Die natuur is mooi.

to be

Breakdown of Die natuur is mooi.

• mooi: beautiful
• die natuur: nature; the natural world

Questions & Answers about Die natuur is mooi.

Why is die used here? Doesn’t English usually just say Nature is beautiful without the?

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

But Afrikaans often uses die in general statements where English would use no article. So Die natuur is mooi is very naturally translated as Nature is beautiful.

So:

• Afrikaans: Die natuur is mooi
• Natural English: Nature is beautiful

A very literal translation would look like The nature is beautiful, but that is usually not the best English wording here.

What does die mean, and is it pronounced like the English verb die?

Here, die means the.

It is not pronounced like the English word die. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

So in this sentence:

• die = the
• pronunciation ≈ dee

This is one of the first things English speakers need to get used to, because the spelling is misleading if you read it as English.

Does die change for gender or number?