Die wasmiddellaai is leeg.

to be

Breakdown of Die wasmiddellaai is leeg.

• leeg: empty
• die wasmiddellaai: detergent drawer

Questions & Answers about Die wasmiddellaai is leeg.

What does die mean here?

Die means the.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike languages such as German or Dutch, you do not have to learn different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

---

Why is wasmiddellaai written as one long word?

Because Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often writes compound nouns as a single word.

So instead of writing something like detergent drawer as two separate words, Afrikaans combines the parts into one noun:

• wasmiddel = detergent
• laai = drawer

Together: wasmiddellaai = detergent drawer

This is completely normal in Afrikaans.

---

How is wasmiddellaai built up?