Sy lees die roman.

she

Breakdown of Sy lees die roman.

• lees: to read
• die roman: novel

Questions & Answers about Sy lees die roman.

What exactly does sy mean here?

Here, sy means she.

A common point of confusion is that sy can also mean his in other sentences, for example sy boek = his book. But in Sy lees die roman, it comes before the verb and works as the subject, so it clearly means she.

Why is the verb lees the same for she? Shouldn’t it change like English reads?

In Afrikaans, verbs do not change form the way they do in English for different subjects in the present tense.

So you get:

• ek lees = I read
• jy lees = you read
• sy lees = she reads
• ons lees = we read

Unlike English, there is no special -s ending for he/she/it. That makes Afrikaans verb conjugation much simpler.

Does Sy lees die roman mean She reads the novel or She is reading the novel?