Die bloedsak is leeg.

to be

Breakdown of Die bloedsak is leeg.

• leeg: empty
• die bloedsak: blood-collection bag

Questions & Answers about Die bloedsak is leeg.

Why is die used here?

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, equivalent to English the.

A useful thing for English speakers: Afrikaans does not have different forms like the/a/an based on gender. There is no masculine/feminine/neuter article system like in some other languages.

So:

• die bloedsak = the blood bag

Also, die is used for both singular and plural nouns, so context and the noun form tell you whether it is one thing or more than one.

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Is bloedsak really one word?

Yes. Afrikaans very often writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• bloed = blood
• sak = bag
• bloedsak = blood bag

This is very normal in Afrikaans and similar to Dutch and German. English often separates these into two words, but Afrikaans usually joins them.

Other examples of this pattern are things like:

• handsak = handbag
• waterbottel = water bottle

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Why is the sentence order Die bloedsak is leeg?

This is the normal word order for a simple main clause in Afrikaans:

• subject
  • verb
    • complement

So here:

• Die bloedsak = subject
• is = verb
• leeg = complement/adjective

It works much like English The blood bag is empty.

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