No. 229 in Afrikaans
skakel
"Skakel" means "link," "connection," or "switch" in English, depending on the context.
In a sentence
Ek het vir haar geskakel om te vra oor die skakel na die vergadering.
I called her to ask about the link to the meeting.
In this sentence, 'skakel' is used to mean 'make a phone call' (verb) and 'link' (noun).
Skakel die ligte aan voordat dit donker raak.
Turn the lights on before it gets dark.
Here, 'skakel' means 'to switch on' or 'to activate' in the context of turning on electrical devices.
Hy het die pype verkeerd gesit, en nou moet ons dit weer skakel.
He placed the pipes incorrectly, and now we have to connect them again.
In this case, 'skakel' is used to mean 'to connect' components or parts together, like pipes.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “skakel” in actual Afrikaans podcasts.
Find “skakel” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Afrikaans podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Afrikaans books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).