Die koffie proe bitter.

Word by word:

• Die = the
• koffie = coffee
• proe = taste / tastes
• bitter = bitter

So the sentence literally matches English quite closely: The coffee tastes bitter.

In Afrikaans, die is the normal definite article for the.

A very helpful point for English speakers: Afrikaans does not split nouns into different article categories like Dutch de/het or German der/die/das. In ordinary usage, you can use die for singular and plural definite nouns.

So:

• die koffie = the coffee
• die boeke = the books

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form depending on the subject the way English verbs sometimes do.

Compare:

• English: I taste, he tastes
• Afrikaans: ek proe, hy proe, die koffie proe

So proe stays the same regardless of whether the subject is I, you, he, or the coffee.

That is one of the simpler parts of Afrikaans grammar.

It can work in both ways, depending on context.

In Die koffie proe bitter, proe works like a linking verb, similar to English tastes in The coffee tastes bitter. It describes the flavor of the coffee.

But proe can also mean to taste something / try something:

• Ek proe die sop. = I taste the soup.

So the verb can be:

• transitive: tasting something
• linking/descriptive: something tastes a certain way

In your sentence, it is the second use.

Because bitter is being used after the verb as a predicate adjective.

In Afrikaans, adjectives often look different depending on where they appear:

• attributive: before a noun
• predicative: after a linking verb like is, lyk, proe

Here, bitter comes after proe, so it is a predicate adjective, and the basic form is used:

• Die koffie proe bitter.

Compare that with an adjective before a noun:

• die bitter koffie = the bitter coffee

In this case, bitter still stays bitter, but many adjectives do show a changed form in attributive position. The important point here is that after proe, the plain form is expected.

Yes, smaak is also very common in this kind of sentence.

You may hear both:

• Die koffie proe bitter.
• Die koffie smaak bitter.

Both can mean The coffee tastes bitter.

A rough guide:

• proe is closely connected to the act or result of tasting
• smaak is often used for how something tastes in a more general sense

In everyday Afrikaans, smaak may sound especially natural in many contexts, but proe bitter is also completely understandable and correct.

The word order is straightforward:

• Die koffie = subject
• proe = verb
• bitter = complement/adjective

So it follows the basic Afrikaans main-clause pattern:

Subject + Verb + Rest

That makes it very similar to English:

• The coffee
  • tastes
    • bitter

In a normal yes/no question, Afrikaans usually puts the verb first:

• Proe die koffie bitter?

This means Does the coffee taste bitter? or Does the coffee taste bitter to you?

That verb-first pattern is very common in Afrikaans questions.

Afrikaans usually uses the double negative pattern with nie ... nie:

• Die koffie proe nie bitter nie.

That means The coffee does not taste bitter.

This is one of the most important grammar patterns in Afrikaans. Very often, one nie comes after the verb or the part being negated, and another nie comes near the end of the clause.

Proe can be a little tricky for English speakers because of the vowel combination oe.

A useful approximation is something like:

• proo-uh said quickly as one syllable or almost one syllable

And:

• oe in Afrikaans usually sounds like the vowel in English food
• so proe has that oo-type sound in it

Meanwhile:

• koffie sounds roughly like KOFF-ee
• bitter is close to English bitter, though with Afrikaans pronunciation

Yes, you can, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• Die koffie is bitter. = The coffee is bitter.
• Die koffie proe bitter. = The coffee tastes bitter.

The first one is a more direct statement about the coffee's quality.
The second focuses specifically on the taste experience.

In many contexts they are very close in meaning, but proe bitter is more specifically about flavor.