Die bruin rubberseël is beskadig.

The brown rubber seal is damaged.

Breakdown of Die bruin rubberseël is beskadig.

• wees: to be
• beskadig: damaged
• die rubberseël: rubber seal
• bruin: brown

Questions & Answers about Die bruin rubberseël is beskadig.

Why does the sentence start with die? Does it mean the?

Yes. Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so here it means the.

A useful point for English speakers: Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender or number. So die can mean:

• the brown rubber seal
• the brown rubber seals

You work out singular or plural from the noun or the context, not from the article itself.

Why is bruin not changed? I expected something like an extra ending on the adjective.

Good question. In Afrikaans, adjectives before nouns often do take an -e ending, but not always. Some adjectives, especially certain simple color words and some others in common usage, can appear without that ending in fixed or natural combinations.

So die bruin rubberseël is normal Afrikaans for the brown rubber seal.

This is one of those areas where learners should pay attention to real examples, because adjective inflection in Afrikaans is simpler than in Dutch or German, but not completely automatic in every case.

What exactly is rubberseël? Is it one word because Afrikaans likes compounds?