Hy breek die bord.

he

Breakdown of Hy breek die bord.

• die bord: the plate
• breek: to break; cause to come apart

Questions & Answers about Hy breek die bord.

Why is hy used here?

Hy means he. It is the Afrikaans subject pronoun for a male person.

In Hy breek die bord, hy is the person doing the action.

A few related pronouns:

• ek = I
• jy = you
• hy = he
• sy = she
• ons = we
• hulle = they

Why is the verb breek not changed for hy?

In Afrikaans, verbs usually do not change according to the subject the way they do in English.

So you get:

• Ek breek = I break
• Jy breek = you break
• Hy breek = he breaks
• Ons breek = we break

In English, we say I break but he breaks. In Afrikaans, the verb stays breek.

What does breek mean exactly?

Breek means break.

It can be used:

• transitively: to break something
  
  • Hy breek die bord = He breaks the plate
• sometimes intransitively in other contexts, depending on the sentence

In this sentence, it means that he is causing the plate to break.

Why is die used? Doesn’t die mean for both singular and plural?