Dit is 'n moeilike geval.

Here, dit means it.

In Afrikaans, dit is a very common pronoun. In a sentence like Dit is 'n moeilike geval, it works just like English it is a difficult case.

You will also see dit used in other ways, for example:

• Dit is waar. = It is true.
• Dit reën. = It is raining.

So in this sentence, dit is simply the subject: it.

Yes, is here is the present-tense form of to be, just like English is.

So:

• Dit is ... = It is ...

One useful difference is pronunciation: Afrikaans is is usually pronounced more like iss, not like the English iz.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, equivalent to English a or an.

So:

• 'n moeilike geval = a difficult case

A few important points:

• It is pronounced like a very short uh sound, a schwa.
• You do not pronounce the written n clearly in normal speech.
• It is always written with a lowercase n, even at the beginning of a sentence.

For example, at the start of a sentence, Afrikaans writes:

• 'n Moeilike geval

Notice that 'n stays lowercase.

Because Afrikaans adjectives often take an -e ending when they come before a noun.

Compare:

• Die geval is moeilik. = The case is difficult.
  Here moeilik comes after the noun, so it stays moeilik.

• 'n moeilike geval = a difficult case
  Here the adjective comes before the noun, so it becomes moeilike.

This is a very common pattern in Afrikaans. The form before the noun is often called the attributive form.

In this sentence, geval means case.

Depending on context, geval can also mean things like:

• case
• instance
• incident

For example:

• in daardie geval = in that case
• 'n vreemde geval = a strange case / a strange incident

So the exact English translation depends on context, but case is the natural meaning here.

Yes. This sentence has the same basic order as English:

• Dit = subject
• is = verb
• 'n moeilike geval = complement

So:

• Dit is 'n moeilike geval.
• It is a difficult case.

For a beginner, this is a very straightforward sentence because the structure matches English closely.

Yes. In everyday speech, Dit is is very often shortened to Dis.

So these mean the same thing:

• Dit is 'n moeilike geval.
• Dis 'n moeilike geval.

The full form Dit is is a bit more careful or formal, while Dis is extremely common in normal spoken Afrikaans and informal writing.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

Dit is 'n moeilike geval
dit iss uh MOY-luh-kə khuh-VAHL

A few notes:

• moeilike starts with a sound like moy
• geval has stress on the second syllable: -val
• the g in geval is the guttural Afrikaans g, not an English hard g

If you want to sound natural, keep 'n very weak and unstressed:

• Dit is 'n moeilike geval
• not Dit is EN moeilike geval

No. Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way some other European languages do.

That means:

• you do not need different forms of 'n for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns
• geval does not force you to learn a special gender-based article

So 'n geval is simply a case, with no gender distinction to memorize.