Sy lyk bekommerd, maar die dokter sê dit is nie gevaarlik nie.

Yes. Sy here means she.

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

One thing that can confuse English speakers is that sy can also be a possessive word meaning his in other contexts, but here it is clearly the subject pronoun she.

Lyk means looks or seems.

So Sy lyk bekommerd is literally something like She looks worried or She seems worried, not She is worried.

That is an important difference:

• Sy is bekommerd = She is worried
• Sy lyk bekommerd = She looks worried / seems worried

Afrikaans often uses lyk in the same kinds of situations where English uses look or seem.

Because bekommerd is being used after the verb, as a predicate adjective.

In Afrikaans, adjectives often have:

• a basic form, used after verbs like is, lyk, word
• an inflected form, often with -e, used before nouns

So:

• Sy lyk bekommerd = She looks worried
• 'n bekommerde vrou = a worried woman

This is very common in Afrikaans:

• Die kind is moeg = The child is tired
• die moeë kind = the tired child

Maar means but.

It is a very common coordinating conjunction in Afrikaans, just like in English:

• Ek wil gaan, maar ek is moeg. = I want to go, but I am tired.

In your sentence, it connects two main clauses:

• Sy lyk bekommerd
• die dokter sê dit is nie gevaarlik nie

Here, yes: die dokter means the doctor.

In Afrikaans, die is the definite article for singular and plural nouns:

• die dokter = the doctor
• die dokters = the doctors

Unlike many European languages, Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender for nouns, so you do not need different forms like the for masculine/feminine/neuter. It is simply die.

Sê means say or says. In this sentence, die dokter sê means the doctor says.

The accent mark over ê helps show the vowel sound. It is not silent decoration; it is part of the spelling.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• sê sounds approximately like seh with a longer vowel
• it does not sound like English say

English speakers often want to pronounce it like say, but Afrikaans ê is different.

Because Afrikaans verbs do not change much for person the way English verbs do.

In English:

• I say
• she says

In Afrikaans:

• ek sê
• sy sê
• die dokter sê
• hulle sê

The verb usually stays the same. This is one of the simpler parts of Afrikaans grammar for English speakers.

Yes, both are possible.

• dit is = full form
• dis = contracted form, similar to English it is / it's

So these are both natural:

• die dokter sê dit is nie gevaarlik nie
• die dokter sê dis nie gevaarlik nie

The full form dit is may sound slightly more careful or formal in writing, while dis is very common in everyday speech and informal writing.

This is one of the most famous features of standard Afrikaans: double negation.

A normal negative sentence often uses:

• one nie after the verb or the part being negated
• another nie near the end of the clause

So:

• Dit is nie gevaarlik nie = It is not dangerous

This does not mean a double negative in the English sense. It is just the normal Afrikaans way to make a sentence negative.

More examples:

• Ek verstaan nie Afrikaans nie. = I do not understand Afrikaans.
• Hy kom nie vandag nie. = He is not coming today.

A useful beginner pattern is:

subject + verb + nie + rest of clause + nie

So here:

• dit = subject
• is = verb
• nie = first negative marker
• gevaarlik = rest of clause
• nie = second negative marker

That gives: Dit is nie gevaarlik nie.

This pattern is very common, although word order can get more complicated in longer sentences. For a learner, this basic model is a very good starting point.

Because it comes after is as a predicate adjective.

Compare:

• Dit is gevaarlik. = It is dangerous.
• 'n gevaarlike situasie = a dangerous situation

So again, just like with bekommerd, the adjective usually does not take the -e ending when it comes after a verb such as is.

Not in this sentence. After maar, Afrikaans keeps normal main-clause word order, because maar is a coordinating conjunction.

So:

• Sy lyk bekommerd
• maar die dokter sê dit is nie gevaarlik nie

This is similar to English:

• She looks worried, but the doctor says it is not dangerous.

This is different from some subordinating conjunctions in Afrikaans, which can push the verb later in the clause.

Yes. Lyk can often be translated as either looks or seems, depending on context.

So:

• Sy lyk bekommerd = She looks worried
• also possibly She seems worried

If the meaning shown to the learner is looks worried, that is perfectly natural, but seems worried is also a good interpretation in many contexts.

It is very close in meaning, yes. Dokter is the normal Afrikaans word for doctor.

As an English speaker, you will notice that many Afrikaans words are related to English or Dutch words:

• dokter = doctor
• gevaarlik = dangerous-related in meaning, with gevaar meaning danger
• maar = but, related to Dutch/Germanic forms

These similarities can help vocabulary learning, but pronunciation and grammar still need attention.

A very natural spoken version would often be:

Sy lyk bekommerd, maar die dokter sê dis nie gevaarlik nie.

The biggest change is dit is becoming dis.

Otherwise, the original sentence is already perfectly natural and correct.