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Learn Hardcore Afrikaans: Die stemming begin. - The voting starts.

Hardcore Afrikaans
/Taking part in a committee meeting
/Die stemming begin.

Die stemming begin.

Die stemming begin.

The voting starts.

Breakdown of Die stemming begin.

vote; voting process

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Questions & Answers about Die stemming begin.

Is Die pronounced like the English word die?

No. Here die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

That is because in this sentence die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the. It is not the English verb die.

What does die mean in this sentence?

It means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for:

singular nouns
plural nouns
all grammatical genders

So Afrikaans is much simpler than languages that have different words for the depending on gender or number.

What exactly is stemming?

Stemming is a noun. In this sentence it means voting or the vote, depending on the context.

It is related to the verb stem, meaning to vote. The ending -ing often turns a verb into a noun, a bit like English -ing in words such as voting.

Also, be aware that stemming can mean mood or atmosphere in other contexts, so context is important.

Why is it begin and not begins?

Because Afrikaans verbs do not change the way English verbs do in the present tense.

So you get:

ek begin
jy begin
hy begin
die stemming begin

The verb stays begin in all of these.

Is there a missing word like is or does?

No. Die stemming begin is already a complete sentence.

Afrikaans can often use a very straightforward subject + verb structure in the present tense. English sometimes adds words like does in questions or for emphasis, but there is nothing missing here.

Why is the word order Die stemming begin?

Because this is a normal statement, and the basic Afrikaans word order is subject + verb.

Here:

Die stemming = the subject
begin = the verb

If you changed it into a yes/no question, the verb would usually come first:

Begin die stemming?

And if you put another element first, the verb still has to stay in second position:

Nou begin die stemming.

How would I say this in the past or future?

You can say:

Die stemming het begin. = The voting began / has begun.
Die stemming sal begin. = The voting will begin.

So:

het begin is a common past/perfect form
sal begin is a common future form

How do I make this sentence negative?

You can say:

Die stemming begin nie.

Here nie comes at the end because there is nothing after the verb.

If there is more material after the verb, Afrikaans often uses the full two-part negative pattern:

Die stemming begin nie vandag nie.

That double nie pattern is a very important feature of Afrikaans.

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