wakker word
The English phrase 'wake up' is translated into Afrikaans as wakker word.
wakker word is used to describe the process of transitioning from sleep to being awake.
Meaning: to (become) awake (verb)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the adjective wakker (awake) and the verb word (to become).
Which one should you use?
wakker word describes the process of transitioning from sleep to being awake, whereas wakker maak (to make awake) is used when someone else wakes you up.
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle of wakker word is wakker geword.
Did you know?
- The verb word descends from the Proto-Germanic word *werþaną, making it a distant relative of the English word 'worth'.
- In some South African dialects, a person might be described as wakker if they are behaving in a particularly clever or even cheeky manner.
- In many Afrikaans households, instead of saying wakker word, one might use the colloquialism wakker skrik to describe being woken up suddenly by a loud noise.
Examples in context
- Hey, jy het 'n vroeë oggendvlug. Word wakker, ons wil nie laat wees nie!Hey, you have an early morning flight. Wake up, we don't want to be late!
- Ek sal stadig wakker word.I will wake up slowly.
- Hy wil nie wakker word nie.He does not want to wake up.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “wake up” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries word, CC BY-SA 4.0.
