Die leidraad lei na die baken.

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Breakdown of Die leidraad lei na die baken.

• lei: to lead
• die leidraad: clue
• die baken: landmark

Questions & Answers about Die leidraad lei na die baken.

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

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so it usually means the.

It appears twice because there are two nouns:

• die leidraad = the clue / the guiding thread
• die baken = the beacon

Unlike in some other languages:

• Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender
• Afrikaans also uses die for plural definite nouns

So die is very flexible.

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Is die pronounced like the English word die?

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

So in this sentence:

• die leidraad sounds roughly like dee layt-draht
• die baken sounds roughly like dee baa-ken

That is one of the first things English speakers need to unlearn, because the spelling looks familiar but the pronunciation is different.

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Why are leidraad and lei so similar?