Sy sien nie hierdie kat nie.

She does not see this cat.

Breakdown of Sy sien nie hierdie kat nie.

• sy: she
• sien: to see
• die kat: the cat
• nie: not
• hierdie: this

Questions & Answers about Sy sien nie hierdie kat nie.

Why are there two nie words in the sentence?

Afrikaans uses double negation, which means you typically place the first nie immediately after the verb and the second nie at the end of the sentence. It’s simply part of the normal way to form a negative sentence in Afrikaans, even though it might look unusual to English speakers.

What is the function of hierdie?

Hierdie is a demonstrative pronoun/adjective indicating something near the speaker (similar to "this" in English). It’s used before the noun kat to point out a specific cat that is close by.

Why is the sy at the beginning of the sentence rather than after the verb, like in English?

In Afrikaans, the standard sentence structure is often subject–verb–object, so sy (which means "she") comes first, followed by the verb sien ("sees"). This is similar to English word order, except you have the double negative nie later.

Could we change hierdie to daardie, and would it affect the sentence’s structure?

Yes, you could change hierdie (meaning "this") to daardie (meaning "that") if you’re referring to a cat farther away. The structure remains the same: Sy sien nie daardie kat nie. Only the demonstrative pronoun changes, indicating a different distance or relevance.

Is sien only for literal seeing, or can it mean "understand" as in English?

In Afrikaans, sien most commonly means "to see" literally. For "to understand," Afrikaans often uses verbs like verstaan. However, in casual speech, sien might sometimes be used figuratively for "get/understand," but that usage is less common than in English.