Die vals bodem is in die skatkis.

Die means the.

It appears twice because the sentence has two definite noun phrases:

• die vals bodem = the false bottom
• die skatkis = the treasure chest

Afrikaans uses die for the without changing it for masculine, feminine, or plural in the way some other languages do.

No. In Afrikaans, die is pronounced roughly like dee.

So Die vals bodem... starts with a dee sound, not the English die sound.

Vals means false, fake, or deceptive.

In vals bodem, it means a false bottom: a hidden extra bottom inside something, often used to conceal objects.

So this is not false in the sense of untrue. It is false in the sense of not the real visible bottom.

Bodem means bottom, base, or sometimes floor, depending on context.

In this sentence, it means the bottom of a container-like object.
So vals bodem is literally false bottom.

Because Afrikaans commonly forms compound nouns as a single word.

• skat = treasure
• kis = chest, box, or trunk

Together, skatkis means treasure chest.

This is very normal in Afrikaans. English often uses two words where Afrikaans uses one compound word.

Yes, in this simple sentence it is very close to English word order:

• Die vals bodem = subject
• is = verb
• in die skatkis = prepositional phrase

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + place

That makes this sentence quite easy for an English speaker to follow.

In die skatkis means in the treasure chest or inside the treasure chest.

Here, in is the normal and neutral preposition.

You could also use binne-in for extra emphasis on being physically inside:

• Die vals bodem is binne-in die skatkis.

That sounds a bit more emphatic, like inside rather than just in.

It is grammatical and clear.

However, if you mean that the treasure chest has a false bottom built into it, Afrikaans speakers might often say:

Die skatkis het 'n vals bodem.

That means The treasure chest has a false bottom.

So the given sentence focuses on the location of the false bottom, while Die skatkis het 'n vals bodem focuses on the chest having that feature.