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Questions & Answers about Die kussing is sag en warm.
What is the function of die in this sentence?
die is the definite article in Afrikaans, equivalent to the in English. It does not change for gender or number: you use die before both singular and plural nouns.
Why is the verb is used here instead of different forms like “am” or “are”?
In Afrikaans the present‐tense form of “to be” is always is, regardless of the subject. So you say Ek is, Jy is, Hy is, Ons is, etc., just like in Die kussing is sag en warm.
Why do the adjectives sag and warm have no ending – shouldn’t they take -e?
Because these adjectives are used predicatively (after the verb is). Predicative adjectives in Afrikaans always stay in their base form and never take an -e. Only attributive adjectives (those placed before a noun) may get an -e if they are eligible.
If I wanted to describe the pillow before the noun, how would I say “the soft pillow”?
That would be attributive, so you add an -e to sag:
• die sagte kussing.
(Remember: warm is one of the adjectives that never takes -e, so it remains warm even attributively.)
How do I say “the soft and warm pillow” in attributive position?
You combine them with en (“and”) and inflect only the eligible one:
• die sagte en warm kussing.
What is the plural of kussing?
You form the plural by adding -s:
• singular: kussing – “pillow”
• plural: kussings – “pillows”
And if you wanted “the pillows are soft and warm”:
• Die kussings is sag en warm.
Is kussing related to the English word “cushion,” and how is it pronounced?
Yes. kussing comes from Dutch kussen, just like English cushion has a Germanic origin. In Afrikaans it’s pronounced approximately KYU-sing, phonetically /ˈkʏ.sɪŋ/. The c makes a hard /k/ sound here because it’s a loan-spelling from Dutch.