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Questions & Answers about Die verslag is onvolledig.
What does Die mean in this sentence?
Die is the definite article “the.” In Afrikaans there is no gender or case on articles, so die always means “the.”
What part of speech is verslag and what does it mean?
verslag is a noun meaning “report.” There’s no grammatical gender in Afrikaans, so you don’t have to match gender or use different articles.
How would you say “a report” instead of “the report”?
Use the indefinite article ’n (pronounced like “uhn”).
So “a report” is ’n verslag.
What is is doing here?
is is the present‐tense form of “to be,” just like English “is.” It links the subject (Die verslag) to the predicate adjective (onvolledig).
What does onvolledig mean?
onvolledig means “incomplete.” It’s the opposite of volledig, which means “complete.”
Why doesn’t onvolledig take an -e ending like attributive adjectives do?
Because here it’s used predicatively (after is). Predicative adjectives never get the -e. If you put it before a noun with die, you would say die onvolledige verslag (with -e).
How is onvolledig built up morphologically?
It consists of the negation prefix on- plus the adjective volledig (“complete”). So literally “not complete.”
What’s the basic word order in Die verslag is onvolledig?
Subject (Die verslag) + verb (is) + predicative adjective (onvolledig). Afrikaans follows a Subject-Verb-Object order, and predicates follow the verb.
How do you make this sentence negative?
Afrikaans uses double negation:
Die verslag is nie onvolledig nie.
(the first nie after the verb, the second at the end of the clause)
How are verslag and onvolledig pronounced?
• verslag: [fərˈslɑx] or [fərˈslɑχ] (the final g is a fricative like a German ch)
• onvolledig: [ɔn.fɔˈleː.dəχ] (or with a voiceless fricative at the end)