Goeiemôre, hoe gaan dit?
In Afrikaans, "good morning how are you" is said as Goeiemôre, hoe gaan dit?
Goeiemôre, hoe gaan dit? is a polite greeting used in the morning to ask someone about their well-being.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of goeie, which means "good" and môre, which means "morning".
When do people say it?
When someone asks you hoe gaan dit?, a common and natural response is Goed, dankie. (Good, thank you.). If you wish to greet someone at a different time of day, you might use Goeie dag for "Good day" or simply Hallo for "Hello".
Did you know?
- While hoe gaan dit? literally translates to 'how goes it?', an Afrikaans speaker might respond with lekker, which means 'delicious' or 'tasty', to indicate that life is going very well.
- Afrikaans is one of the few languages where the phrase for 'good morning' uses a word môre that can mean both 'morning' and 'tomorrow' depending on the context.
- The word gaan in hoe gaan dit? shares a deep ancestral root with the English word 'gang', as both derive from the Proto-Germanic root for walking or moving.
Examples in context
- Goeie môre, hoe gaan dit met u?Good morning, how are you?
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries dit, gaan, goeiemôre, hoe, CC BY-SA 4.0.
