Die grootdrukboek is beskikbaar.

The large-print book is available.

Breakdown of Die grootdrukboek is beskikbaar.

• wees: to be
• beskikbaar: available
• die grootdrukboek: large-print book

Questions & Answers about Die grootdrukboek is beskikbaar.

Why is grootdrukboek written as one word?

Because Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often forms compound nouns by writing them together as a single word.

So:

• groot = big / large
• druk = print
• boek = book

Together, grootdrukboek means large-print book.

English often uses spaces or hyphens for this kind of idea, but Afrikaans usually prefers one combined word.

What does die mean here?

Die means the.

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender the way some other European languages do, so die is used as the definite article for all nouns:

• die boek = the book
• die tafel = the table
• die man = the man

It can also be used with plurals:

• die boeke = the books

Why is the sentence Die grootdrukboek is beskikbaar and not something more complicated?

This is a very straightforward Afrikaans sentence pattern:

subject + is + adjective

So:

• Die grootdrukboek = the large-print book
• is = is
• beskikbaar = available

This works just like English:

• The large-print book is available.