sit
/sət/
The Afrikaans verb sit means to sit, referring to a person being in a position where the upper body is upright and the legs are supported.
Meaning: of a person, be in a position in which the upper body is upright and the legs are supported (verb)
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle of sit is gesit. To express the perfect tense (to say that someone 'sat' or 'has sat'), use the auxiliary verb het followed by gesit.
How do you pronounce it?
/sət/
Did you know?
- In Afrikaans, you can use sit to describe an object that is merely resting on a surface. For instance, you might say a book sit on a table, even though the book cannot physically sit.
- The Afrikaans word sit is a linguistic survivor of a merger between two distinct Dutch verbs: zitten for sitting and zetten for setting.
- You might find the word set in Afrikaans as a relative of sit, but it is mostly found hiding inside compound words rather than standing alone.
Examples in context
- Tom wonder waar hy veronderstel is om te sit.Tom wondered where he was supposed to sit.This sentence shows how to use sit to express being supposed to sit somewhere.Tatoeba #2783426 by Diablofire, translation #2640585 by CK
- Sit asseblief.Please sit down.This sentence demonstrates how to use sit when asking someone to sit down politely.
- Kom sit hier langs my.Come sit here next to me.
- Ek sit op die bank.I am sitting on the couch.
Example conversation
Johan and Liezel are in the living room.
- JohanWaar sit jy, Liezel?Where are you sitting, Liezel?
- LiezelEk sit in die stoel.I am sitting in the chair.
- JohanKan ek langs jou sit?Can I sit next to you?
- LiezelJa, kom sit hier.Yes, come sit here.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “sit” translations and entries sit, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries sit, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
