Die lêernaam wys die lêerformaat.

The file name shows the file format.

Breakdown of Die lêernaam wys die lêerformaat.

• wys: to show
• die lêernaam: file name
• die lêerformaat: file format

Questions & Answers about Die lêernaam wys die lêerformaat.

Why does the sentence start with Die? Does Afrikaans have gendered articles like de and het in Dutch?

No. Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for almost everything: singular nouns, plural nouns, and nouns of any gender.

So in this sentence:

• die lêernaam = the file name
• die lêerformaat = the file format

Unlike Dutch or German, you do not have to learn different definite articles for different noun genders in Afrikaans.

What does wys mean here?

Wys means shows in this sentence.

So Die lêernaam wys die lêerformaat means that the file name shows or indicates the file format.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form depending on the subject:

• ek wys = I show
• jy wys = you show
• hy wys = he shows
• ons wys = we show

So Afrikaans does not add an extra -s the way English does in he shows.

Why is the word order so similar to English here?