Ons bespreek die troue.

In modern Afrikaans, ons is the normal word for we.

So in Ons bespreek die troue, ons is the subject: we.

A useful thing to know is that ons can also mean us or our, depending on how it is used:

• Ons bespreek die troue. = We discuss the wedding.
• Hulle sien ons. = They see us.
• ons troue = our wedding

So the meaning depends on position and sentence structure.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject in the present tense.

That means the same verb form is used with different subjects:

• Ek bespreek
• Jy bespreek
• Hy bespreek
• Ons bespreek
• Hulle bespreek

This is much simpler than English, where you get forms like I discuss but he discusses.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• We discuss the wedding
• We are discussing the wedding

If you want to make the ongoing action extra explicit, Afrikaans can use a longer structure such as:

• Ons is besig om die troue te bespreek. = We are busy discussing the wedding.

But the shorter sentence Ons bespreek die troue is perfectly normal.

Here, bespreek means discuss.

So Ons bespreek die troue means that we are talking over / discussing the wedding.

Be aware that bespreek can also mean book or reserve in other contexts, for example with rooms, tables, or tickets. So the exact meaning depends on what follows it.

In this sentence, with die troue, the natural meaning is discuss.

die is the definite article, meaning the.

Afrikaans keeps this simple because die is used:

• for singular nouns
• for plural nouns
• regardless of gender

So:

• die troue = the wedding
• die troues = the weddings

Unlike languages such as German or Dutch, Afrikaans does not have different forms of the for masculine, feminine, neuter, or case.

Troue is the normal noun meaning wedding.

It is related to trou, which is connected with ideas like marry or faithful, but the noun itself is normally troue.

So you should learn:

• 'n troue = a wedding
• die troue = the wedding

In other words, troue is the standard dictionary form of the noun here.

This sentence has the basic main-clause word order:

Subject + verb + object

• Ons = subject
• bespreek = verb
• die troue = object

So:

• Ons bespreek die troue.

This is the most straightforward order in Afrikaans.

A very important rule, though, is that Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses. That means if you move another element to the front, the verb still stays in second position:

• Vandag bespreek ons die troue. = Today we discuss the wedding.

Notice that bespreek still comes second.

You would normally say:

Ons het die troue bespreek.

That is the usual Afrikaans past-tense pattern:

het + past participle

A detail learners often ask about: why is it not ge-bespreek?

The answer is that verbs with certain prefixes, including be-, usually do not take ge- in the past participle. Since bespreek starts with be-, the participle stays bespreek.

So:

• Ons bespreek die troue. = We discuss / are discussing the wedding.
• Ons het die troue bespreek. = We discussed the wedding.

Afrikaans usually uses a double nie for negation.

So the negative form is:

Ons bespreek nie die troue nie.

This pattern is very common:

subject + verb + nie + rest + nie

For example:

• Ons eet die koek. = We eat the cake.
• Ons eet nie die koek nie. = We do not eat the cake.

So with your sentence:

• Ons bespreek nie die troue nie.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

ons buh-SPRAYK dee TROW-uh

A few notes:

• ons sounds roughly like ons in ponds, but without a strong English diphthong
• bespreek has the stress on the second part: be-SPREEK
• die as the article the is pronounced dee
• troue is roughly TROW-uh, with two syllables

This is only an approximation, but it is a useful starting point.

Because Afrikaans does not capitalize common nouns the way German does.

So you write:

• die troue
• die tafel
• die boek

Only proper nouns and the first word of a sentence are capitalized.

That is why Ons has a capital letter here, but troue does not.