Die voorsitter maak die vergadering oop.

Because Afrikaans uses die as the definite article the for all nouns.

So in Die voorsitter maak die vergadering oop:

• Die voorsitter = the chairperson / the chair
• die vergadering = the meeting

Unlike languages such as German or Dutch, Afrikaans does not change the for gender. It is simply die in both places.

No. That is one of the nice simplifications in Afrikaans.

Afrikaans does not have different forms of the based on grammatical gender. So you use die for:

• masculine nouns
• feminine nouns
• neuter nouns
• plural nouns

For a learner coming from English, this is quite convenient: you do not need to memorize noun gender just to choose the article.

Voorsitter means chairperson, chair, or sometimes chairman/chairwoman depending on context.

It is made up of:

• voor- = in front / leading
• sitter = sitter, someone who sits

So the idea is the person who sits at the front or leads the meeting.

In modern English, chairperson or simply chair is often the best match.

Because oopmaak is a separable verb in Afrikaans.

The full verb is:

• oopmaak = to open

But in a normal main clause, the conjugated verb part goes to the usual verb position, and the separable part moves to the end:

• Hy maak die deur oop. = He opens the door.
• Die voorsitter maak die vergadering oop. = The chairperson opens the meeting.

So:

• maak = the verb part that is conjugated
• oop = the separable particle

If you use the infinitive, the parts stay together:

• om die vergadering oop te maak = to open the meeting

Yes, literally it is something like make open. But you should understand it as the normal Afrikaans way to say open in many contexts.

So although the literal pieces are:

• maak = make
• oop = open

the whole expression oopmaak means to open.

In this sentence, it is also the natural expression for formally opening a meeting.

It is the present tense.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change much from person to person, so maak stays the same:

• ek maak
• jy maak
• hy/sy maak
• ons maak

Depending on context, the English translation could be:

• opens
• is opening

But in a simple sentence like this, opens is usually the best translation.

This is normal Afrikaans main-clause word order:

• Die voorsitter = subject
• maak = finite verb
• die vergadering = object
• oop = separable particle at the end

Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses. That means the finite verb usually comes early in the sentence, typically in second position.

So the pattern here is:

Subject + finite verb + object + separable particle

If you change the sentence type, the order changes too. For example:

• Maak die voorsitter die vergadering oop? = Is the chairperson opening the meeting?
• ...dat die voorsitter die vergadering oopmaak = ...that the chairperson opens the meeting

Notice in the subordinate clause the separable verb is written together again: oopmaak.

It is singular here: the meeting.

The plural would normally be:

• vergaderings = meetings

So:

• die vergadering = the meeting
• die vergaderings = the meetings

This can be confusing because die is also used with plurals, but the noun form tells you whether it is singular or plural.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• Die ≈ dee
• voorsitter ≈ FOR-sit-er or FOOR-sit-er
• maak ≈ mahk
• vergadering ≈ fer-GAH-de-ring
• oop ≈ ohp

A few helpful notes:

• v in Afrikaans is often pronounced closer to an English f
• g is a throaty sound, not a hard English g
• oo in oop is a long vowel

If you want to sound more natural, the hardest part for most English speakers is usually the g in vergadering.

Yes, that is a very useful way to learn it.

While oopmaak can mean physically opening something, in formal contexts it also works for things like opening an event, session, or meeting.

So 'n vergadering oopmaak is a very natural chunk to remember as:

• to open a meeting
• to declare a meeting open

Learning it as a set phrase will make the sentence easier to recognize and reuse.