Die vyfde kamer is skoon.

The fifth room is clean.

Breakdown of Die vyfde kamer is skoon.

• die: the
• wees: to be
• skoon: clean
• die kamer: the room

Questions & Answers about Die vyfde kamer is skoon.

Why is die used as the definite article, and how is it pronounced?

die is the only definite article in Afrikaans, equivalent to English the. It does not change for gender or number and is pronounced /diː/ (like “dee”).

How is the ordinal vyfde formed?

To form ordinals you generally add -de to the cardinal number. Here vyf (5) + -de → vyfde (5th). A few numbers are irregular (e.g. een→eerste, twee→tweede, drie→derde). Numbers ending in -tig (20, 30, …) take -ste, for example twintig→twintigste.

Why doesn’t skoon take an -e ending?

In Die vyfde kamer is skoon the word skoon is a predicate adjective (it follows the copula is), and predicate adjectives in Afrikaans stay in their base form. Adjectives only get -e when used attributively before a noun, for example ’n skone kamer (‘a clean room’).

Why does is appear in the second position?