Die agterwaartse pas is moeilik.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, usually meaning the.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender, and it also uses die for both many singular and plural nouns. So unlike languages such as German or Dutch, you do not have to memorize different forms like the for masculine/feminine/neuter.

In this sentence, die agterwaartse pas = the backward step/pass.

This is because the word is being used before a noun.

• agterwaarts = backward / backwards
• agterwaartse = the attributive form, used before a noun

So:

• 'n pas is agterwaarts = a step is backward
• 'n agterwaartse pas = a backward step

This -e ending is very common in Afrikaans when an adjective comes directly before a noun.

Pas can have a few meanings depending on context, such as:

• step
• pace
• sometimes pass

In this sentence, it most naturally means step or possibly move, depending on the context you were given.

So die agterwaartse pas is something like the backward step.

Because moeilik comes after the verb is.

In Afrikaans, adjectives often behave like this:

• before a noun: they often take -e
• after the verb: they usually stay in the basic form

Compare:

• die moeilike oefening = the difficult exercise
• die oefening is moeilik = the exercise is difficult

So here:

• Die agterwaartse pas = adjective before noun, so agterwaartse
• is moeilik = adjective after is, so just moeilik

Yes, in this simple sentence it is very similar to English:

• Die agterwaartse pas = subject
• is = verb
• moeilik = complement/adjective

So the structure is:

Subject + is + adjective

This makes the sentence quite straightforward for an English speaker.

Yes. Is is the present-tense form of wees (to be) and works much like English is.

So:

• Dit is maklik = It is easy
• Die pas is moeilik = The step is difficult

In this sentence, is links the subject to the description moeilik.

A rough guide is MOOY-lik or MOO-ee-lik, depending on accent and how carefully it is spoken.

A few pronunciation notes:

• oe in Afrikaans usually sounds like oo in food
• the ui sound in Afrikaans can be tricky for English speakers, but in moeilik many learners approximate it successfully at first with something like moo-ee
• the stress is usually near the beginning: MOEI-lik

You do not need a perfect accent immediately; the key thing is to recognize that oe is not pronounced like English oh.

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation is:

AKH-ter-vaar-tseh

Helpful notes:

• g in Afrikaans is usually a throaty sound, not the English g in go
• aa is a long a sound, roughly like father
• the final -se is usually a light seh sound

Even if you pronounce the g more softly at first, you will still be understood in many learning situations.

Because Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender in the same way many other European languages do.

That means you do not have to learn separate words for:

• masculine the
• feminine the
• neuter the

You simply use die as the definite article here. This is one reason many learners find Afrikaans grammar relatively approachable.

Yes, that is grammatically possible, but it means something slightly different in structure.

Compare:

• Die agterwaartse pas is moeilik.
  = The backward step is difficult.

• Die pas is agterwaarts.
  = The step is backward.

In the first sentence, agterwaartse is part of the noun phrase describing pas. In the second, agterwaarts is a description after the verb.

So both are possible, but they are built differently.

In this sentence, agterwaartse is functioning as an adjective because it describes the noun pas.

The related form agterwaarts can often function more like an adverb, for example:

• Hy loop agterwaarts. = He walks backwards.

But in:

• die agterwaartse pas

it is clearly adjectival because it modifies a noun.

It is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Afrikaans does not capitalize ordinary nouns the way German does.

So:

• Die agterwaartse pas is moeilik.
• In the middle of a sentence: ... die agterwaartse pas ...

A very useful pattern is:

Die + adjective + noun + is + adjective

Using this sentence:

• Die = the
• agterwaartse = backward
• pas = step/pass
• is = is
• moeilik = difficult

You can build many similar sentences:

• Die lang pad is moeilik. = The long road is difficult.
• Die nuwe oefening is maklik. = The new exercise is easy.

This sentence is a good example of two important Afrikaans ideas at once:

1. adjectives before nouns often take -e
2. adjectives after is usually do not