Die seisoen begin vandag.

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

So die seisoen = the season.

A useful thing to know is that die is used for both singular and plural nouns: die seisoen = the season
die seisoene = the seasons

No. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

So Die seisoen begin vandag starts with a dee sound, not the English die sound.

Because die means the, while 'n means a/an.

So:

die seisoen = the season
'n seisoen = a season

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific season, not just any season.

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

If the same phrase appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be written die seisoen with a lowercase d.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form for different subjects in the present tense.

So you get:

ek begin = I begin
jy begin = you begin
hy begin = he begins
die seisoen begin = the season begins

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add an -s here.

It is the simple present tense.

In Afrikaans, the simple present is often used where English might say begins, is beginning, or sometimes even a scheduled future such as starts today.

So begin here is the normal way to say that the season starts today.

This is the normal word order for a simple main clause in Afrikaans:

subject + verb + time expression

So:

Die seisoen = subject
begin = verb
vandag = time word

That makes Die seisoen begin vandag a very natural sentence.

Yes, absolutely.

That version is also correct and natural. It puts more focus on vandag.

Afrikaans main clauses follow the verb-second rule, so when vandag comes first, the verb begin must still stay in second position:

Vandag begin die seisoen.

You would not normally say Vandag die seisoen begin in a normal main clause.

Yes. Vandag is normally written as one word in modern Afrikaans.

It means today.

A rough guide:

seisoen ≈ say-SOON
vandag ≈ fun-DAKH or fan-DAKH

A few notes:

• The stress in seisoen is on the second syllable.
• The g in vandag is the guttural Afrikaans g, similar to the sound in Scottish loch or German Bach.
• Many English speakers find that g sound tricky at first, which is completely normal.

No, not in the way languages like German or Dutch do.

Afrikaans does not use different definite articles for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. Die stays the same.

So you do not need to memorize different forms of the for different noun genders. That makes Afrikaans articles much simpler than in many other European languages.