Die bewysfoto bevat die nommerplaat.

Because Afrikaans uses die as the definite article, meaning the.

So in this sentence:

• die bewysfoto = the evidence photo
• die nommerplaat = the license plate / number plate

Afrikaans does not change die for gender, and it is also used with plural nouns in many cases, so it is a very common word.

In a sentence like this, die means the.

A learner should know that:

• die usually = the
• It does not change for masculine/feminine/neuter, unlike in some other languages
• It is used very broadly, so you will see it constantly in Afrikaans

So here, both uses are simply the.

Bewysfoto is a compound noun:

• bewys = proof / evidence
• foto = photo

So bewysfoto literally means evidence photo or proof photo.

Afrikaans very often joins nouns together into one word, just like Dutch and German do. English sometimes does this too, but less consistently.

Because Afrikaans commonly writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• bewys + foto → bewysfoto
• nommer + plaat → nommerplaat

This is very normal in Afrikaans. If you are an English speaker, one of the habits you need to build is expecting many noun combinations to be written as one word.

Yes, it refers to what English speakers call a license plate or number plate, depending on the variety of English.

It is another compound noun:

• nommer = number
• plaat = plate

So nommerplaat literally means number plate.

Bevat means contains.

In this sentence:

• Die bewysfoto bevat die nommerplaat
• The evidence photo contains the license plate

It is a regular present-tense verb form. Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs in many cases because they do not usually change depending on the subject:

• Ek bevat would not normally be used in this meaning, but grammatically the verb form itself does not change much
• Die foto bevat
• Hulle bevat

The verb stays the same.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not agree with the subject in the present tense the way English verbs do.

Compare:

• English: I contain, he contains
• Afrikaans: ek bevat, hy bevat

So in Afrikaans, you usually learn one present-tense form for the verb, not several different ones.

That is one reason Afrikaans grammar often feels simpler to English speakers.

Yes. This sentence uses normal main-clause word order:

• Die bewysfoto = subject
• bevat = verb
• die nommerplaat = object

So it follows the same basic pattern as English:

• The evidence photo contains the license plate
• Subject + Verb + Object

That makes this sentence fairly straightforward for an English speaker.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• be-wace-FOH-toh

More carefully:

• bewys sounds roughly like buh-vace or buh-vaise, depending on accent
• foto is similar to FOH-toh

A few pronunciation notes:

• w in Afrikaans is usually like English v
• y in bewys is not pronounced like English y in yes
• Stress often falls naturally on prominent parts of the word, and foto is usually easy for English speakers to recognize

If you want, you can think of bewys as sounding somewhat like Dutch-style bevice/bevace, though not exactly.

A rough guide is:

• NOM-er-plaht

Parts:

• nommer = roughly NOM-er
• plaat = roughly plaht with a long aa sound

Notes:

• aa in Afrikaans is a long vowel, often like ah in many teaching approximations
• plaat is not pronounced like English plate

So try something closer to plaht than playt.

Yes. Afrikaans uses ’n for a/an.

So if you wanted to say:

• An evidence photo contains a license plate

you could say:

• ’n Bewysfoto bevat ’n nommerplaat

A few useful points:

• ’n is written with an apostrophe
• It is usually not stressed in speech
• Even if it begins a sentence, the apostrophe stays: ’n

Yes, the simple present is completely normal.

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might also use the simple present:

• Die bewysfoto bevat die nommerplaat
• The evidence photo contains the license plate

You do not need a form like English is containing here. In fact, English would not normally use is containing in this sentence either.

Afrikaans usually uses a double negative with nie ... nie.

So:

• Die bewysfoto bevat die nommerplaat.
• Die bewysfoto bevat nie die nommerplaat nie.

This means:

• The evidence photo does not contain the license plate.

That final nie is a very important feature of standard Afrikaans negation.

You could say something along those lines, but it changes the structure and slightly changes the feel of the sentence.

Compare:

• Die bewysfoto bevat die nommerplaat.
  • The photo contains/includes the license plate.
• Die nommerplaat is in die bewysfoto.
  • The license plate is in the evidence photo.

Both may be understandable, but bevat is more direct if you want to say that the plate appears in the photo.

No. Unlike German, Afrikaans does not capitalize all nouns.

So in this sentence:

• bewysfoto is lowercase
• nommerplaat is lowercase

You only capitalize at the beginning of a sentence or for proper names.

Yes.

Likely plural forms are:

• bewysfoto → bewysfoto’s
• nommerplaat → nommerplate

So for example:

• Die bewysfoto’s bevat die nommerplate.

A couple of useful observations:

• Words ending in a vowel like foto often take -’s in the plural
• Words like plaat often form the plural with -e, and spelling may adjust naturally: plaat → plate