Die polisie kom vroeg.

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

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike languages that have different words for the depending on gender or number, Afrikaans keeps it simple: die.

Also, in this sentence, die is just the article — not the English verb die.

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Normally, the article is written die with a lowercase d:

• die polisie
• die man
• die kinders

So if the phrase appeared in the middle of a sentence, you would usually write die polisie, not Die polisie.

Polisie is usually a collective noun, like English police.

It refers to the police as a body, force, or institution, rather than to one single officer. So even though it may refer to a group of people, the noun itself is simply polisie.

In practice, die polisie is the normal way to say the police.

If you specifically wanted to talk about individual police officers, you would usually use a different word or phrase, not just polisie on its own.

Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs in the present tense.

In English, you say:

• I come
• he comes

But in Afrikaans, the verb usually stays the same:

• ek kom
• jy kom
• hy kom
• ons kom
• hulle kom

So kom is correct with die polisie. Afrikaans does not add an -s the way English does in comes.

It can match several English possibilities, depending on context.

Kom can correspond to:

• come
• comes
• is coming
• sometimes arrive / arrives / is arriving

So this sentence could describe:

• a general pattern or habit
• something happening now or soon
• an expected arrival

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might use either the simple present or the present progressive.

Because this is the normal word order in a simple Afrikaans main clause.

A very common pattern is:

subject + verb + rest

So:

• Die polisie = subject
• kom = verb
• vroeg = adverb

That makes Die polisie kom vroeg a very natural neutral sentence.

You can move vroeg to the front for emphasis:

• Vroeg kom die polisie.

But that sounds more marked or emphatic. The original sentence is the ordinary, default order.

Here, vroeg is an adverb.

It tells you when the action happens, so it modifies the verb kom.

Compare:

• Die polisie kom vroeg. → vroeg is an adverb
• 'n vroeë trein → vroeë is an adjective before a noun

So the same basic idea can appear in different forms depending on how it is used. In your sentence, vroeg is not describing a noun; it is describing the action.

Because vroeg is being used adverbially here, not as an adjective before a noun.

Use vroeg when it functions like early in:

• They arrive early

Use vroeë when it comes before a noun:

• 'n vroeë oggend
• 'n vroeë trein

So in Die polisie kom vroeg, the plain form vroeg is the correct one.

You would say:

Die polisie kom nie vroeg nie.

Afrikaans usually uses a double nie in standard negation:

• the first nie comes after the verb or the part being negated
• the second nie comes at the end of the clause

So the pattern here is:

• Die polisie kom
  • nie vroeg
    • nie

This double-negative structure is a very important feature of Afrikaans.

You would usually make it a yes/no question by putting the verb first:

Kom die polisie vroeg?

That is a very common Afrikaans pattern:

• statement: Die polisie kom vroeg.
• question: Kom die polisie vroeg?

So the main change is the word order.

In normal, neutral Afrikaans, die is expected here.

So the standard sentence is:

• Die polisie kom vroeg.

If you say Polisie kom vroeg, it may sound:

• clipped
• headline-like
• less natural in ordinary conversation

So for a learner, it is best to keep die in this sentence.