Die rooi bord is hare, maar die groot beker is syne.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

It appears twice because there are two separate noun phrases:

• die rooi bord = the red plate/board
• die groot beker = the big cup/mug/beaker

Unlike English, Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So there is no separate form like English a/an/the distinction inside die itself. If you wanted a/an, Afrikaans would use 'n instead.

In Afrikaans, adjectives usually come before the noun, just as they do in English.

So:

• rooi bord = red plate
• groot beker = big cup

That makes these normal adjective + noun combinations.

Afrikaans adjectives do not agree with nouns the way they do in some other languages. There is no masculine/feminine adjective agreement here. Some Afrikaans adjectives do change form in certain positions, but in this sentence rooi and groot are the normal forms.

Maar means but.

It links the two contrasting ideas:

• Die rooi bord is hare
• maar die groot beker is syne

So the sentence is setting up a contrast between the two objects and their owners.

Because each half is a complete clause, and each clause needs its own verb.

• Die rooi bord is hare
• die groot beker is syne

The verb is is the present-tense form of to be. A very useful thing for learners is that Afrikaans is does not change the way English am / is / are do. You use is with all persons in the present tense:

• Ek is = I am
• Jy is = you are
• Hy is = he is
• Ons is = we are

So repeating is here is completely normal.

The sentence follows normal Afrikaans main clause word order: the verb comes early in the clause, typically in the second position.

So each clause is built like this:

• Die rooi bord
  • is
    • hare
• die groot beker
  • is
    • syne

That is very similar to natural English word order in this kind of sentence:

• The red plate is hers
• the big cup is his

Also, because maar is a coordinating conjunction, it does not force the verb to move to the end. The second clause keeps normal main-clause order.

In this sentence, hare means hers.

It is an independent possessive pronoun: it stands on its own, without a noun after it.

Compare:

• haar bord = her plate
  Here haar comes before a noun.

• Die bord is hare = The plate is hers
  Here hare stands alone.

So the difference is roughly like this:

• haar = her
• hare = hers

That is the key distinction in this sentence.

Syne means his in the sense of his one / his item / his possession, or more naturally in English, his as an independent form.

Compare:

• sy beker = his cup
• Die beker is syne = The cup is his

So:

• sy = his before a noun
• syne = his standing alone

This is the same kind of contrast as:

• my boek = my book
• Die boek is myne = The book is mine

Because Afrikaans, like English, has special possessive forms that can replace a full noun phrase when the noun is already understood from context.

In English:

• This cup is mine
• That book is hers

You do not need to repeat cup or book after mine or hers.

Afrikaans works the same way:

• Die bord is hare
• Die beker is syne

The missing idea is understood:

• The red plate is hers
• the big cup is his

So nothing is grammatically missing; the possessive pronouns are doing the whole job themselves.

No, not in the way nouns do in languages like German or French.

Afrikaans nouns do not normally force different articles or adjective forms based on grammatical gender. That is why both nouns simply take die.

The ownership words hare and syne reflect the natural gender of the owner:

• hare = belonging to a woman/girl
• syne = belonging to a man/boy

They do not tell you anything about the gender of bord or beker themselves.

Not always. These words can have a small range of meanings depending on context.

• bord can mean plate, but in other contexts it can also mean board or sign
• beker can mean cup, mug, beaker, or even trophy cup in some contexts

In this sentence, because bord and beker are contrasted as objects someone owns, the most natural reading is something like plate and cup/mug.

Context usually tells you which meaning is intended.