Die sleutelbos is by die deur.

to be

Breakdown of Die sleutelbos is by die deur.

• by: at
• die deur: the door
• die sleutelbos: bunch of keys

Questions & Answers about Die sleutelbos is by die deur.

Why is sleutelbos written as one word?

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, often forms compound nouns by joining words together.

• sleutel = key
• bos = bunch / bundle

So sleutelbos literally means key-bunch, i.e. a bunch of keys or keyring depending on context.

This is very normal in Afrikaans. English often uses two words where Afrikaans uses one.

What does die mean, and why is it used twice?

Die means the.

It appears twice because there are two nouns in the sentence:

• die sleutelbos = the bunch of keys
• die deur = the door

Unlike English, Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for singular and plural nouns, and it does not change for grammatical gender.

Does Afrikaans have grammatical gender like German or French?

No, not in the same way.

A very helpful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not use different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. You just use die for all of them.

So you do not have to memorize noun gender for a sentence like this.