sing nie. (Lit. “He sings not.”) However, if we need to be more specific and have to introduce a direct or indirect object, the negation always doubles.

• Hy sing (base verb) nie in Afrikaans (direct object) nie. “He doesn’t sing in Afrikaans.”
• Hy sing (base verb) nie vir haar (indirect object) nie. “He doesn’t sing for her.”

When we use auxiliary verbs that indicate the past or future tenses, the negation also usually doubles:

• Hy sal (auxiliary verb, future tense) nie sing nie. “He will not sing.”
• Hy wou (auxiliary verb, past tense) nie sing nie. “He didn’t want to sing.”

What About the Be-Verbs?

In the present and past tenses, the be-verb is usually the main verb; in the future tense, the be-verb is an auxiliary verb. However, they all take the double negation.

Take a look at these negatives in Afrikaans:

Be-Verb Negation

PRESENT Tense Affirmative:	PRESENT Tense Negation:
is (“is,” “to be”)	is nie (“is not”)
Die kat is oulik.	Die kakkerlak is nie o
“The cat is cute.”	ulik nie.
	“The cockroach is not cute.”
PAST Tense Affirmative:	PAST Tense Negation:
was (“was”)	was nie (“was not”)
Die deur was toe.	Die deur was nie toe nie.
“The door was closed.”	“The door was not closed.”
FUTURE Tense Affirmative:	FUTURE Tense Negation:
sal wees / gaan wees (“will be,” “shall be”)	sal nie wees nie (“will not be”)
Die weer sal warm wees.	Die weer sal nie koud wees nie.
“The weather will be warm.”	“The weather will not be cold.”

Source

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

Other Lessons

• Questions
• Conditional Mood
• Common Compound Verbs + Conjugations
• Negation
• Nouns
• Definite article
• The Rule of “One Knee”
• Gender
• Common Errors