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Die bestuurder waarsku ons oor die gevaar van rook.

Die bestuurder waarsku ons oor die gevaar van rook.
The manager warns us about the danger of smoke.
FromLesson 14inHardcore Afrikaans

Breakdown of Die bestuurder waarsku ons oor die gevaar van rook.

oor
about
ons
us
van
of
die bestuurder
the manager
waarsku
to warn
die gevaar
the danger
die rook
the smoke

Questions & Answers about Die bestuurder waarsku ons oor die gevaar van rook.

What does bestuurder mean, and how is it formed as a noun?
bestuurder means “driver.” It’s built from the verb bestuur (“to drive”) plus the agent-forming suffix -er, denoting “one who drives.”
How is the verb waarsku conjugated in the present tense?

waarsku means “warn.” In Afrikaans, the present-tense form is identical for all persons. For example:
• Ek waarsku – I warn
• Jy waarsku – You warn
• Hy/sy/dit waarsku – He/she/it warns
• Ons waarsku – We warn
• Julle waarsku – You (pl.) warn
• Hulle waarsku – They warn

Why is ons placed directly after waarsku?

Afrikaans uses a Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) order in main clauses. Here the breakdown is:
Subject: Die bestuurder
Verb: waarsku
Object: ons
So you get “Die bestuurder waarsku ons.”

Why do we use oor instead of van or aan after waarsku?

• waarsku oor = “warn about” or “give a warning regarding something.”
• van shows possession or origin (“die gevaar van rook” = “the danger of smoke”).
• aan can pair with waarsku when indicating who is being warned (e.g., “Hy waarsku die kinders aan die verkeer” – “He warns the children about the traffic”).
In your sentence oor introduces the topic of the warning: oor die gevaar.

In the phrase die gevaar van rook, what role does van play, and is rook a noun here?

• van is a preposition meaning “of,” linking gevaar (“danger”) to rook.
• rook is a noun meaning “smoke” (not the verb “to smoke”).
Thus die gevaar van rook translates as “the danger of smoke.”

Why is die used with both bestuurder and gevaar? Are there other articles in Afrikaans?
Afrikaans has only one definite article, die, for all nouns (singular or plural, no gender distinction). The indefinite article is ’n (equivalent to “a/an”). Since both bestuurder and gevaar are definite here, we use die.

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