wees

wees

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of wee

• ewes, swee

From Dutch wezen, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną. See Dutch zijn.

• IPA^(key): /vɪəs/

wees (present is, present participle synde, past was, past participle gewees)

1. to be

   Ek was gister dronk gewees.

   I was drunk yesterday.

   Hy kon al 'n dokter gewees het.

   He could have been a doctor by now.

• Unlike other Afrikaans verbs, the past participle of wees (gewees) does not usually take the auxiliary verb het to form the perfect tense unless a modal verb is being used: Ek sou baie kwaad gewees het as jy dit gedoen het. (“I would have been very angry if you had done this.”) Outside of this construction, het gewees is rarely encountered and is considered nonstandard. The actual perfect tense of wees is is gewees, but this form is also very rare, being usually replaced with either was or was gewees. (The latter is formally a pluperfect, but is generally used without any semantic distinction.)

• sewe

• IPA^(key): /ʋeːs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːs

Germanic, cognate with German Waise.

wees m or f (plural wezen, diminutive weesje n)

1. An orphan, who survived both parents

• weeshuis
• weesjongen
• weeskind
• weesmeester
• weesvader
• halve wees
• verweesd
• volle wees

See the etymology of the main entry.

wees

1. imperative of zijn
2. imperative of wezen

wees

1. singular past indicative of wijzen

• Taaladvies.net on ‘wees’ or ‘ben’

From Old Frisian wesa, which derives from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.

wees

1. (Föhr-Amrum, Heligoland) to be

wees m pl

1. plural of we

From Old Norse hvæsa.

• IPA^(key): [wèːs]

  Rhymes: -èːs

wees

1. (intransitive) to hiss
2. (intransitive) to whiz, blow