Sy begin 'n besigheid.

Yes, here Sy means she.

Afrikaans sy can also mean his in other contexts, but not in this sentence. The structure tells you what it is:

• Sy begin 'n besigheid. = She starts a business.
• sy besigheid = his business

So when sy/Sy is followed by a verb like begin, it is functioning as the subject pronoun she.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form according to the subject.

So you get:

• Ek begin = I begin
• Jy begin = you begin
• Sy begin = she begins
• Ons begin = we begin

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add an -s for he/she/it in the present tense.

In this sentence, begin is present tense: she begins / she is starting.

Yes, the same basic form can also be used as the infinitive (to begin). Context tells you which meaning it has.

For example:

• Sy begin 'n besigheid. = She begins a business.
• Sy wil begin. = She wants to begin.
• om te begin = to begin

So Afrikaans often uses the same verb form where English would distinguish begin and to begin.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, equivalent to English a or an.

So:

• 'n besigheid = a business

Afrikaans does not have separate forms like English a/an. It just uses 'n before singular countable nouns.

It is usually pronounced as a very short, unstressed vowel sound, like the a in about.

So 'n is not stressed strongly. In normal speech:

• 'n besigheid sounds roughly like uh besigheid

The main stress falls on the noun, not on 'n.

'n is a reduced, unstressed article in Afrikaans, and the apostrophe is part of its standard spelling.

A very important writing rule is that 'n stays lowercase even at the beginning of a sentence. If a sentence starts with it, the next word is capitalized instead:

• 'n Besigheid kan groei. = A business can grow.

So the apostrophe is not optional, and 'n is normally not written as 'N.

Besigheid is a noun meaning business, company, or enterprise, depending on context.

In this sentence, 'n besigheid means a business in the sense of a commercial venture or company.

A useful extra point: it is a countable noun here, which is why it takes 'n.

Plural:

• besighede = businesses

Definite form:

• die besigheid = the business

Yes. This sentence follows the basic subject–verb–object order:

• Sy = subject
• begin = verb
• 'n besigheid = object

So it matches English quite closely:

• She starts a business.

However, Afrikaans often uses a verb-second pattern when something else comes first:

• Môre begin sy 'n besigheid. = Tomorrow she starts a business.

So the simple sentence looks very English-like, but Afrikaans word order can shift in other sentence patterns.

Yes. Start is also used in Afrikaans, and Sy start 'n besigheid sounds natural.

In many contexts, begin and start are close in meaning. Very roughly:

• begin is the more standard/native-looking choice
• start is also common, especially in everyday language

So both are possible, but begin is an excellent word to learn and use.

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

The article 'n does not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. So you do not need to learn a different indefinite article for besigheid.

That makes this part simpler than in many European languages:

• 'n man = a man
• 'n vrou = a woman
• 'n besigheid = a business

The article stays the same.