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Learn Hardcore Afrikaans: Die kandidaat is hier. - The candidate is here.

Hardcore Afrikaans
/Applying for a job
/Die kandidaat is hier.

Die kandidaat is hier.

Word

Die kandidaat is hier.

Meaning

The candidate is here.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Afrikaans

Lesson

Applying for a job

Breakdown of Die kandidaat is hier.

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Questions & Answers about Die kandidaat is hier.

What does die mean here, and is it pronounced like the English word die?

In this sentence, die is the definite article, so it means the.

It is not pronounced like English die. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

So:

die kandidaat = the candidate

Afrikaans uses die for all nouns in the plural and for the with singular common nouns in standard usage, without changing for gender.

Does Afrikaans have grammatical gender here? Why isn’t there a different word for the?

Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way languages like German or Dutch do. That means you do not need different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns in normal Afrikaans usage.

So you simply say:

die kandidaat = the candidate

This makes Afrikaans easier for English speakers, because you do not have to memorize noun genders for articles.

Is kandidaat just a cognate of the English word candidate?

Yes. Kandidaat is a clear cognate of candidate. That means the words are historically related and have very similar meanings.

A few helpful notes:

k in Afrikaans is used where English often has c
the ending -aat is a normal Afrikaans spelling pattern

Because it looks familiar, it is an easy vocabulary item for an English speaker to remember.

Is is used the same way as English is?

Very often, yes. Is is the present-tense form of the verb to be, just like English is.

So in this sentence:

Die kandidaat is hier.
subject = Die kandidaat
verb = is
place word = hier

This is very close to English structure: The candidate is here.

What does hier mean, and how is it pronounced?

Hier means here.

It is usually pronounced roughly like heer in Afrikaans, not like English higher or here.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans spelling and pronunciation are often more regular than English, so once you learn the sound of ie, it becomes easier to recognize words like this.

Is the word order in Die kandidaat is hier the same as in English?

Yes, in this simple statement the word order is essentially the same as in English:

Die kandidaat = subject
is = verb
hier = adverb of place

So the pattern is:

Subject + verb + place

That makes this sentence very straightforward for an English speaker.

How would I turn this into a yes/no question?

In Afrikaans, yes/no questions are often made by putting the verb first.

So:

statement: Die kandidaat is hier.
question: Is die kandidaat hier?

This is very similar to older or more formal English patterns like Is the candidate here?

How would a native speaker likely pronounce the whole sentence?

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

dee kan-di-DAAT is heer

A few pronunciation tips:

die sounds like dee
kandidaat has stress near the end
is is usually a short is
hier sounds roughly like heer

This is only an approximation, but it is good enough to help an English speaker get started.

Why is there no word for the candidate is right here or extra emphasis in the sentence?

Because Die kandidaat is hier is a plain, neutral statement. It simply says that the candidate is here.

If you wanted emphasis, Afrikaans could add stress in speech or use extra words depending on context. But the basic sentence itself is deliberately simple:

Die kandidaat is hier. = neutral statement

So this is the kind of sentence you would learn first before moving on to more emphatic versions.

Could hier ever be confused with this?

That is a very good question, especially if you have seen Dutch. In Afrikaans:

hier = here
hierdie = this

So in this sentence, hier definitely means a place, not a demonstrative word.

Examples:

Die kandidaat is hier. = The candidate is here.
Hierdie kandidaat = This candidate

That distinction is worth learning early.

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