Ten spyte van die fout word sy betaal.

Despite the mistake, she is paid.

Breakdown of Ten spyte van die fout word sy betaal.

• sy: she
• word: to become
• betaal: to pay
• die fout: the mistake

Questions & Answers about Ten spyte van die fout word sy betaal.

What does ten spyte van mean exactly, and is ten the number ten?

Ten spyte van is a fixed expression meaning despite or in spite of.

Here, ten is not the number ten. It is part of an old, fixed expression. For learners, the best approach is to memorize ten spyte van as one whole chunk rather than trying to build it word by word.

So:

• ten spyte van die fout = despite the mistake

Why is word before sy? I expected sy word betaal.

That is because Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses.

The basic clause is:

• Sy word betaal. = She is paid / She gets paid.

But when another element is moved to the front for emphasis, the finite verb must still stay in second position:

• Ten spyte van die fout
  • word
    • sy
      • betaal

So the structure is:

1. fronted phrase: Ten spyte van die fout
2. finite verb: word
3. subject: sy
4. rest of the clause: betaal

This is very common in Afrikaans.