Die verhouding verander met tyd.

with

Breakdown of Die verhouding verander met tyd.

• die tyd: the time
• verander: to change
• die verhouding: the relationship

Questions & Answers about Die verhouding verander met tyd.

What does verhouding mean here?

Verhouding can mean several related things in Afrikaans, depending on context:

• relationship
• ratio
• proportion

So this sentence could mean The relationship changes over time or The ratio/proportion changes over time, depending on what was being discussed. That is a very common thing for learners to notice: one Afrikaans word often covers more than one English word.

Why is the sentence using die?

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not change the article for gender the way some other languages do. So:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kind = the child

It is also used for plural nouns:

• die kinders = the children

So in die verhouding, die simply means the.

Why is the verb verander the same form? Shouldn’t it change for he/she/it like in English?