Die huurder is hier.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so here it means the.

A very learner-friendly feature of Afrikaans is that die does not change for:

• gender
• case
• singular vs. plural

So you use die for all of these:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kind = the child
• die huurders = the tenants

That is much simpler than in languages like German.

Huurder is a noun. It means someone who rents a place — a tenant.

It is related to huur, which has to do with renting / hiring.

Useful related word:

• verhuurder = landlord / landlady

So:

• die huurder = the tenant
• die verhuurder = the landlord

Because this is a simple main clause, and Afrikaans often uses a very familiar order here:

• Die huurder = subject
• is = verb
• hier = adverb of place

So the pattern is:

subject + verb + place

That makes this sentence feel very close to English.

Do note, though, that Afrikaans word order can change in other sentence types, especially when another element comes first or in subordinate clauses.

No. In the present tense, is stays is with all persons.

For example:

• ek is = I am
• jy is = you are
• hy is = he is
• ons is = we are
• hulle is = they are

This is another way Afrikaans is simpler than English.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

dee HUR-der is heer

A few notes:

• die sounds like dee
• huurder has a vowel sound that is not exactly English; HUR-der is only an approximation
• hier is roughly heer or hee-er, depending on accent and speed

If you want a simple learner version, dee HUR-der is heer is a good start.

You usually use the Afrikaans double nie pattern:

Die huurder is nie hier nie.

This is one of the most important Afrikaans structures to learn.

So:

• positive: Die huurder is hier.
• negative: Die huurder is nie hier nie.

In a sentence like this, the first nie comes after the verb phrase, and the second nie goes at the end.

You move the verb to the front:

Is die huurder hier?

That is the normal yes/no question pattern in Afrikaans.

Compare:

• statement: Die huurder is hier.
• question: Is die huurder hier?

This is very similar to English The tenant is here → Is the tenant here?

Yes — if you mean a tenant rather than the tenant.

Then the sentence becomes:

’n Huurder is hier.

So the difference is:

• die huurder = the tenant
• ’n huurder = a tenant

A useful spelling note: ’n is written with an apostrophe and is not capitalized in the normal way, even at the beginning of a sentence.

The noun becomes plural, but the verb usually stays the same:

Die huurders is hier. = The tenants are here.

Notice:

• singular: huurder
• plural: huurders
• verb: still is

So Afrikaans does not do the English-style change from is to are here.