Questions & Answers about Ek sit stil as die onderwyser praat.
How do you translate sit stil, and why isn’t there an “-ly” on stil as in English “sit quietly”?
In Afrikaans most adjectives also function as adverbs without adding an “-ly” ending. So sit stil literally means “sit quietly” or “sit still,” with stil covering both the adjective “quiet” and the adverb “quietly.”
Why do we use die instead of ’n before onderwyser?
die is the definite article “the.” You use it when you and your listener know exactly which teacher you mean. ’n is the indefinite article “a/an,” which you’d use if you’re introducing a teacher in general or if the listener doesn’t yet know which one.
Why is as translated as “when” here, not “if”?
In Afrikaans as can mean both “when” (temporal) and “if” (conditional). Context tells you which. In Ek sit stil as die onderwyser praat it describes a habitual action (“whenever the teacher speaks”), so it’s translated as “when.”
Why does the verb praat stay in second position after as and not go to the end like in German subordinate clauses?
Afrikaans keeps the verb-second (V2) word order even in subordinate clauses introduced by as. That means the finite verb (praat) comes right after the subject (die onderwyser), not at the end.