Die verflaag is wit.

The coat of paint is white.

Breakdown of Die verflaag is wit.

• wees: to be
• wit: white
• die verflaag: coat of paint

Questions & Answers about Die verflaag is wit.

Why does the sentence start with Die?

Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, so here it means the.

In Die verflaag is wit, Die goes before the noun verflaag to mean the paint layer.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans articles are much simpler than English ones in some ways:

• die = the
• ’n = a / an

Unlike some other languages, Afrikaans does not change die for grammatical gender.

What exactly is verflaag?

Verflaag is a compound noun. Afrikaans often joins nouns together into one word.

It is made from:

• verf = paint
• laag = layer

So verflaag literally means paint layer or layer of paint.

This kind of compounding is very common in Afrikaans, just as in Dutch and German.

Why is verflaag written as one word and not two?

Because Afrikaans normally writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• verflaag = paint layer
• not verf laag

This is a very common pattern in Afrikaans. English sometimes writes similar expressions as two words, but Afrikaans usually joins them.

Why is it is wit and not something like is witte?