Breakdown of Die brilvoorskrif verander, behalwe dat die lenssterkte dieselfde bly.
bly
to stay
verander
to change
dieselfde
the same
behalwe dat ...
except that; besides the fact that
Questions & Answers about Die brilvoorskrif verander, behalwe dat die lenssterkte dieselfde bly.
Why is brilvoorskrif written as one long word?
Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often forms compound nouns by writing them as a single word.
So:
- bril = glasses
- voorskrif = prescription
Together, brilvoorskrif means glasses prescription or eyeglass prescription.
This is very normal in Afrikaans. A few similar examples are:
- huisdeur = house door / front door
- tafeldoek = tablecloth
- oogarts = eye doctor
So if you see a long noun in Afrikaans, it is often just several ideas combined into one word.
What does die mean here, and why is it used twice?
Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.
In this sentence:
- Die brilvoorskrif = The glasses prescription
- die lenssterkte = the lens strength
Afrikaans uses die for all nouns, whether singular or plural, and it does not change for gender. That is much simpler than languages like German or French.
So:
- die man = the man
- die vrou = the woman
- die kinders = the children
It appears twice simply because there are two definite nouns in the sentence.