Die enjin is koud.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so here it means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns: die enjin = the engine
• plural nouns: die enjins = the engines

Unlike English, you do not change it for gender, and unlike Dutch or German, there is no separate article like de/het or der/die/das.

No. Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way many European languages do.

So enjin is not treated as masculine, feminine, or neuter in everyday grammar. That is one reason why the article is simply die.

This makes Afrikaans easier for English speakers, because you do not have to memorize noun genders.

Is is the present-tense form of to be in Afrikaans.

In this sentence:

• Die enjin = the subject
• is = the verb
• koud = the description

So Die enjin is koud literally matches English very closely: The engine is cold.

A helpful point: Afrikaans does not conjugate is the way English changes am / is / are. You use is with all persons in the present tense:

• Ek is
• jy is
• hy is
• ons is
• hulle is

Because koud comes after is, where it is acting as a predicate adjective.

In Afrikaans, adjectives often have:

• a basic form after the verb: Die enjin is koud
• an inflected form before a noun: die koue enjin

So:

• Die enjin is koud = The engine is cold
• die koue enjin = the cold engine

This is a very common pattern in Afrikaans.

Yes, in this simple main clause it is very similar to English:

Die enjin + is + koud
subject + verb + adjective

So Afrikaans and English line up neatly here.

One small warning: Afrikaans word order changes more noticeably in some other sentence types, especially subordinate clauses. But in a basic statement like this, the structure is straightforward.

Enjin is pronounced roughly like EN-yin.

A few pronunciation hints:

• e in the first syllable is like the e in bed
• j in Afrikaans is usually pronounced like English y
• the second part sounds like yin

So an English speaker can think of it approximately as EN-yin.

Yes. Enjin is the Afrikaans form of the same word.

The spelling has been adapted to Afrikaans spelling conventions:

• English engine
• Afrikaans enjin

This kind of spelling change is common in Afrikaans, especially with borrowed or shared vocabulary.

In normal standard Afrikaans, no. You need is here.

So the correct sentence is:

• Die enjin is koud

Leaving out the verb would sound incomplete in standard Afrikaans. English also needs the verb here, so this is another place where the two languages behave similarly.

You would usually say:

Die enjins is koud. = The engines are cold.

Notice two important things:

• enjin becomes enjins
• is stays is

Also, die still stays the same. So Afrikaans keeps things quite simple:

• die enjin = the engine
• die enjins = the engines

In this sentence, it most naturally means physically cold: the engine has a low temperature.

Depending on context, koud can also be used more figuratively, just like English cold. But without extra context, Die enjin is koud will normally be understood literally.