Die seisoen is lank.

to be

Breakdown of Die seisoen is lank.

• lank: long
• die seisoen: season

Questions & Answers about Die seisoen is lank.

What does die mean here?

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

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans does not change the article for gender. Unlike languages such as German or French, you do not have to learn different words for the depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. It is simply die for plural nouns and many singular nouns in everyday use.

Why is the word order Die seisoen is lank and not something else?

This is the normal Afrikaans sentence pattern for a simple statement:

subject + verb + rest

So:

• Die seisoen = the subject
• is = the verb
• lank = the description

This is very similar to English:

• The season is long

Afrikaans usually keeps this straightforward word order in basic main clauses.

Is is used the same way as English is?

Yes. Is is the present-tense form of to be in Afrikaans, just like is in English.

In this sentence, it links the subject to an adjective:

• Die seisoen is lank.

Afrikaans uses is very often in exactly the same kind of sentence where English uses is.