Sy aanvaar die besluit.

Yes, sy can sometimes mean his in Afrikaans, but here it means she.

Why?

• In Sy aanvaar die besluit, sy is at the start of the sentence and is followed by the verb aanvaar, so it is clearly the subject pronoun: she.
• If sy meant his, it would normally come before a noun, for example:
  • sy boek = his book

So in this sentence:

• Sy = she

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject the way English verbs do.

In English:

• I accept
• she accepts

In Afrikaans:

• Ek aanvaar
• Sy aanvaar
• Hulle aanvaar

The verb stays the same. This is one of the simpler features of Afrikaans grammar.

It follows the basic Afrikaans main-clause word order:

subject + verb + object

So:

• Sy = subject
• aanvaar = verb
• die besluit = object

This is very similar to normal English word order:

• She accepts the decision.

Die here means the.

A very useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for nouns in general. Unlike languages such as Dutch or German, Afrikaans does not have different forms of the based on grammatical gender.

So:

• die besluit = the decision

Because die besluit refers to a specific decision: the decision.

Compare:

• Sy aanvaar die besluit. = She accepts the decision.
• Sy aanvaar 'n besluit. = She accepts a decision.

So die makes the noun definite, just like the in English.

Here it is a noun, meaning decision.

That is clear because it comes after the article die:

• die besluit = the decision

But besluit can also be a verb in Afrikaans, meaning to decide.

For example:

• Hulle besluit môre. = They decide tomorrow.

So this is a useful word to watch in context:

• after die or 'n → usually a noun
• after a subject → often a verb

It is the present tense, but like the English simple present, its exact meaning depends on context.

It can mean things like:

• She accepts the decision.
• She is accepting the decision. (in some contexts)
• She accepts/ agrees to the decision as a general statement

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might choose either accepts or is accepting, depending on the situation.

You would say:

Sy aanvaar nie die besluit nie.

This shows the well-known Afrikaans double negative pattern:

• one nie after the verb phrase
• another nie at the end of the clause

So:

• Sy aanvaar die besluit. = She accepts the decision.
• Sy aanvaar nie die besluit nie. = She does not accept the decision.

The spelling shows two long a sounds:

• aan-
• -vaar

A rough English-friendly guide is something like:

• AHN-fahr

The double aa in Afrikaans usually signals a long vowel sound. So aanvaar has long a sounds in both syllables.

You do not need to pronounce it exactly like English accept—it is a completely different-sounding word.

It is capitalized simply because it is the first word of the sentence.

If it appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be lowercase:

• Ek dink sy aanvaar die besluit. = I think she accepts the decision.

So the capital S here is just normal sentence-initial capitalization.

Yes. In a normal main clause, the finite verb still stays in the second position, even if something else comes first.

For example:

• Sy aanvaar die besluit. = She accepts the decision.
• Vandag aanvaar sy die besluit. = Today she accepts the decision.

Notice that when Vandag comes first, the verb aanvaar still stays second, and sy moves after it.

This is a very important Afrikaans word-order rule.