Can You Take My Picture in South Africa?

Learn how to ask others to take a photo for you

Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION

In this lesson, we will introduce a phrase that will surely come in handy for capturing your memories.

BODY

South Africa is full of beautiful scenery. Obviously, you will take many pictures of landscapes and monuments. However, I have no doubt that some moments you'll want to be in the picture or have everyone in your party in the picture. Therefore, there are times when the question, "Can you take our picture?" will be invaluable.

In Afrikaans, "Can you take our picture, sir?" is Kan u van ons ‘n foto neem meneer?

Let's break it down by syllable.

(slow) Kan u van ons ‘n foto neem meneer?

Kan u van ons ‘n foto neem meneer?

Let’s break this down.

First, we have… Kan u, meaning, "can you," in the formal way of speech.

(slow) Kan u

Kan u

Then we have the personal pronoun ons, which means "us."

(slow) ons

ons

Next, we have ‘n foto neem, which means, "to take a picture."

(slow) ‘n foto neem

‘n foto neem

The last component is meneer, which you know already from previously is "sir," or "Mr."

(slow) meneer

meneer

All together we have, "Can you take our picture, sir?" or in Afrikaans Kan u van ons ‘n foto neem meneer?

If you are on your own, and you want to ask, "Can you take my picture?" in Afrikaans, you just need to replace ons with my; so you would have, Kan u van my ‘n foto neem?

(slow) Kan u van my ‘n foto neem?

Kan u van my ‘n foto neem?

If you want to ask a woman to take your picture, you just need to replace meneer with mevrou. "Can you take my picture, ma'am?" will be in Afrikaans, Kan u van my ‘n foto neem mevrou?

(slow) Kan u van my ‘n foto neem mevrou?

Kan u van my ‘n foto neem mevrou?

What if you bump into a young person and you don't need to use the formal level of speech? It's very easy because you only need to change the verb. Instead of saying kan u, you need say kan jy.

(slow) kan jy

kan jy

This is an informal way to ask “Can you?”

So all together, we will have Kan jy van my ‘n foto neem? which means ”Can you take my picture?" informally.

(slow) Kan jy van my ‘n foto neem?

Kan jy van my ‘n foto neem?

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