Die sonsambreel gee skaduwee.

The sun umbrella gives shade.

Breakdown of Die sonsambreel gee skaduwee.

• gee: to give
• die skaduwee: the shade
• die sonsambreel: sun umbrella; parasol

Questions & Answers about Die sonsambreel gee skaduwee.

What does die mean in this sentence?

Die usually means the in Afrikaans.

So Die sonsambreel means The sun umbrella or The parasol.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans does not have different words for the depending on gender, because Afrikaans nouns do not have grammatical gender the way German does. Die is the normal definite article.

It is also used with plural nouns, so context tells you whether it is singular or plural.

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Why is sonsambreel written as one word?

Afrikaans very often forms compound nouns by joining words together into a single word.

So:

• son = sun
• sambreel = umbrella
• sonsambreel = sun umbrella / parasol

This is very common in Afrikaans and also happens a lot in Dutch and German. English sometimes writes similar ideas as two words, but Afrikaans often prefers one compound word.

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What does sonsambreel literally mean?

Literally, it is sun umbrella:

• son = sun
• sambreel = umbrella

So the word describes an umbrella used against the sun rather than rain. In natural English, this is often translated as parasol, sun umbrella, or sometimes beach umbrella, depending on context.

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What does gee mean here?