Die wetenskaplike verduidelik die beginsel.

Because die means the in Afrikaans, and it is used for both nouns:

• die wetenskaplike = the scientist
• die beginsel = the principle

Unlike languages such as German, Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender or most case distinctions. So the same word, die, works for masculine, feminine, neuter, and plural nouns.

Here, wetenskaplike is a noun, meaning scientist.

This can be confusing because forms ending in -like can look adjective-like to English speakers. But in this sentence, die wetenskaplike clearly functions as the subject, so it means the scientist.

Related word:

• wetenskap = science
• wetenskaplike = scientist or sometimes scientific depending on context

So context tells you how it is being used.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not conjugate the way English verbs do.

In English:

• I explain
• he explains

In Afrikaans:

• ek verduidelik
• hy verduidelik
• die wetenskaplike verduidelik

The verb stays the same. Afrikaans is much simpler than English in this way.

Yes, in this sentence it is.

The structure is:

• Die wetenskaplike = subject
• verduidelik = verb
• die beginsel = object

So the pattern is Subject–Verb–Object, just like in English:

• The scientist explains the principle.

This makes basic Afrikaans statements feel quite familiar to English speakers.

Beginsel means principle.

It usually refers to:

• a basic idea
• a rule
• a guiding concept
• a fundamental principle

So in this sentence, die beginsel is the thing being explained.

You mainly know from word order.

In Die wetenskaplike verduidelik die beginsel:

• Die wetenskaplike comes before the verb, so it is the subject: the one doing the action
• die beginsel comes after the verb, so it is the object: the thing being explained

Afrikaans usually relies more on position in the sentence than on case endings.

Yes, the noun would change, but the verb would usually stay the same.

Singular:

• Die wetenskaplike verduidelik die beginsel.

Plural:

• Die wetenskaplikes verduidelik die beginsel.

Notice:

• wetenskaplike → wetenskaplikes
• verduidelik stays verduidelik

Again, this shows how simple Afrikaans verb forms often are.

You would use the indefinite article ’n:

• ’n Wetenskaplike verduidelik die beginsel.

A few useful notes:

• ’n means a or an
• it is written with a lowercase letter, even at the beginning of a sentence in normal spelling conventions, though the next word is capitalized
• when speaking, the ’n is usually unstressed

So:

• Die wetenskaplike = the scientist
• ’n wetenskaplike = a scientist

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• ver-DUY-de-lik or fer-DUY-de-lik

A few pronunciation notes:

• ver- is often pronounced with a sound somewhat like fer
• dui sounds a bit like duy in duyne, close to d-eye but not exactly
• the final -lik is lighter than English speakers often expect

Pronunciation varies somewhat by speaker and accent, but that guide will get you close.

Yes, mainly its length and rhythm.

A rough guide is:

• VET-en-skhap-li-ke
  or more carefully
• VET-en-skap-luh-kə

Things to notice:

• w in Afrikaans sounds like English v
• sk is pronounced clearly
• the word is built from wetenskap
  • -like

Many learners want to over-pronounce every syllable, but in natural speech some syllables are lighter.

Not naturally in this context. The normal meaning here is the scientist.

Even though wetenskaplike can relate to scientific in some contexts, in this sentence it is best understood as a noun referring to a person whose role or profession is in science.

So the natural translation is:

• The scientist explains the principle.

Yes. In a main clause like this one, the verb is in the normal second position:

• Die wetenskaplike verduidelik die beginsel.

But in some other structures, especially subordinate clauses, the verb can move later.

For example:

• Ek weet dat die wetenskaplike die beginsel verduidelik.
• I know that the scientist explains the principle.

So this sentence shows basic main-clause word order, but Afrikaans does also have verb movement in other sentence types.