Hy bedien die sop met ’n lepel en gee vir my ook ’n mes.

also

Breakdown of Hy bedien die sop met ’n lepel en gee vir my ook ’n mes.

• hy: he
• die: the
• en: and

Questions & Answers about Hy bedien die sop met ’n lepel en gee vir my ook ’n mes.

Why does the sentence start with Hy? Does Afrikaans always need the subject pronoun?

Yes, in a normal finite clause Afrikaans usually states the subject explicitly, just like English.

• Hy = he
• bedien = serves
• die sop = the soup

So Hy bedien die sop means He serves the soup.

Afrikaans does not usually drop subject pronouns the way some other languages do.

What does bedien mean here?

Here bedien means serve.

So Hy bedien die sop means He serves the soup.

A useful thing to know is that bedien can also have related meanings in other contexts, such as attend to or operate, depending on what is being talked about. But with soup, the natural meaning is clearly serve.

Why is it die sop but ’n lepel and ’n mes?