Die harnas en klimtou is gereed.

to be

Breakdown of Die harnas en klimtou is gereed.

• en: and
• gereed: ready
• die harnas: climbing harness

Questions & Answers about Die harnas en klimtou is gereed.

What does die mean here?

Die is the definite article, so it means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So unlike languages that change the article for masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, or plural, Afrikaans keeps it simple here.

Why is there only one die before two nouns?

In Afrikaans, one die can cover both nouns when they are linked by en and both are understood as definite.

So Die harnas en klimtou means the harness and climbing rope.

You could also say Die harnas en die klimtou is gereed, which is also correct. Repeating die just makes each noun a little more individually marked.

Why is klimtou written as one word?

Afrikaans normally writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• klim = climb / climbing
• tou = rope
• klimtou = climbing rope

This is very common in Afrikaans. English often uses two words where Afrikaans prefers one compound word.

Why is the verb is used even though there are two things?