My suster is besig om ’n nuwe hemp en ’n mooi rok te kies.

It is a very common Afrikaans way to express an action that is happening right now.

So My suster is besig om ’n nuwe hemp en ’n mooi rok te kies means that your sister is busy choosing or is in the process of choosing a new shirt and a pretty dress.

In natural English, we often just say is choosing, but Afrikaans often uses is besig om ... te to make the ongoing action very clear.

After besig, Afrikaans normally uses the pattern:

is besig om ... te + infinitive

So here:

• is besig = is busy
• om = introduces the infinitive phrase
• te kies = to choose / choosing

English usually just has one to, but Afrikaans splits the structure. The things being chosen can go between om and te kies:

• om ’n nuwe hemp en ’n mooi rok te kies

That is normal Afrikaans grammar.

Because in this kind of Afrikaans infinitive construction, the main verb often comes at the end.

So the structure is:

• My suster = subject
• is = finite verb
• besig om ... te kies = infinitive part
• ’n nuwe hemp en ’n mooi rok = objects placed before kies

Afrikaans often pushes the final verb to the end in clauses like this. For an English speaker, that is one of the big word-order differences to get used to.

Yes, you could.

That version is grammatical, but it feels less explicitly progressive. It can mean:

• My sister chooses a new shirt and a pretty dress
• or, depending on context, My sister is choosing ...

The version with is besig om ... te kies makes it much clearer that the action is happening right now.

’n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, so it means a or an.

Here it appears twice:

• ’n nuwe hemp = a new shirt
• ’n mooi rok = a pretty dress

A very important pronunciation note: ’n is not pronounced like the English letter n. It is usually pronounced as a weak neutral vowel, roughly like the a in about.

Because there are two separate singular nouns:

• ’n nuwe hemp
• ’n mooi rok

Afrikaans normally gives each singular count noun its own article in a phrase like this, just as English does:

• a new shirt and a pretty dress

If you leave out the second ’n, it would sound less natural in this sentence.

Nuut is the basic form meaning new.

When it comes before a noun, Afrikaans often uses a different adjective form. In this case:

• nuut → nuwe

So:

• ’n nuwe hemp = a new shirt

This is called the attributive form of the adjective, meaning the form used directly before a noun.

Because not all Afrikaans adjectives change in the same way before a noun.

With mooi, the normal form here is simply:

• ’n mooi rok

So even though some adjectives take an extra ending before a noun, mooi usually stays mooi in a phrase like this.

For a beginner, the safest approach is:

• learn that nuut becomes nuwe
• learn that mooi stays mooi here

Afrikaans adjective patterns are not always completely predictable at first.

• hemp = shirt
• rok = dress

A useful warning for English speakers: rok does not mean skirt. The Afrikaans word for skirt is romp.

So this sentence is about choosing:

• a new shirt
• and a pretty dress

Yes. Because it uses en, which means and, the sentence says she is choosing both:

• ’n nuwe hemp
• en
• ’n mooi rok

If the idea were one or the other, Afrikaans would use of for or.

Yes.

Suster is the normal Afrikaans word for sister. It is clearly related to the English word sister, which is helpful for learners because many Afrikaans words are recognizably Germanic and may look familiar.

So:

• My suster = My sister

The sentence breaks down like this:

• My suster = subject
• is = finite verb
• besig om ... te kies = progressive-style verb phrase
• ’n nuwe hemp en ’n mooi rok = the things being chosen

So a useful pattern to remember is:

Subject + is besig om + object + te + verb

For example:

• Ek is besig om ’n boek te lees. = I am busy reading a book.
• Sy is besig om kos te maak. = She is busy making food.

Your sentence follows that same pattern exactly.