Die basiliekruid ruik vars.

The basil smells fresh.

Breakdown of Die basiliekruid ruik vars.

• ruik: to smell
• vars: fresh
• die basiliekruid: basil

Questions & Answers about Die basiliekruid ruik vars.

Why is die used here?

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the. Afrikaans uses die for singular and plural nouns, and it does not change for gender.

So in Die basiliekruid, die means the.

Examples:

• die kat = the cat
• die kinders = the children

Does die tell you whether basiliekruid is masculine, feminine, or neuter?

No. Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender like Dutch or German. The article die does not tell you anything about gender, because Afrikaans nouns are not divided into masculine, feminine, and neuter in the way they are in some other languages.

What kind of word is basiliekruid?

Basiliekruid is a noun, and it is a compound word. Afrikaans often combines words into one longer noun.

Here, it is built from:

• basilie = basil
• kruid = herb

So basiliekruid literally means basil herb, but in normal English we would usually just say basil.

Why is the verb ruik and not something like or ?