Die mondhigiënis verwyder die tandsteen.

No. In this sentence, die is the Afrikaans definite article the, and it is pronounced roughly like dee.

That is one of the first things English speakers notice, because it looks identical to the English verb die, but here it has nothing to do with death.

Because Afrikaans uses die for the before both the subject and the object:

• die mondhigiënis = the dental hygienist
• die tandsteen = the tartar / the dental calculus

Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender, case, or usually even number. So the same word die is used very widely.

No. Afrikaans does not have the kind of grammatical gender system that learners may know from languages like German or French.

So you do not need different words for the depending on whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. It is simply die.

It is a compound noun:

• mond = mouth
• higiënis = hygienist

So the literal idea is mouth hygienist, but in normal English you would translate it as dental hygienist.

Compound nouns are very common in Afrikaans, just as they are in Dutch and German.

It is also a compound noun:

• tand = tooth
• steen = stone

Literally, it looks like tooth-stone, but the actual meaning is tartar or dental calculus.

So this is a good example of a word whose parts are transparent, even though the normal English translation is not literal.

Because Afrikaans verbs do not change in the present tense the way English verbs do.

You say:

• ek verwyder
• jy verwyder
• hy verwyder
• ons verwyder
• hulle verwyder

So in this sentence, verwyder stays the same. Afrikaans is much simpler than English in this respect.

Yes. This sentence follows the basic Subject–Verb–Object pattern:

• Die mondhigiënis = subject
• verwyder = verb
• die tandsteen = object

So it lines up neatly with English.

One useful extra point: in Afrikaans main clauses, the finite verb normally stays in the second position. So if another element comes first, the verb still comes second:

• Vandag verwyder die mondhigiënis die tandsteen.

The ë shows that the vowel must be pronounced separately, not merged into one sound.

So higiënis is pronounced in separate syllables, roughly like hi-gi-ë-nis, rather than treating ië as a single unit.

This mark is called a diaeresis. In Afrikaans, it often helps show syllable division.

No. Mondhigiënis can refer to either a male or a female dental hygienist.

Afrikaans job titles are often not marked for gender. If needed, context or pronouns such as hy or sy make the person’s sex clear.

Afrikaans normally uses a double nie in negation:

Die mondhigiënis verwyder nie die tandsteen nie.

That is the standard Afrikaans negative pattern:

• first nie usually comes after the verb or verbal part
• second nie comes at the end of the clause

This is one of the most important sentence patterns in Afrikaans.

A common past-tense form would be:

Die mondhigiënis het die tandsteen verwyder.

Here:

• het is the auxiliary
• verwyder stays as the past participle form

So this works much like has removed or removed in English, depending on context.