Die opleiding begin vandag.

In this sentence, die means the.

It is not related to the English verb to die. It’s just the normal Afrikaans definite article.

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

• singular nouns: die boek = the book
• plural nouns: die boeke = the books

So in Die opleiding, it simply means the training or the course/program.

Opleiding usually means training, instruction, or sometimes education/training program, depending on context.

In this sentence, it most naturally means something like:

• the training
• the course
• the training program

It comes from the verb oplei, which means to train.

So:

• opleiding = training
• oplei = to train

Here begin is the finite verb, meaning begins or starts.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form depending on the subject the way English verbs do. So:

• Ek begin = I begin / I am beginning
• Jy begin = you begin
• Die opleiding begin = the training begins

Unlike English, you do not add -s for he/she/it. So begin stays begin.

Because Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs in this respect.

In English:

• I begin
• it begins

In Afrikaans:

• ek begin
• dit begin
• die opleiding begin

The verb form usually stays the same no matter who or what the subject is.

Vandag means today.

Yes, it can appear in different positions, depending on emphasis.

Your sentence:

• Die opleiding begin vandag. = The training begins today.

Also possible:

• Vandag begin die opleiding. = Today the training begins.

That second version puts more emphasis on today. Because Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses, when vandag comes first, the verb begin must come next:

• Vandag begin die opleiding not
• Vandag die opleiding begin

Yes, in this sentence the word order is very close to English:

• Die opleiding = the training
• begin = begins
• vandag = today

So it follows a simple subject + verb + time expression pattern.

However, Afrikaans word order changes more noticeably when another element is moved to the front:

• Die opleiding begin vandag.
• Vandag begin die opleiding.

That inversion after a fronted element is very typical of Afrikaans.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

opleiding ≈ OPE-lay-ding or UP-lay-ding

A few notes:

• oe in Afrikaans sounds like the oo in book or somewhat like a short u sound
• ei often sounds like ay
• ding is close to English ding, though the vowels may be a bit different depending on accent

You do not need perfect pronunciation right away; the most important thing is recognizing it as one word meaning training.

A rough guide is:

vandag ≈ fun-DAKH or vun-DAKH

Notes:

• v in Afrikaans is often pronounced closer to an English f
• the second syllable is stressed: van-DAG
• the final g is the guttural Afrikaans g/ch sound, not an English g

So it won’t sound exactly like English van-dag, but that approximation can help at first.

No. In Afrikaans, ordinary nouns are not capitalized.

So you write:

• die opleiding
• die boek
• die kinders

You only capitalize where English normally does, such as:

• the first word of a sentence
• names of people
• place names

So Die opleiding begin vandag. starts with a capital D only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Possibly in some contexts, but training is usually the more natural translation here.

Opleiding often refers to:

• professional training
• instruction
• a training course
• practical preparation

If you wanted to refer to education in a broader general sense, other words may be more suitable depending on context. So for this sentence, The training starts today is usually the best fit.

Yes. In this sentence, begin can be translated as either:

• begins
• starts

So:

• Die opleiding begin vandag. can mean
• The training begins today. or
• The training starts today.

In everyday English, starts is often more natural, while begins can sound a little more formal.

No. This sentence is a simple present statement:

• Die opleiding begin vandag.

That directly means:

• The training begins today or
• The training starts today

You do not need an extra verb like is. Afrikaans often expresses this kind of idea with a simple verb form rather than something like is beginning.

You would just replace vandag with môre:

• Die opleiding begin môre. = The training begins tomorrow.

Similarly:

• Die opleiding begin nou. = The training begins now.
• Die opleiding begin later. = The training begins later.

So the sentence pattern stays the same; only the time word changes.