Questions & Answers about Die middagson is warm, maar die bus is koel.
Why is middagson written as a single word, while in English it’s “afternoon sun”?
In Afrikaans, compound nouns are normally closed as single words. When two nouns combine to form a new concept (in this case middag + son = middagson, “afternoon sun”), you join them into one word without a space or hyphen.
How does the definite article die work in this sentence?
Afrikaans uses only one definite article: die, for all genders and numbers. You say die for singular and plural (e.g. die bus, die busse). Here die marks both die middagson (“the afternoon sun”) and die bus (“the bus”) as definite.
Why don’t the adjectives warm and koel change form (for example, by adding an –e)?
Predicative adjectives in Afrikaans (adjectives following a linking verb like is) stay in their base form. You only add –e when an adjective is attributive and the noun is definite (e.g. die warm middagson, “the warm afternoon sun”). After is, however, you keep warm and koel unchanged.
Why is there a comma before maar? Is it always required?