Die roman is lank.

The novel is long.

Breakdown of Die roman is lank.

• wees: to be
• lank: long
• die roman: novel

Questions & Answers about Die roman is lank.

What does die mean here, and is it pronounced like the English word die?

Here die means the.

It is not pronounced like the English word die. In Afrikaans it is pronounced roughly like dee.

So Die roman = The novel.

Does die change for masculine, feminine, or plural nouns?

No. Afrikaans does not use different definite articles for grammatical gender the way some languages do.

die is used very widely as the, including:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns

So learners often find it pleasantly simple.

What does roman mean exactly?

Roman means novel.

It is more specific than boek, which means book in general. So:

• die boek = the book
• die roman = the novel

Why is is the same as in English?