Die katoenklere is lospassend.

Die means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for both singular and plural definite nouns. So:

• die boek = the book
• die boeke = the books
• die katoenklere = the cotton clothes

Because Afrikaans usually writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• katoen = cotton
• klere = clothes
• katoenklere = cotton clothes

This is very common in Afrikaans. English often writes these combinations as two words, but Afrikaans normally joins them.

Klere means clothes.

It is the normal everyday word for clothing in general. It is usually treated like a plural or collective idea, much like English clothes. If you want to talk about one item, you would normally name the garment:

• hemp = shirt
• broek = trousers/pants
• jas = coat
• rok = dress

Because in the present tense, Afrikaans uses is for all persons and numbers.

So you get:

• ek is = I am
• jy is = you are
• hy is = he is
• ons is = we are
• hulle is = they are

That means Die katoenklere is lospassend is completely normal, even though English uses are with clothes.

Lospassend means loose-fitting.

It describes clothes that do not fit tightly. You can think of it as being built from:

• los = loose
• passend = fitting / suitable

Together, lospassend works like English loose-fitting.

Because it comes after is, so it is being used predicatively.

In Afrikaans, adjectives often stay in their basic form after a linking verb such as is:

• Die klere is lospassend.
• Die hemp is mooi.
• Die skoene is duur.

But before a noun, an adjective often takes -e:

• lospassende klere = loose-fitting clothes
• mooi klere or mooie forms in some set patterns are less common; adjective endings depend on the word
• duur skoene = expensive shoes

So here lospassend is correct because it comes after is.

You would usually say:

die lospassende katoenklere

Here the adjective moves before the noun, and it normally takes -e:

• lospassend → lospassende

So:

• Die katoenklere is lospassend. = The cotton clothes are loose-fitting.
• Die lospassende katoenklere = the loose-fitting cotton clothes

A rough English-style guide would be:

• katoenklere ≈ kah-TOON-klee-ruh
• lospassend ≈ LOSS-pas-send

A few helpful points:

• oe in katoen sounds like oo in food
• klere has two syllables: klee-re
• the stress in katoenklere falls mainly on -toen-
• lospassend is stressed at the beginning: LOS-

You say:

Die katoenklere is nie lospassend nie.

Afrikaans usually uses a double nie in standard negation:

• first nie goes after the verb
• second nie goes at the end of the clause

So:

• is → verb
• nie lospassend nie → not loose-fitting

You can make it a yes/no question by putting the verb first:

Is die katoenklere lospassend?

This is very common in Afrikaans:

• Die katoenklere is lospassend. = statement
• Is die katoenklere lospassend? = question

Normally, no. The standard form here is lospassend as one word.

Afrikaans often writes this kind of descriptive adjective as a single word, especially when it functions like a fixed idea such as loose-fitting. So in this sentence, lospassend is the expected spelling.

Yes, in this simple sentence it is very similar:

• Die katoenklere = subject
• is = verb
• lospassend = adjective/complement

So the pattern is:

subject + is + adjective

That makes this sentence quite straightforward for an English speaker.