Sy hoef nie die grootte-etiket te lees nie.

she

Breakdown of Sy hoef nie die grootte-etiket te lees nie.

• lees: to read
• hoef nie ... te ... nie: need not; do not have to
• die grootte-etiket: size label

Questions & Answers about Sy hoef nie die grootte-etiket te lees nie.

What does Sy mean here, and why is it not haar?

Here Sy means she.

Afrikaans uses:

• sy = she as a subject pronoun
• haar = her

So in Sy hoef nie die grootte-etiket te lees nie, Sy is the subject of the sentence, just like she in English.

A small extra point: sy can also mean his in other contexts, but not here. The sentence structure makes it clear that this Sy means she.

What does hoef mean in this sentence?

Here hoef means need to or have to, but in a negative structure.

So Sy hoef nie ... nie means:

• She does not need to ...
• She doesn't have to ...

It expresses lack of necessity, not prohibition.

Why are there two nie words?