Sy sien die groot appel.

She sees the big apple.

Breakdown of Sy sien die groot appel.

• die appel: the apple
• sy: she
• sien: to see
• groot: big
• die: the

Questions & Answers about Sy sien die groot appel.

Why is the word for "she" in Afrikaans spelled as sy, not something like sy vs. sy with an accent?

Afrikaans doesn't typically use accents on pronouns. The form sy (pronounced roughly like "say") is the third-person singular female pronoun, meaning she.

Why do we say sien and not another verb for "see"?

In Afrikaans, sien directly translates to see in English. It’s the basic verb to indicate the action of seeing something or someone. Other verbs like kyk (look/watch) might appear in different contexts (for example, sy kyk na die appel would emphasize that she is "looking at" the apple rather than just "seeing" it).

Is there a difference between die (the definite article) and the English "the"?

Afrikaans uses die for both singular and plural definite nouns, unlike English which has only the as a definite article. Afrikaans doesn’t distinguish between masculine, feminine, or neuter, so die is used universally where English would use "the."

Why does groot come before appel?

In Afrikaans, as in English, adjectives generally come before the noun. Here, groot modifies appel to indicate size, so the correct placement is die groot appel (the big apple).

Do adjectives in Afrikaans have to agree in gender/number with the noun?

Adjectives in Afrikaans do not change form based on gender or number. For the most part, you use the same adjective in front of a singular or plural noun without altering its form, unlike in some other languages where adjectives must agree in gender or number.