Hierdie vaardigheid is belangrik.

Hierdie means this (or these, depending on context). In this sentence, hierdie vaardigheid means this skill.

It is different from die, which usually means the in Afrikaans.

• die vaardigheid = the skill
• hierdie vaardigheid = this skill

So hierdie points something out more specifically.

Yes. Is is the present-tense form of to be in Afrikaans, and it works very much like English is in sentences like this.

So:

• Hierdie vaardigheid is belangrik.
• This skill is important.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans does not change the present tense of is the way English changes am / is / are. For example:

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

So is is used much more broadly than English is.

Yes, in this simple sentence the word order is very similar to English:

• Hierdie vaardigheid = subject
• is = verb
• belangrik = complement/adjective

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + adjective

That is why it feels very familiar to an English speaker.

Because the sentence uses hierdie (this) instead.

In English, you would not say this a skill. In the same way, Afrikaans does not use the indefinite article 'n when a demonstrative like hierdie is already there.

Compare:

• 'n vaardigheid = a skill
• hierdie vaardigheid = this skill

You use one or the other, not both together.

Yes. Vaardigheid is a noun built from vaardig, which means skilled / able / proficient.

The ending -heid is a very common Afrikaans noun ending, a bit like English -ness or sometimes -ity.

So:

• vaardig = skilled
• vaardigheid = skill / skillfulness / proficiency

This is useful because once you recognize -heid, you can often spot abstract nouns in Afrikaans.

Belangrik is an adjective meaning important.

In this sentence, it comes after is, so it is being used predicatively. In that position, Afrikaans adjectives usually do not change form:

• Hierdie vaardigheid is belangrik.

But when an adjective comes before a noun, it often takes -e:

• 'n belangrike vaardigheid = an important skill

So this is a very useful contrast:

• die vaardigheid is belangrik
• die belangrike vaardigheid

No. Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way languages like German or Dutch do.

So vaardigheid is not treated as masculine or feminine in normal Afrikaans grammar. That means you do not have to learn different forms of this or the based on noun gender.

That is one reason Afrikaans is often easier for English speakers in this area.

Yes. Hierdie can be used for both singular and plural.

You tell the difference from the noun and the context:

• hierdie vaardigheid = this skill
• hierdie vaardighede = these skills

So unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the demonstrative from this to these.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

HEER-dee FAAR-di-ghait is buh-LUNG-rik

A few notes:

• Hierdie: the first part sounds roughly like here
• vaar: like far
• the g in vaardigheid is the Afrikaans guttural g, similar to the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach
• belangrik has stress roughly on the second syllable: be-LANG-rik

You do not need perfect pronunciation right away, but the guttural g is one sound English speakers often need to practise.

In a simple main clause like this, you usually put the verb first:

• Hierdie vaardigheid is belangrik. = This skill is important.
• Is hierdie vaardigheid belangrik? = Is this skill important?

So this works much like English inversion.

Afrikaans normally uses a double negative with nie ... nie.

So:

• Hierdie vaardigheid is nie belangrik nie.
• This skill is not important.

The first nie usually comes after the verb or after the element being negated, and the second nie comes near the end of the clause.

This is one of the most important sentence patterns in Afrikaans, and English speakers often need time to get used to it.