Die padwerke begin vandag.

The roadworks start today.

Breakdown of Die padwerke begin vandag.

• vandag: today
• begin: to start
• die padwerke: the roadworks

Questions & Answers about Die padwerke begin vandag.

What does die mean here, and is it singular or plural?

Die means the.

In Afrikaans, die is used for:

• singular definite nouns: die pad = the road
• plural definite nouns: die paaie = the roads

So unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the article for number. In this sentence, die goes with padwerke and means the roadworks.

Does Afrikaans have grammatical gender? Is die masculine, feminine, or neuter?

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

That means die is not a masculine or feminine article here. It is simply the normal definite article the.

This is one reason Afrikaans is often easier for English speakers than some other European languages.

Why is padwerke written as one word?

Afrikaans very often writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• pad = road
• werke = works
• padwerke = roadworks

This is extremely common in Afrikaans. Where English may use two words, Afrikaans often combines them into a single compound noun.