Hy is 'n Jood.

Hy means he.

So Hy is 'n Jood. starts with the subject he, just like English He is a Jew.

Hy is pronounced roughly like hay in English, although the exact vowel can vary a bit by accent.

So the beginning of the sentence sounds roughly like hay is.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article. It means a or an.

Afrikaans does not have two forms like English. You use 'n before singular countable nouns whether English would use a or an:

• 'n man = a man
• 'n appel = an apple
• 'n Jood = a Jew

The apostrophe is simply part of the normal spelling of the Afrikaans indefinite article.

You should learn 'n as a fixed word. It is not optional punctuation.

'n is usually pronounced as a very weak unstressed sound, like the a in about.

It is never stressed. The stress falls on Jood, not on 'n.

Afrikaans is much simpler than English here. In the present tense, you use is for all persons:

• Ek is = I am
• Jy is = you are
• Hy is = he is
• Ons is = we are

So is does the job of English am, is, and are.

In standard Afrikaans, Jood is capitalized when it refers to a Jew as a member of the Jewish people or religion.

So in this sentence, Jood is written with a capital J.

Yes. This sentence has the same basic order as English:

Hy + is + 'n Jood
subject + verb + complement

That is why this sentence feels very familiar to an English speaker.

No. Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender in the way some other European languages do.

The noun Jood itself is just a noun. The masculine meaning in this sentence comes from Hy, which means he.

Normally, no. 'n stays lowercase even at the beginning of a sentence.

Instead, the next word is capitalized: 'n Jood staan daar.

That is a spelling rule that often surprises English speakers.

Yes. Jood is the standard Afrikaans word for Jew.

As in English, the word itself is neutral, but tone and context still matter.