Die werknemer werk by die kantoor.

Because die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

In Die werknemer werk by die kantoor:

• die werknemer = the employee
• die kantoor = the office

Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike languages that have different words for the, Afrikaans keeps it simple: it is usually just die.

No. Afrikaans die is usually pronounced roughly like dee, not like the English word die.

So:

• Afrikaans die ≈ dee
• English die = completely different pronunciation

This is a very common thing English speakers need to get used to.

Because Afrikaans and English are both Germanic languages, so they share many related words.

Here, werk means work and is clearly related to English work.

In this sentence:

• werk is a verb: works / work

Afrikaans often has vocabulary that looks familiar to English speakers, although pronunciation and usage can differ.

Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs in the present tense.

In English, you say:

• I work
• you work
• he works

But in Afrikaans, the verb usually stays the same:

• ek werk
• jy werk
• hy werk
• die werknemer werk

So there is no extra -s ending like English works.

Werknemer means employee.

It is a compound word:

• werk = work
• nemer = taker / one who takes

So historically it is like work-taker, which contrasts with:

• werkgewer = employer
  
  • gewer = giver

This pattern is very common in Afrikaans: longer words are often built by combining smaller meaningful parts.

By die kantoor usually means at the office.

The preposition by often means:

• at
• by
• sometimes with, depending on context

So in this sentence, by die kantoor means the employee works at the office as a workplace or location.

If you said in die kantoor, that would more strongly suggest inside the office physically, especially inside the office room or building.

So:

• by die kantoor = at the office
• in die kantoor = in the office

Yes, this sentence uses a very familiar word order:

• Die werknemer = subject
• werk = verb
• by die kantoor = place phrase

So it follows a basic Subject–Verb–Location pattern, much like English:

• The employee works at the office

This makes simple Afrikaans statements feel quite approachable for English speakers.

Kantoor means office.

It is not closely related in form to the modern English word office, so it may feel less transparent at first. But it is a very common Afrikaans word, and you should just learn it as the standard word for office.

You may also notice that Afrikaans often uses words that look closer to Dutch than to English.

Afrikaans uses ’n for the indefinite article, meaning a / an.

So:

• ’n werknemer = an employee
• ’n kantoor = an office

A full sentence would be:

• ’n Werknemer werk by ’n kantoor.

A useful note:

• ’n is written with an apostrophe.
• In pronunciation, it is usually a very weak sound, something like uh or ən.

No. In this sentence, die is just the definite article the.

Afrikaans can use other words for this and that, such as:

• hierdie = this
• daardie = that

So:

• die werknemer = the employee
• hierdie werknemer = this employee
• daardie werknemer = that employee

Yes. Werk can be both:

• a verb: to work
• a noun: work

In this sentence, it is clearly a verb because it comes after the subject:

• Die werknemer werk ... = The employee works ...

But in another sentence, it could be a noun:

• Die werk is moeilik. = The work is difficult.

Context tells you which one it is.

The plural of werknemer is werknemers.

So:

• die werknemer = the employee
• die werknemers = the employees

A plural version of the sentence would be:

• Die werknemers werk by die kantoor.

Notice that die stays the same in the plural. That is one of the convenient things about Afrikaans articles.