Die energie-oudit meet die energieverbruik.

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

It appears twice because there are two noun phrases:

• die energie-oudit = the energy audit
• die energieverbruik = the energy consumption

Afrikaans does not change die for gender, and it is also used for plural nouns, so it is a very flexible word.

Yes. This sentence follows the basic Subject–Verb–Object pattern:

• Die energie-oudit = subject
• meet = verb
• die energieverbruik = object

So in this kind of simple main clause, Afrikaans looks very similar to English.

Yes. In Afrikaans, meet means measure.

So this is a classic false friend for English speakers: it looks like the English verb meet, but it has a different meaning.

Related forms:

• meet = measure
• gemeet = measured

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form for person or number in the present tense.

So you get:

• ek meet
• jy meet
• hy/sy/dit meet
• ons meet
• hulle meet

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add -s for he/she/it in the present tense.

Afrikaans often uses hyphens in compounds when they make the word easier to read, especially when vowels would otherwise run into each other awkwardly or when a newer/borrowed word is involved.

Here, energie + oudit would be visually awkward as energieoudit, so energie-oudit is clearer and easier to read.

Afrikaans strongly prefers writing compounds as one word.

So energieverbruik is a normal solid compound:

• energie
  • verbruik → energieverbruik

The reason energie-oudit has a hyphen is mainly readability. So both forms reflect normal Afrikaans compounding, but one uses a hyphen for clarity.

No, not in the way languages like German do.

Afrikaans does not have separate definite articles for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. Die works across the board, which makes articles much simpler for learners.

So you do not need to memorize noun gender in order to choose the correct form of the.

Here it is a noun.

You can tell because it is preceded by die, so die energieverbruik is a noun phrase.

But verbruik can also be a verb in other contexts, where it means consume or use up.

So Afrikaans can use the same form as:

• a noun: verbruik = consumption
• a verb: verbruik = consume

In Afrikaans, die is pronounced roughly like dee, not like the English word die.

So the sentence begins with:

• die → dee

That is one of the first pronunciation traps for English speakers, because the spelling looks familiar but the sound is different.

Yes, absolutely. That is a very useful way to understand them.

Afrikaans loves compound nouns, and English speakers should get used to spotting them.

Here:

• energie-oudit = energy + audit
• energieverbruik = energy + consumption/use

Once you learn to break compounds into parts, Afrikaans vocabulary becomes much easier to decode.