Breakdown of Die bouplan was voorheen nie gereed nie.
wees
to be
nie
not
gereed
ready
die bouplan
building plan
Questions & Answers about Die bouplan was voorheen nie gereed nie.
Why does the sentence start with die?
Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, equivalent to English the.
A useful thing for English speakers to know is that Afrikaans does not change the article for gender or number:
- die bouplan = the building plan
- die man = the man
- die vrou = the woman
- die planne = the plans
So die is much simpler than articles in many other languages.
What is bouplan, and why is it written as one word?
Bouplan is a compound noun:
- bou = build / building
- plan = plan
Together, bouplan means building plan or construction plan.
Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, often writes compound nouns as one word. So where English might write building plan, Afrikaans commonly uses bouplan.
Why is the verb was used here?