Afirkaans > English help needed

[weeble]

Hello everybody

My friend in South Africa wrote this in her email to me the other day, but I have no idea what it means!! Can anyone shed some light on it please? I've tried online translators but to no avail...

"hey, ek het nie heelnag nie ek is vaak"

Any help is greatly appreciated

weebs

[Dminor]

This looks like two sentences to me.

Namely:

"hey, ek het nie heelnag nie" = "hey, I don't have all night"

"ek is vaak" = "I am tired"

[weeble]

Hey Dminor! Yeah that makes total sense. It has to be that. 2 sentances. lol. Many many thanks its been driving me nuts. lol

[andre]

Dminor is right, except that "vaak" has a more limited meaning than "tired", it means "sleepy".

"Tired" translates as "moeg".

For example: Ek is vaak, ek wil slaap. (I am sleepy/drowsy, I want to sleep.)
Ek is moeg, ek het ver gehardloop. (I am tired, I ran a long way).

In the last case, you don't want to sleep, and is therefore not "vaak".

You friend was telling you that she wanted to go and sleep, so you'd better hurry up.

That could be two sentences or one sentence (which is how she wrote it, but she left out the comma:

Hey, ek het nie heelnag nie, ek is vaak.

[HerrFraeulein]

Klaas Vaak. Puik dat het Afrikaans die betekenis bewaard heeft.

[andre]

Klaas Vaak. Puik dat het Afrikaans die betekenis bewaard heeft.

Yep! Afrikaans children grow up with the story of Klaas Vakie who comes at night and sprinkle sleep sand in their eyes so that they become "vaak" and go to sleep.

[Leviwosc]

Dit is 'n baie mooi storie, ek het dit nooit geweet nie! Maar ek dink dat ek dit ook nie maklik sal vergeet nie. Baie dankie

Ron.

[andre]

Afrikaans lullaby...

Slaap nou kindjie draai jou toe in drome,
roep die maan hy bring sy sterre saam
Luister hoe die wind jou aan die slaap sus,
hoor hoe klop Klaas Vakie aan jou deur
Luister na die woorde wat jou Mamma vir jou sing:
Tula kindjie slaap nou
Doedoe saggies liefkind
Droomland wag...

[HerrFraeulein]

[Katleen]

Klaas Vaak. Puik dat het Afrikaans die betekenis bewaard heeft.

Yep! Afrikaans children grow up with the story of Klaas Vakie who comes at night and sprinkle sleep sand in their eyes so that they become "vaak" and go to sleep.

I just wanted to add that in Flemish Dutch we still have the word 'vaak' as well, but for us it's a substantive, while in Afrikaans it appears to be an adjective. So we say 'ik heb vaak' (I have instead of I am 'vaak') or for instance 'ik val (bijna) om van de vaak' (I am (nearly) falling over with sleepiness = I'm very sleepy).

[andre]

Klaas Vaak. Puik dat het Afrikaans die betekenis bewaard heeft.

Yep! Afrikaans children grow up with the story of Klaas Vakie who comes at night and sprinkle sleep sand in their eyes so that they become "vaak" and go to sleep.

I just wanted to add that in Flemish Dutch we still have the word 'vaak' as well, but for us it's a substantive, while in Afrikaans it appears to be an adjective. So we say 'ik heb vaak' (I have instead of I am 'vaak') or for instance 'ik val (bijna) om van de vaak' (I am (nearly) falling over with sleepiness = I'm very sleepy).

In Afrikaans we can also say "Ek val om van die vaak" or something like:"Ek is dood van die vaak"'I'm dead with sleepiness.

The word vaak also has the additional meaning of stupid, dumb, boring (person). For example, hy's a vaak mens (litt. he's a sleepy person) means he's a stupid/boring person. There's the expression "vaak vis" (litt. sleepy fish) to describe a boring person.

[Katleen]

In Afrikaans we can also say "Ek val om van die vaak" or something like:"Ek is dood van die vaak"'I'm dead with sleepiness.

The word vaak also has the additional meaning of stupid, dumb, boring (person). For example, hy's a vaak mens (litt. he's a sleepy person) means he's a stupid/boring person. There's the expression "vaak vis" (litt. sleepy fish) to describe a boring person.

Interesting, thanks!

[andre]

BTW, Katleen, for a more active Dutch/Afrikaans (sub)forum than this one, you might want to visit http://langcafe2.myfreeforum.org/index.php