English

Verb

wees

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

Anagrams

• ewes

Afrikaans

Etymology

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

Verb

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.

Conjugation

Usage notes

• 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.)

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋeːs/
• Rhymes: -eːs

Etymology 1

Germanic, cognate with German Waise.

Noun

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

1. An orphan, who survived both parents

Related terms

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

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *wesaną. See zijn.

Verb

wees

1. imperative of zijn
2. imperative of wezen

Synonyms

• (non-standard) ben
• (dialectal) zij

References

• Taaladvies.net on ‘wees’ or ‘ben’

Etymology 3

Verb

wees

1. singular past indicative of wijzen

North Frisian

Etymology

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

Verb

wees

1. (Föhr-Amrum, Heligoland) to be

Conjugation