# Afrikaans: I'll be there in a minute/soon



## Masood

Hi,

How would you say this in idiomatic Afrikaans (referring to joining someone in a minute or two)?
*
I'll be there in a minute/soon*

Ek kom ... [?]

Dankie


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## ryba

Hi, Masood.

It would be cool to have a native speaker answer this one, but in the meantime…

How about _Ek kom nou_, as in here (page 4) and here? It's even said to have (along with Oshiwambo _Onde ya paife_) influenced Namibian English, generating the loan translation (calque) _I'm coming now_ (Namlish), and there's plenty of it on Google.

According to this phrasebook, _Ek sal oor 'n rukkie daar wees_ is a possibility, too. I'm not sure if it's that idiomatic, though. In fact, I doubt it (Google doesn't seem to corroborate it) and I guess _Ek kom oor 'n rukkie_ would sound more natural.

Cheers,


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## Masood

Hi ryba,
Many thanks for taking the time to answer this question. I've been checking daily to see if anyone had replied. Yours is the only reply I've had (thus far!) and the links you provide are just great.
Yes, it would be cool if a native speaker could confirm your suggestions.
Thanks


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## Misschien

Both of ryba's suggestions are correct, though I would say that "Ek sal oor 'n rukkie daar wees" would probably be a little unnecessarily wordy for your purposes.  Given it's (very) vaguely idiomatic nature it's something you'd expect to hear a native say ad lib once in a while, and not really the standard way of saying "I'll be there in a little bit."  But I'm being very fussy when I say that.

Just as in English, there are a variety of ways of conveying the general concept of the sentence you want, so I'd advise learning one phase that you will use actively and with time learn to passively comprehend the many variants of said sentiment.

Some examples of sentences that mean "I'll be there in a minute":
Ek kom nou.
Ek kom nou nou. (nou nou as opposed to nou means that you're not coming _immediately_, you'll be there soon, but you're not going to drop everything and leave right now to come)
Ek sal binnekort daar wees.
Ek sal oor een paar minuten daar wees.
Ek sal oor een rukkie daar wees.


I hope this helps!


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## Masood

That's fantastic, Misschien! I'm glad a native speaker came along!
Welcome to the forum and I hope you stay to help us out! 
Dankie.


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## filoutjie

Hi, haven't been here for a while. I would say "Ek is nou daar", if my husband calls from the next room, or "Ek is nou-nou daar" if I'm busy doing something I have to finish, or if I'm on my way somewhere, but won't be there for another few minutes. There is also "netnou" which has the idea of something happening a little time in future. "Ek kom netnou" - I'll be there in a little while. Unfortunately we translate it with "just now". In South Africa people know you'll do it in a little while, if you say "just now ", whereas people in Australia expect you to do it immediately!


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## Masood

_I've only just seen this reply. Many thanks._


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