Die gebou is 'n eeu oud.

A word-for-word breakdown is:

• Die = the
• gebou = building
• is = is
• 'n = a / an
• eeu = century
• oud = old

So the structure is very close to English: The building is a century old.

Yes. Die here is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

Unlike German, Afrikaans articles do not change for gender or case. So you do not have to learn separate forms like der / die / das. In Afrikaans, die works for the in all ordinary situations.

In this sentence:

• Die gebou = the building

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a / an.

A few important points:

• It is pronounced like a very short, unstressed uh sound, similar to the a in English about
• The apostrophe is part of the spelling
• It is almost never stressed in normal speech

So:

• 'n eeu sounds roughly like uh EE-oo

A useful writing note: 'n is normally written with a lowercase n, even if it appears at the beginning of a sentence.

Eeu means century.

So:

• 'n eeu = a century
• 'n eeu oud = a century old

This is a common way to talk about age in Afrikaans.

Afrikaans can say both.

• 'n eeu oud = a century old
• honderd jaar oud = a hundred years old

Both are natural. 'n eeu oud is just a slightly neater, more compact way to say the same thing.

Because oud is functioning as a predicate adjective, after the linking verb is.

The pattern is:

• subject + is + age expression + oud

So:

• Die gebou is 'n eeu oud

This is normal in Afrikaans, just as English says:

• The building is a century old

Good question. This is a very common point for learners.

When old comes after the verb, Afrikaans uses oud:

• Die gebou is oud = The building is old
• Die gebou is 'n eeu oud = The building is a century old

But when the adjective comes before a noun, it is often ou:

• 'n ou gebou = an old building

So:

• predicative position: oud
• before a noun: often ou

This is one of those forms you simply get used to through exposure.

Yes. Bou means to build, and gebou as a noun means building.

So they are related:

• bou = build
• gebou = building

That makes the vocabulary easier to remember.

Be careful, though: gebou can also look like a verb form historically related to bou, but in this sentence it is clearly a noun meaning building.

A simple learner-friendly guide:

• gebou ≈ khuh-BOU

  • the g is the throaty Afrikaans/Dutch sound, not the English g
  • bou rhymes roughly with English go? Not exactly. It is more like boh with a diphthong, often written approximately bow as in bow down

• eeu ≈ EE-uh or EE-oo, depending on how fine-grained you want to be

So the whole sentence is roughly:

• dee khuh-BOU is uh EE-uh out

That is only an approximation, but it is a useful starting point.

Yes, very much so.

The sentence follows a straightforward pattern:

• Die gebou = subject
• is = verb
• 'n eeu oud = complement

So Afrikaans and English match closely here:

• The building is a century old
• Die gebou is 'n eeu oud

This makes the sentence quite beginner-friendly.

Yes, but it means something less specific.

• Die gebou is oud = The building is old
• Die gebou is 'n eeu oud = The building is a century old

The second sentence gives the age more precisely.

Because eeu already means century, which is a single unit of time.

English also does this:

• a century old

You do not need to say years there either, because century already contains that meaning.

If you used jaar instead, then you would count years directly:

• honderd jaar oud = a hundred years old

You can use the same pattern very widely.

Examples:

• Die huis is vyftig jaar oud. = The house is fifty years old.
• Die boom is twee eeue oud. = The tree is two centuries old.
• Die tradisie is oud. = The tradition is old.

So the pattern is + time expression + oud is very useful in Afrikaans.