Die bodem is leerhard.

The base is leather-hard.

Breakdown of Die bodem is leerhard.

• wees: to be
• die bodem: base of a vessel
• leerhard: leather-hard

Questions & Answers about Die bodem is leerhard.

What does each word in Die bodem is leerhard do grammatically?

A simple breakdown is:

• Die = the definite article, the
• bodem = the noun, bottom / ground / soil layer / base, depending on context
• is = is
• leerhard = an adjective describing bodem

So the structure is:

subject + is + adjective

That is very similar to English: The ground/base/bottom is ...

Why is die used here?

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, equivalent to English the.

A few useful things about die:

• It does not change for gender.
• It is used for both singular and plural nouns.
• Afrikaans does not have separate forms like the / der / die / das as German does.

So:

• die bodem = the bottom / the soil / the base
• die tafels = the tables

Also, die in Afrikaans is pronounced like dee, not like the English verb die.

What exactly does bodem mean here?