Sy lees die titel.

Here sy means she.

So Sy lees die titel = She reads / is reading the title.

A useful warning: sy can also mean his in other sentences, for example sy boek = his book.
In your sentence, though, it clearly means she because it is being used as the subject before the verb lees.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form according to the subject the way English verbs do.

Compare:

• Ek lees = I read
• Jy lees = you read
• Sy lees = she reads
• Ons lees = we read

So lees stays the same. This is one of the simpler parts of Afrikaans grammar.

die here means the.

So:

• die titel = the title

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for nouns, and it does not change for gender. You do not have to learn separate words for the like masculine/feminine/neuter forms.

Also, die is used for both singular and plural:

• die titel = the title
• die titels = the titles

No. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

So die titel sounds more like dee titel, not like English die title.

This is a very common beginner mistake, so it is good to notice it early.

It can mean either, depending on context.

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

• She reads the title
• She is reading the title

If you want to make the ongoing action extra clear, Afrikaans can use other wording, for example:

• Sy is besig om die titel te lees. = She is busy reading the title.
• Sy lees nou die titel. = She is reading the title now.

But Sy lees die titel by itself is perfectly normal.

This is the normal main-clause word order in Afrikaans:

subject + verb + object

So:

• Sy = subject
• lees = verb
• die titel = object

This is similar to basic English word order.

Compare:

• Sy lees die titel. = She reads the title.
• Lees sy die titel? = Does she read the title? / Is she reading the title?

In a yes/no question, the verb comes first.

Because lees here is the main finite verb of the sentence, not an infinitive.

In English, you only use to read in certain structures, not in a normal sentence like She reads the title. The same idea applies here.

So:

• Sy lees die titel. = correct
• not Sy te lees die titel.

Afrikaans does use te in some other structures, but not in this simple present-tense sentence.

You would say:

Sy lees nie die titel nie.

Afrikaans usually uses a double nie in standard negation:

• first nie after the verb or verb phrase
• second nie at the end of the clause

So:

• Sy lees die titel. = She reads the title.
• Sy lees nie die titel nie. = She does not read the title.

This double-negative pattern is a core feature of Afrikaans.

This is a very common question.

• sy = she or sometimes his
• haar = her

Examples:

• Sy lees die titel. = She reads the title.
• Ek sien haar. = I see her.
• Haar boek = Her book.
• Sy boek = His book.

So in your sentence, sy is the subject pronoun she.

Yes. titel is a close cognate of English title.

That makes it easy to remember:

• titel = title

Afrikaans often has words that look familiar to English speakers, especially words of shared Germanic or international origin. The spelling is often a bit more straightforward than in English.

Normally, no, not if you mean the title.

You would usually say:

• Sy lees die titel. = She reads the title.

If you mean a title, you would use:

• Sy lees 'n titel. = She reads a title.

So the article matters, just as it does in English.