Wat doen jy Saterdag?

Word by word:

• Wat = what
• doen = do
• jy = you
• Saterdag = Saturday

So the literal structure is What do you Saturday?, but natural English is What are you doing Saturday?

Because Afrikaans normally puts the finite verb before the subject in a question with a question word.

So after wat, the verb doen comes next, and then the subject jy:

• Wat doen jy Saterdag?

This is a normal Afrikaans pattern. English also does something similar with do-support:

• What do you do...?

Afrikaans does not need an extra helper verb here.

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English uses either the simple present or the present continuous.

So doen can match:

• do
• are doing

The time word Saterdag makes it clear that this is about a future plan or arrangement. So Wat doen jy Saterdag? is a very natural way to say What are you doing Saturday?

With days of the week, Afrikaans often does not need a preposition in this kind of sentence.

So:

• Wat doen jy Saterdag? = What are you doing on Saturday?

This is similar to informal English, where we often say Saturday instead of on Saturday.

For a specific day, leaving out the preposition is very normal.

In this sentence, Saterdag usually means one specific Saturday, normally the upcoming one or one already understood from context.

If you want to talk about Saturdays in general, Afrikaans would usually make that clearer, for example:

• op Saterdae = on Saturdays
• elke Saterdag = every Saturday

So Wat doen jy Saterdag? normally asks about one particular Saturday.

Yes. That is also correct and very common.

The difference is roughly:

• Wat doen jy Saterdag? = What are you doing Saturday?
• Wat gaan jy Saterdag doen? = What are you going to do Saturday?

The first one is very natural for plans or arrangements. The second one makes the future idea a bit more explicit.

jy is normally singular and informal/neutral: you when speaking to one person.

If you are talking to more than one person, you usually use julle:

• Wat doen julle Saterdag? = What are you all doing Saturday?

Afrikaans does have u as a polite/formal you, but in everyday speech jy is much more common.

A rough English-style guide is:

• wat ≈ vut or vaht
• doen ≈ doon or doo-un
• jy ≈ yay
• Saterdag ≈ SAA-tur-dakh with a guttural kh sound at the end

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• w in Afrikaans sounds more like an English v
• j sounds like English y
• the final g in Saterdag is the harsh throat sound common in Afrikaans and Dutch

So a rough full pronunciation is:

vaht doon yay SAA-tur-dakh