Die tenk is vol.

The tank is full.

Breakdown of Die tenk is vol.

• wees: to be
• vol: full
• die tenk: the fuel tank

Questions & Answers about Die tenk is vol.

Why does die mean the here? Isn’t die an English word with a completely different meaning?

Yes. In Afrikaans, die is the normal definite article, meaning the.

So:

• die tenk = the tank

It is unrelated to the English verb die in this sentence.
Also, Afrikaans uses die for singular and plural nouns:

• die tenk = the tank
• die tenks = the tanks

A useful pronunciation tip: Afrikaans die is usually pronounced more like dee, not like the English verb die.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence?

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

dee tenk is fol

A bit more precisely:

• die → dee
• tenk → like English tank, but with a short e sound, closer to tenk
• is → like iss
• vol → roughly fol, with a short o

So the full sentence sounds approximately like:

dee tenk iss fol

Is tenk just the Afrikaans version of English tank?