Die fietsketting is droog.

to be

Breakdown of Die fietsketting is droog.

• droog: dry
• die fietsketting: bicycle chain

Questions & Answers about Die fietsketting is droog.

What does die mean here?

Die means the.

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns: die fietsketting = the bicycle chain
• plural nouns: die fietse = the bicycles

Unlike languages such as German or Dutch, Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender for articles, so you do not have to learn different forms like the for masculine/feminine/neuter nouns.

Why is Die capitalized?

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

In the middle of a sentence, it would normally be lowercase:

• Ek sien die fietsketting. = I see the bicycle chain.

So the dictionary form of the article is die, not Die.

Why is fietsketting written as one word?

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often forms compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• fiets = bicycle
• ketting = chain
• fietsketting = bicycle chain

This is completely normal in Afrikaans. English sometimes uses separate words where Afrikaans prefers one compound word.

The main noun is usually the last part, so fietsketting is a kind of ketting.

Is is used the same way as English is?