Die lekkasie is onder die wasmasjien.

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• Die = the
• lekkasie = leak
• is = is
• onder = under / beneath
• die wasmasjien = the washing machine

So the full sentence means The leak is under the washing machine.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

It is used before both nouns here because both are definite:

• die lekkasie = the leak
• die wasmasjien = the washing machine

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the for gender or number. It stays die for all nouns.

No. Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender in the way languages like German or Dutch do.

That means:

• you do not need to learn masculine, feminine, or neuter noun forms
• the article die works for the regardless of gender
• adjectives and articles are much simpler than in many European languages

So die lekkasie and die wasmasjien both use die, and there is no gender distinction to worry about.

Yes. Lekkasie is a noun meaning leak or leakage, and it is related to lek, which is the basic idea of leaking.

For example:

• Daar is 'n lekkasie. = There is a leak.
• Die pyp lek. = The pipe leaks.

So:

• lek is often used as a verb: to leak
• lekkasie is a noun: a leak / leakage

Afrikaans and English are both Germanic languages, so some common words look very similar.

In this sentence, is works just like English is:

• Die lekkasie is ... = The leak is ...

This is one of the easier parts of Afrikaans for English speakers.

Yes. Onder means under, below, or beneath.

In this sentence:

• onder die wasmasjien = under the washing machine

It is a preposition, just like under in English.

Other examples:

• Die kat is onder die tafel. = The cat is under the table.
• Die skoene is onder die bed. = The shoes are under the bed.

Afrikaans often forms compound nouns by joining words together into one word.

So:

• was = wash
• masjien = machine
• wasmasjien = washing machine

This is very common in Afrikaans. English sometimes writes similar ideas as two words, but Afrikaans often combines them.

Other examples of compounds in Afrikaans include:

• huisdeur = house door / front door
• tafeldoek = tablecloth

Yes, this is a very normal Afrikaans sentence pattern:

• Die lekkasie = subject
• is = verb
• onder die wasmasjien = prepositional phrase telling location

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + place

That is very similar to English:

The leak + is + under the washing machine

Yes, absolutely. That would mean:

There is a leak under the washing machine.

This version introduces the leak as new information. Compare:

• Die lekkasie is onder die wasmasjien.
  = The leak is under the washing machine.
  This sounds like you already know which leak you mean.

• Daar is 'n lekkasie onder die wasmasjien.
  = There is a leak under the washing machine.
  This introduces the leak for the first time.

So the difference is mainly about whether the leak is already known or is being newly mentioned.

Afrikaans has:

• 'n = a / an
• die = the

So:

• 'n lekkasie = a leak
• die lekkasie = the leak

A useful detail: 'n is written with an apostrophe and is normally not stressed in speech. The main stress usually falls on the noun after it.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• lekkasie ≈ lek-KAH-see
• wasmasjien ≈ vahs-ma-SHEEN or vas-ma-SHEEN depending on accent

A few pronunciation notes:

• w in Afrikaans is usually pronounced more like v than English w
• j in masjien sounds like the y sound in English spelling terms, but in this word the combination gives a sheen-like ending
• the g sound does not appear in this sentence, so that common difficulty is not an issue here

Exact pronunciation varies a bit by accent, but those guides are close enough to help a beginner.

In this sentence, it describes where the leak is:

• Die lekkasie = the thing being talked about
• is onder die wasmasjien = is under the washing machine

So the sentence means the leak is located there.

In context, a speaker might mean:

• the water is coming from under the washing machine
• the visible puddle is under the washing machine

But grammatically, onder die wasmasjien simply gives the location.

The plural is usually lekkasies:

• die lekkasie = the leak
• die lekkasies = the leaks

Example:

• Die lekkasies is onder die wasmasjien. = The leaks are under the washing machine.

Notice that die still stays the same in the plural.

It is neutral and completely natural in everyday Afrikaans.

You could use it in:

• normal conversation
• a message to a landlord
• talking to a repair person
• describing a problem at home

It is neither especially formal nor especially casual. It is just a straightforward statement.