Die sperdatum is vandag.

to be

Breakdown of Die sperdatum is vandag.

• vandag: today
• die sperdatum: the deadline

Questions & Answers about Die sperdatum is vandag.

Why does the sentence start with die?

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

In Die sperdatum is vandag, die sperdatum means the deadline.

A useful thing for English speakers: Afrikaans does not have different words for the based on gender, like some other languages do. You generally just use die for the.

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What kind of word is sperdatum?

Sperdatum is a compound noun: two parts joined into one word.

• sper = related to closing off, blocking, or setting a limit
• datum = date

So sperdatum is literally something like cut-off date or deadline.

Afrikaans often forms nouns this way, and unlike English, it usually writes them as one word.

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Why is sperdatum written as one word and not two?