Die roofvoël het 'n groot vlerkspan.

to have

Breakdown of Die roofvoël het 'n groot vlerkspan.

• 'n: a
• groot: large
• die roofvoël: bird of prey

Questions & Answers about Die roofvoël het 'n groot vlerkspan.

What does die mean here, and is it singular or plural?

Die means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for both singular and plural nouns, and it does not change for gender. So:

• die roofvoël = the bird of prey
• die roofvoëls = the birds of prey

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

Why is roofvoël written as one word?

Afrikaans forms compound nouns very readily, and they are usually written as a single word.

So:

• roof
  • voël → roofvoël

This is very normal in Afrikaans. English often uses separate words where Afrikaans prefers one compound word.

Also, roof here does not mean the roof of a house. In Afrikaans, a house roof is dak. Here roof relates to robbing, seizing, or preying on something, so roofvoël means a predatory bird, or bird of prey.

What is the purpose of the two dots in voël?

The two dots are a diaeresis. They show that the vowels are pronounced separately rather than blending into one sound.

So voël is pronounced in two syllables, roughly like foo-uhl for an English speaker.

Without the diaeresis, a learner might try to read the vowels as a single unit. The dots help prevent that.

What does mean in this sentence?