Die werkswinkel is oop.

to be

Breakdown of Die werkswinkel is oop.

• oop: open
• die werkswinkel: the workshop; repair garage

Questions & Answers about Die werkswinkel is oop.

How is die pronounced? Is it like the English word die?

No. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced dee.

That is one of the first things English speakers need to unlearn, because the spelling looks misleading if you read it like English.

What does die mean here?

Die is the definite article, so it works like the in English.

A useful thing about Afrikaans is that die does not change for grammatical gender. It is also used for plural nouns in many cases, so it is much simpler than articles in languages like German or Dutch.

So in this sentence, die werkswinkel means the workshop.

Why is is the same as in English?

Afrikaans and English are related Germanic languages, so some very common words look the same.

Here, is is the present-tense form of the verb to be, just like English is.
So the structure is very familiar:

• Die werkswinkel = the workshop
• is = is
• oop = open

Is werkswinkel really one word?