Die lint is blou.

to be

Breakdown of Die lint is blou.

• blou: blue
• die lint: ribbon

Questions & Answers about Die lint is blou.

What does die mean here?

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, usually equivalent to the in English.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender or number the way some other European languages do. So die can be used with:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• nouns of any gender

In this sentence, die lint means the ribbon.

Is die pronounced like the English word die?

No. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

That is a very common beginner mistake for English speakers, because the spelling looks familiar but the pronunciation is different.

Why is the word order Die lint is blou?

This is a basic main clause, and the word order is very similar to English:

subject + verb + complement

So here:

• Die lint = the subject
• is = the verb
• blou = the adjective describing the subject

That is why the sentence looks quite straightforward to an English speaker.

What is lint doing in the sentence grammatically?