Locale Af 001

Reference data for the Afrikaans locale — endonym Afrikaans, written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: af-001
• ISO 639-1: af
• ISO 639-3: afr
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: 001 (World)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 7,200,000
• L2 (additional): 10,300,000
• L1+L2 (total): 17,500,000

Regional variants

This is the base/macro locale for Afrikaans. Region-specific variants in this dataset:

• Locale Af Za (Afrikaans (South Africa))

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — n = 1 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Afrikaans is a Germanic language derived from Dutch, with a simplified grammar and its own norms. The Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (AWS) of the Afrikaanse Taalkommissie is the spelling authority. See Locale Af Za.

Translate ideas, not words.

• English structures are often calqued: "dit maak sin" (it makes sense) should be "dit is sinvol"; "gaan" as a future auxiliary is overused. Afrikaans prefers the present tense with an adverb of time for the future.
• Re-express idioms by meaning; Afrikaans has a rich idiom of its own.

Grammar.

• No grammatical gender, no case, and no verb conjugation by person: "ek is", "jy is", "hy is" use the same form ("is").
• Double negation: a negative sentence ends with a second "nie" ("Ek het nie geld nie").
• Word order: verb second in main clauses; verb final in subordinate clauses; the "het" perfect is used for the past.
• Diminutives in -tjie/-ie/-jie are frequent and affectionate.

Register.

• "Jy" is the informal singular and "u" is the formal address. "U" is used with elders, officials, and in formal writing; business and customer text commonly uses "u" or an impersonal style.

Orthography and typography.

• The indefinite article is written "ʼn" with a raised apostrophe; at the start of a sentence the next word is capitalized ("ʼN Boek").
• Quotation marks „…” or “…”; decimal comma; space for thousands; dates "17 Oktober 2026" with capitalized months; currency "R12,50".
• Follow the AWS for hyphenation and compound spelling.

Common pitfalls

• Dropping the second "nie".
• Using English word order and the "gaan" future.
• Writing "n" instead of "ʼn" (a common typing shortcut).
• Using Dutch spellings.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Die Afrikaanse Taalkommissie, Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (AWS)
• Microsoft Localization Style Guide, Afrikaans (https://aka.ms/afrikaans-styleguide)