Breakdown of Ek sien baie mense by die partytjie.
ek
I
sien
to see
die
the
by
at
die mense
the people
die partytjie
the party
baie
many
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Questions & Answers about Ek sien baie mense by die partytjie.
How is baie pronounced in this sentence?
It’s pronounced /ˈbai.ə/, roughly like the English bye-uh, with a long ai sound.
What does baie mean here? Is it very or many?
Here baie is a quantifier meaning many or a lot of, not very. When placed before a noun, it denotes quantity rather than degree.
Why is mense used instead of mens? How do you form plurals for this word?
Mens means person and has an irregular plural mense (people). Instead of simply adding -e or -s, the vowel changes and an e is added at the end.
Why do we say by die partytjie for “at the party”? What does by mean?
In Afrikaans by is used for at when indicating location or presence. So by die partytjie means at the party. Using in (in) would imply being inside something more literally.
What is die and how do we pronounce it?
Die is the definite article the. It’s pronounced /di/ with a long ee sound, not like the English word that means “to stop living.”
Why is the verb simply sien instead of something like is seeing?
Afrikaans does not have a continuous tense. The simple present covers both I see and I am seeing, so Ek sien works for both.
Is the word order the same as in English? Why is it Ek sien baie mense rather than rearranged?
Yes. Afrikaans uses Subject-Verb-Object in main clauses, just like English. So Ek (I) – sien (see) – baie mense (many people) keeps the same order.