Die landskapsfoto het 'n agtergrond.

Die means the.

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

• singular nouns: die foto = the photo
• plural nouns: die foto's = the photos

So unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the definite article based on number.

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often forms compound nouns by joining words together.

So:

• landskap = landscape
• foto = photo
• landskapsfoto = landscape photo / landscape photograph

The -s- in the middle is a linking sound that often appears in compounds. You should usually learn compounds as complete words, because they are normally written together in Afrikaans.

Here het means has.

So:

• Die landskapsfoto het 'n agtergrond.
• The landscape photo has a background.

A very helpful point for learners: Afrikaans verbs do not change much depending on the subject.

For example:

• Ek het = I have
• Jy het = you have
• Hy/Sy het = he/she has
• Ons het = we have
• Hulle het = they have

So het stays the same.

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

So:

• 'n agtergrond = a background

Afrikaans does not have separate words for a and an. It just uses 'n for both.

That apostrophe is simply part of how the word is written in standard Afrikaans: 'n.

A few important points:

• it is always written with a small n
• even if it starts a sentence, the n stays lowercase

For example:

• 'n Foto lê op die tafel.

Only the following word would be capitalized if needed, not the n itself.

'n is usually pronounced as a very weak vowel sound, like the a in about or the e in taken. In phonetics, that is a schwa sound.

So 'n agtergrond is not pronounced like the English letter name en. It is much weaker and shorter.

In natural speech, learners often barely hear it, but it is still written.

Agtergrond means background.

Literally, it is built from:

• agter = behind / back
• grond = ground

So the word has a very transparent structure: something like back-ground.

No. This sentence uses the normal Afrikaans main-clause word order:

Subject + verb + object

• Die landskapsfoto = subject
• het = verb
• 'n agtergrond = object

So it works much like English:

• The landscape photo has a background.

No, not in the way that German does.

Afrikaans nouns do not use different articles for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. That is why you can simply use:

• die = the
• 'n = a/an

without worrying about grammatical gender.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

LAND-skahps-foh-toh

A few notes:

• aa in Afrikaans is usually a long a sound
• sk is pronounced clearly
• foto sounds similar to photo, but with a clear t

The main stress is usually near the beginning: LANDskapsfoto.

A rough guide is:

AKH-ter-khront or AKH-ter-gront

Notes:

• g in Afrikaans is usually not like the English g in go
• it is often a harsh throat sound, similar to the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach
• grond sounds somewhat like gront, not like English ground

The first syllable usually gets the main stress: AGtergrond.

That would mean something different.

• Die landskapsfoto het 'n agtergrond = The landscape photo has a background.
• Die landskapsfoto is in die agtergrond = The landscape photo is in the background.

So in your sentence, agtergrond is something the photo possesses, not a location.

Not usually. This is one of the easier parts of Afrikaans.

In this sentence:

• die does not change for singular or plural
• 'n does not change
• het does not change according to the subject

So compared with many other languages, the grammar here is quite simple. The main thing to focus on is learning vocabulary and getting used to compound nouns like landskapsfoto.