Indien daar nêrens ’n sleutel is nie, sal die hond onrustig raak.

Yes. Indien means if.

It introduces a condition, so Indien daar nêrens ’n sleutel is nie means If there is no key anywhere.

A learner should also know that indien sounds a bit more formal or written than as. In everyday speech, many speakers would more naturally say:

As daar nêrens ’n sleutel is nie, sal die hond onrustig raak.

So indien is correct, but slightly more formal.

Here daar is not really a location word in the usual sense. It works like there in English sentences such as There is a problem or There is a key.

So:

• Daar is ’n sleutel = There is a key
• Daar is nêrens ’n sleutel nie = There is no key anywhere

It helps introduce existence. So in this sentence, daar is part of the structure meaning there is / there are.

Nêrens means nowhere.

In this sentence, it is used with daar is to express that the key is nowhere to be found:

• Daar is nêrens ’n sleutel nie = There is no key anywhere

Its position is normal in Afrikaans. It comes before the noun phrase ’n sleutel.

You can think of the structure as:

• daar is = there is
• nêrens = nowhere
• ’n sleutel = a key
• nie = negative marker completing the negation

This is one of the most important features of Afrikaans: it often uses a kind of double negative structure.

So even though nêrens already has a negative meaning, Afrikaans still normally adds nie later in the clause:

• Daar is nêrens ’n sleutel nie

This does not create a positive meaning. It is just normal Afrikaans grammar.

Other examples:

• Ek sien niemand nie. = I see nobody.
• Hy het niks nie. = He has nothing.

For English speakers, this can feel unusual, but in standard Afrikaans it is expected.

Because Indien introduces a subordinate clause, and in Afrikaans subordinate clauses usually send the finite verb toward the end.

Compare:

Main clause:

• Daar is nêrens ’n sleutel nie.

Subordinate clause:

• Indien daar nêrens ’n sleutel is nie

So after words like indien, dat, omdat, terwyl, and so on, the verb position changes.

That is why you get:

• Indien ... is nie not
• Indien ... nie is

The nie still comes after the verbal part at the end of the clause.

This is because Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses.

The first whole part of the sentence is the subordinate clause:

Indien daar nêrens ’n sleutel is nie

That entire clause takes the first position in the sentence. After that, the finite verb of the main clause must come next, in second position:

• sal

Then comes the subject:

• die hond

So:

• Indien ..., sal die hond onrustig raak.

If the sentence started directly with the subject, you would get:

• Die hond sal onrustig raak.

But once something else comes first, the verb moves ahead of the subject.

Good question. Raak has several uses in Afrikaans.

Here it means become or get.

So:

• onrustig raak = become restless
• moeg raak = become tired
• kwaad raak = become angry

In this sentence, sal die hond onrustig raak means the dog will become restless.

So this is a very common pattern:

• adjective + raak = become + adjective

Because in Afrikaans main clauses with a modal verb like sal, the other verb usually goes to the end, and words closely linked to it often appear before it.

So the structure is:

• sal = will
• die hond = the dog
• onrustig = restless
• raak = become

This gives:

sal die hond onrustig raak

Without the modal, you can also see the basic pattern:

• Die hond raak onrustig. = The dog becomes restless.

With sal, the infinitive raak goes to the end.

Because ’n sleutel means a key, while die sleutel means the key.

The sentence is talking about the absence of any key, not one specific already-identified key. So the indefinite article is natural here:

• ’n sleutel = a key / any key

If you said die sleutel, it would sound more like a particular key is being referred to:

• Indien die sleutel nêrens is nie ... = If the key is nowhere / cannot be found anywhere ...

That is a different nuance.

Usually ’n is pronounced as a very weak neutral vowel, like uh / ə/, not like a full English n.

So ’n sleutel sounds more like uhn SLAY-təl or simply a very light uh before the noun.

A few useful notes:

• It is written ’n, with an apostrophe.
• It is never stressed.
• Even at the start of a sentence, the n usually stays lowercase: ’n Hond blaf.

This little word is extremely common in Afrikaans.

Yes, absolutely.

A very natural alternative is:

As daar nêrens ’n sleutel is nie, sal die hond onrustig raak.

That means the same thing.

In general:

• indien = if, more formal
• as = if, very common in everyday Afrikaans

So a learner should recognize both, but probably expect to hear as more often in speech.