Die tuin is skaduryk.

In this sentence, yes. Die is the Afrikaans definite article.

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

• singular nouns: die tuin = the garden
• plural nouns: die tuine = the gardens

So unlike in some other languages, you do not have to learn different forms for masculine, feminine, or plural articles here.

Afrikaans is is the present-tense form of to be, and it looks just like English is. It is also very convenient because it does not change for different subjects in the present tense:

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

So Die tuin is ... is literally The garden is ...

Skaduryk is made from:

• skadu = shade
• ryk = rich

So the literal idea is rich in shade or full of shade. In natural English, that usually becomes shady or well-shaded.

Usually yes in this kind of sentence, but it is more literal. Skaduryk means having plenty of shade.

That matters because English shady can also mean suspicious or dishonest, but skaduryk here is only about physical shade in the garden.

Because the adjective comes after is.

In Afrikaans, adjectives used after a linking verb like is usually stay in the basic form:

• Die tuin is skaduryk.

But when the adjective comes before the noun, it often takes -e:

• die skaduryke tuin = the shady garden

So this sentence uses the plain form because the adjective is predicative, not directly before the noun.

Yes. This sentence follows the same basic pattern as English:

• Die tuin = subject
• is = verb
• skaduryk = complement/adjective

So it works just like The garden is shady.

Tuin can be difficult for English speakers because ui does not have a perfect English equivalent. A rough guide is something like t-ayn, but with the lips more rounded at the start of the vowel.

It is one syllable. Even if your ui is not perfect yet, speakers will usually still understand you from context.

You invert the verb and the subject:

• Is die tuin skaduryk? = Is the garden shady?

This is very similar to English.

Afrikaans normally uses a double negative with nie ... nie:

• Die tuin is nie skaduryk nie. = The garden is not shady.

A simple way to think about it is:

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

This double-negative pattern is a very common feature of Afrikaans.