Sy skryf 'n brief aan haar suster.

The sentence uses the normal Afrikaans subject–verb–object pattern:

• Sy = subject
• skryf = verb
• 'n brief = direct object
• aan haar suster = prepositional phrase telling you who the letter is addressed to

So the structure is:

She + writes + a letter + to her sister

This is very similar to normal English word order.

Here Sy means she.

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.
If it appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would be sy.

A useful thing to know is that sy can also mean his in other contexts, for example:

• sy boek = his book

So context matters:

• Sy skryf = She writes
• sy suster = his sister

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, equivalent to English a or an.

A few important points:

• It is always written as 'n
• The apostrophe comes first
• It is usually pronounced like a very weak uh sound, similar to the vowel in about
• In normal pronunciation, it is not stressed

So:

• 'n brief = a letter

Also, even at the beginning of a sentence, Afrikaans usually keeps it as 'n, not 'N.

Brief is the singular noun meaning letter.

Afrikaans nouns usually do not change form because of articles the way they do in some other languages. So:

• 'n brief = a letter
• die brief = the letter

There is no special ending added here just because it is singular or because it follows 'n.

Aan means to in the sense of direction or recipient.

In this sentence, it shows who the letter is addressed to:

• aan haar suster = to her sister

This is very natural with brief because a letter is directed to someone.

Usually, aan is the better choice in this sentence.

With letters, emails, and things directed to a person, aan is very natural because it means to in the sense of being addressed to someone.

So:

• Sy skryf 'n brief aan haar suster = the normal phrasing

You may learn that vir can also be used with people in Afrikaans, especially in speech, often to mark an indirect object:

• Ek gee vir haar 'n boek = I give her a book

But with write a letter to someone, aan is the clearest and most standard option.

Here haar means her in the possessive sense:

• haar suster = her sister

Afrikaans haar can be:

• an object pronoun: I see her = Ek sien haar
• a possessive word: her sister = haar suster

In this sentence, because haar comes before the noun suster, it is possessive.

In modern standard Afrikaans, the normal possessive form is simply haar:

• haar suster = her sister

Afrikaans does not usually change possessive words to agree with the noun. So you just use:

• my broer = my brother
• jou boek = your book
• haar suster = her sister

That makes it simpler than in some other languages.

No, Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender for nouns the way languages like German or Dutch do.

So brief and suster do not have special masculine, feminine, or neuter forms that affect the article or adjective here.

Natural gender still exists in meaning, of course:

• sy = she
• haar = her
• suster = sister

But the grammar itself is much simpler than in many European languages.

Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs. In the present tense, the verb usually stays the same regardless of the subject.

So you get:

• Ek skryf = I write
• Jy skryf = you write
• Sy skryf = she writes
• Ons skryf = we write

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add an -s for he/she/it in the present tense.

That is why it is:

• Sy skryf not
• Sy skryfs

Skryf is roughly pronounced like skrave with a very Afrikaans vowel, but that English spelling is only an approximation.

A few helpful points:

• sk sounds like English sk
• ryf has a diphthong somewhat like the vowel in some pronunciations of day, but not exactly
• The final f is pronounced clearly

If you already know Dutch, remember that Afrikaans spelling and pronunciation are related but not identical.

Yes. Suster is the normal Afrikaans word for sister.

Examples:

• my suster = my sister
• haar suster = her sister

It is a straightforward vocabulary item and is used exactly as you would expect.

In a main-clause yes/no question, Afrikaans usually puts the verb first:

• Skryf sy 'n brief aan haar suster? = Is she writing a letter to her sister? / Does she write a letter to her sister?

This verb-first pattern is very common in Afrikaans questions.

A common past-tense form would be:

• Sy het 'n brief aan haar suster geskryf.

This shows an important Afrikaans pattern:

• het = auxiliary
• geskryf = past participle

So present:

• Sy skryf 'n brief aan haar suster.

Past:

• Sy het 'n brief aan haar suster geskryf.

Yes. In the most natural reading, they do.

• Sy = she
• haar suster = her sister

So the sentence normally means that a woman or girl is writing to her own sister.

If context required it, haar suster could theoretically refer to another female person’s sister, but without extra context, native speakers will usually understand it as referring back to sy.