wat
/vat/
The Afrikaans word for 'what' is wat.
wat is used as an interrogative pronoun to ask questions, such as 'what' in 'what is that?' It also functions as a relative pronoun, similar to the English phrase 'the thing that'.
Meaning: what? (interrogative pronoun) (pron)
How does it change in a sentence?
In Afrikaans, wat serves two grammatical roles: it is an interrogative pronoun used to pose questions and a relative pronoun used to connect clauses.
How do you pronounce it?
/vat/
When do people say it?
When you hear the phrase Wat sê jy?, it is being used to ask someone to repeat what they said or to clarify their statement.
Did you know?
- In certain informal registers, wat can be used as a tag question at the end of a sentence, acting similarly to the English 'right?' or 'isn't it?'
- The word wat is a direct descendant of the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷód, making it a very distant cousin to the English 'what' and the Latin 'quod'.
- Afrikaans uses wat as a relative pronoun for both people and things, whereas English distinguishes between 'who' and 'that' or 'which'.
Examples in context
- Dis wat jy kry!That is what you get!This example shows how to use wat to describe a result.Tatoeba #3452771 by siener, translation #3487230 by rncwnd
- Wat doen jy, pappa?What are you doing, Dad?This example shows how to use wat to ask what someone is doing.Tatoeba #5494409 by CJuser01, translation #64110 by CK
- Wat maak jy vandag?What are you doing today?This example shows how to use wat to ask about someone's activities.Tatoeba #9153041 by Monde, translation #1007952 by AOCinJAPAN
- Wat is jou naam?What is your name?
- Wat sê jy?What are you saying?
- Wat sê jy? Ek het jou nie hoor nie.What are you saying? I didn't hear you.
- Hoe sê jy "thank you" in Afrikaans?How do you say "thank you" in Afrikaans?
- 111 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Andries and Marelize are talking in a living room.
- AndriesWat soek jy, Marelize?What are you looking for, Marelize?
- MarelizeEk soek my sleutels.I am looking for my keys.
- AndriesWat is in daardie tas?What is in that bag?
- MarelizeNet my boeke.Just my books.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “what” translations and entries wat, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries wat, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
