Learn how to ask someone’s permission to take a picture
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| INTRODUCTION |
| How many times have you been on one of your trips with your camera, trying to immortalize particular moments? In South Africa, it can happen so often that not only a landscape will arouse your curiosity, but many people will too! |
| In this lesson, we will cover some phrases related to the one we saw in the previous lesson, "Can you take my picture, sir?" or in Afrikaans, Kan u van my 'n foto neem meneer? |
| BODY |
| Now you would like to ask for permission, "Can I take your picture, ma'am?" In Afrikaans, this is |
| Mag ek van u 'n foto neem mevrou? |
| One time slowly. |
| (slow) Mag ek van u 'n foto neem mevrou? |
| Mag ek van u 'n foto neem mevrou? |
| Let's have a look at the components. |
| First, we have the phrase mag ek, which means, "May I." |
| Let's break it down. |
| (slow) Mag ek. |
| Mag ek. |
| Next follows van u, which is a formal way to say, "from you.” |
| (slow) van u |
| van u |
| The next component is 'n foto neem, which means, "to take a picture," which we have already seen in the previous lesson. |
| (slow) 'n foto neem, |
| 'n foto neem, |
| The question ends with mevrou which means “ma'am.” |
| (slow) mevrou |
| mevrou |
| Let’s hear it once again. |
| Mag ek van u 'n foto neem mevrou? |
| It means “Can I take your picture, ma'am?” |
| If you would like to take a picture of a man, you can ask… Mag ek van u 'n foto neem meneer? It means "Can I take your picture, sir?" Let's break it down by syllable and see the entire question once again. |
| (slow) Mag ek van u een fo-to neem me-neer? |
| Mag ek van u 'n foto neem meneer? |
| If you are able to socialize immediately with South Africans, or even if you simply meet some young people, you can use the informal phrase. |
| Mag ek 'n foto van julle neem? which means ”Can I take your picture?" |
| (slow) Mag ek 'n foto van julle neem? |
| Mag ek 'n foto van julle neem? |
| You need to replace mevrou or meneer with julle. Julle is the personal pronoun meaning "you," as in a group of people. Let’s hear the word again. |
| (slow) Julle |
| Julle |
| The rest of the sentence stays the same. So all together, you can ask… Mag ek 'n foto van julle neem? |
| (slow) Mag ek 'n foto van julle neem? |
| Mag ek 'n foto van julle neem? |
| If you would like to take a picture of just one person informally, you can ask, Mag ek 'n foto van jou neem? This means ”Can I take your picture?" |
| (slow) Mag ek 'n foto van jou neem? |
| Mag ek 'n foto van jou neem? |
| You need to replace julle with jou. Jou refers to one person and only means, "you." |
| (slow) Jou |
| Jou |
| Let's see the whole sentence once again. Mag ek 'n foto van jou neem? ”Can I take your picture?" |
| What if you are in a museum, an art gallery, or a shop and you want to try to ask, "Can I take pictures here?" In Afrikaans, this is |
| Mag ek hier foto's neem? |
| (slow) Mag ek hier foto's neem? |
| Mag ek hier foto's neem? |
| First we have mag ek, meaning, "May I." |
| (slow) mag ek |
| mag ek |
| Next we have Hier which means "here." |
| (slow) Hier |
| Hier |
| Last phrase is foto's neem, which means, "to take pictures." |
| (slow) foto's neem |
| foto's neem |
| Foto's is the plural of foto, which is "photo." |
| Let’s hear the full sentence once again. Mag ek hier fo-to's neem? |
| "Can I take pictures here?" |
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