Die intonasie verbeter.

The intonation improves.

Breakdown of Die intonasie verbeter.

• verbeter: to improve
• die intonasie: intonation in music

Questions & Answers about Die intonasie verbeter.

What does die mean here?

Here die is the definite article, meaning the.

A very important Afrikaans point: die is used for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike languages such as German or Dutch, you do not have to learn different forms for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

Examples:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kind = the child
• die boeke = the books

Also, it is pronounced like dee, not like the English word die.

Is intonasie basically the same word as English intonation?

Yes. Intonasie is a close cognate of English intonation. That makes it easy to recognize.

A useful pattern is that Afrikaans words ending in -sie often correspond to English words ending in -tion or -sion.

So:

• intonasie = intonation
• organisasie = organization
• nasie = nation

That means this sentence is fairly friendly for an English speaker: the noun looks familiar, and the grammar is simple.

Why is verbeter translated as improves even though it does not end in -s?