Die veiligheidsgordel is belangrik.

to be

Breakdown of Die veiligheidsgordel is belangrik.

• belangrik: important
• die veiligheidsgordel: the seat belt

Questions & Answers about Die veiligheidsgordel is belangrik.

Why does the sentence start with die?

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender, and die is also used with plural nouns. So one small word covers a lot of jobs that English handles with the and some other languages handle with several different forms.

Why is veiligheidsgordel written as one long word?

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often writes compound nouns as one word.

So veiligheidsgordel is a compound noun made from:

• veiligheid = safety
• gordel = belt

English often writes similar words as two words or sometimes hyphenates them, but Afrikaans usually joins them together into a single compound.

What is the s doing in veiligheidsgordel?

That s is a linking s inside the compound.

It is not an English-style possessive apostrophe, and it does not mean plural here. It simply helps link the two parts of the compound:

• veiligheid
• gordel

This kind of linking sound is common in Afrikaans compounds, but it is not always fully predictable, so it is often best learned as part of the whole word.