One of the most common questions I get asked as the founder of Talk In Afrikaans is:

“Is Afrikaans just a dialect of Dutch?”

Or, people often ask me if a Dutch speaker can understand an Afrikaans speaker perfectly.

The short answer is: No, they are not the same language. But they are very close relatives.

Think of Dutch as the mother and Afrikaans as the daughter who moved away from home, traveled the world, and started dressing a little differently.

Afrikaans evolved from 17th-century Dutch (specifically the Hollandic dialect) brought to the Cape of Good Hope. Over time, it simplified the grammar and borrowed words from Malay, Portuguese, French, Bantu languages, and Khoisan languages.

While they share a lot of DNA, there are significant differences that can trip you up if you aren’t careful.

Here’s a simple breakdown of the main differences between Afrikaans and Dutch.

Mutual intelligibility

Can a Dutch person understand Afrikaans?

Generally, yes. A Dutch speaker will usually understand about 80% to 90% of written Afrikaans. It might look like “baby Dutch” or old-fashioned Dutch to them because the grammar is so stripped down.

However, spoken Afrikaans is harder for them due to the accent and slang.

Can an Afrikaans speaker understand Dutch?

This is often a bit harder. Because Dutch grammar is more complex (they still conjugate verbs and use gendered nouns), an Afrikaans speaker might get lost in a fast Dutch conversation.

But if both people speak slowly, they can usually have a conversation without switching to English.

As you can see, they look very similar!

Grammar: Afrikaans is much simpler

If you are choosing between learning Dutch or Afrikaans, here is some good news: Afrikaans grammar is much easier.

In fact, Afrikaans is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn because it stripped away almost all the complicated parts of Dutch grammar.

1. No verb conjugation

In Dutch, the verb changes depending on who is doing the action (I am, you are, he is). In Afrikaans, the verb stays exactly the same.

2. No grammatical gender

Dutch has two definite articles: de (common) and het (neuter). You have to memorize which word goes with which article.

Afrikaans only has one word: die.

• Dutch: De man (the man), Het boek (the book).
• Afrikaans: Die man, Die boek.

This makes learning vocabulary in Afrikaans much faster!

The double negative

One of the most famous features of Afrikaans is the “Double Negative.” This is something that standard Dutch does not have.

In Afrikaans, when you make a sentence negative, you usually use the word nie (not) twice. The first nie goes after the verb, and the second nie goes at the very end of the sentence.

In Dutch, you would just say: Ik begrijp het niet. (Only one “niet”).

For beginners, this can feel strange, but it becomes second nature very quickly. It acts like “bookends” for the sentence.

Spelling and pronunciation changes

Over the last few hundred years, Afrikaans changed how words are spelled to match how they are pronounced. Dutch tends to keep older spellings.

Here are common spelling shifts:

• Dutch ‘z’ becomes Afrikaans ‘s’:
  • Dutch: Zuid-Afrika (South Africa)
  • Afrikaans: Suid-Afrika
• Dutch ‘ij’ becomes Afrikaans ‘y’:
  • Dutch: Mijn (My)
  • Afrikaans: My
  • Dutch: Wij (We)
  • Afrikaans: Ons (Note: Afrikaans uses the object pronoun “us” for “we”)
• Dropping letters:
  • Dutch: Vogel (Bird)
  • Afrikaans: Voël (The ‘g’ falls away)
  • Dutch: Regen (Rain)
  • Afrikaans: Reën

Pronunciation

The pronunciation is also distinct.

The Afrikaans “g” is usually a very guttural sound, made deep in the throat. While Northern Dutch also has a hard “g”, Afrikaans is often more emphatic. However, in parts of Belgium (Flemish Dutch), the “g” is soft.

Afrikaans vowels can also sound “flatter” or shorter compared to the more rounded vowels in Dutch.

Vocabulary and false friends

While most words are the same, Afrikaans borrowed words from other languages that existed in South Africa.

For example, the very common Afrikaans word for “very” is baie. This comes from the Malay language. In Dutch, they say heel or erg.

Common vocabulary differences

False Friends (Pasop!)

There are also “False Friends” - words that look the same but mean different things. You have to be careful with these!

1. Kaal

• Afrikaans: Naked.
• Dutch: Bald.
• Tip: If you tell a Dutch person he is “kaal”, he might not mind. If you tell an Afrikaans person he is “kaal”, you are saying he has no clothes on!

2. Aardig

• Afrikaans: Weird, strange, or unpleasant.
• Dutch: Nice or kind.
• Tip: If a Dutch person says you are “aardig”, say thank you. If an Afrikaans person says it, ask what you did wrong!

---

So, are they the same? Definitely not.

But if you speak one, you have a massive head start on learning the other.

I always tell my students that Afrikaans is like a streamlined, modern version of Dutch that was built for efficiency. It dropped the complex grammar rules but kept the expressiveness.

If you are ready to start learning, don’t let the similarities confuse you. Embrace the unique rhythm and logic of Afrikaans.