Die voertuig is by die werkswinkel.

Die means the.

It appears twice because there are two nouns in the sentence:

• die voertuig = the vehicle
• die werkswinkel = the workshop / the garage

A useful point for English speakers: Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for all genders and for both singular and plural in most ordinary cases.

No. Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way languages like German or Dutch do.

So you do not have to learn different words for the depending on whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. In this sentence, both nouns simply take die.

Voertuig means vehicle.

It is a fairly general word, so it can refer to a car, truck, van, or another kind of vehicle. If you specifically wanted to say car, you would more often use:

• kar
• motor (depending on region and context)

So voertuig is a bit broader and sometimes slightly more formal than everyday English car.

Literally, werkswinkel means workshop.

In this sentence, because the subject is a vehicle, English would often naturally interpret it as:

• the garage
• the repair shop
• the workshop

So the exact English choice depends on context, but the Afrikaans word itself is perfectly normal here.

Yes, by can mean several related things, including by, at, or sometimes with, depending on context.

In Die voertuig is by die werkswinkel, by means at:

• by die werkswinkel = at the workshop / garage

This is very common in Afrikaans. So even though the word looks like English by, in many location sentences it is best translated as at.

This is an important distinction:

• by die werkswinkel = at the workshop / garage
• in die werkswinkel = in the workshop / inside the garage

So by gives a general location, while in makes it clear that something is physically inside the building or space.

Afrikaans verbs are much simpler than English verbs in many cases.

Here, is is the present-tense form of to be, and it does not change depending on the subject:

• Ek is = I am
• Jy is = you are
• Hy is = he is
• Ons is = we are
• Hulle is = they are

So in this sentence, is works exactly as expected, and you do not need to learn lots of different present-tense forms.

In this sentence, yes, it is very similar to English:

• Die voertuig = subject
• is = verb
• by die werkswinkel = location phrase

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + place

That makes this sentence quite straightforward for an English speaker.

A small extra note: Afrikaans often changes the order when another element comes first. For example:

• By die werkswinkel is die voertuig.

That still means roughly the same thing, but now the location is being emphasized.

You would say:

Die voertuie is by die werkswinkel.
= The vehicles are at the workshop.

The main change is:

• voertuig → voertuie

Notice that:

• die stays die
• is stays is

So Afrikaans keeps things fairly simple here.

A rough learner-friendly guide is:

• Die ≈ dee
• voertuig ≈ something like FOOR-tuykh
• is ≈ iss
• by ≈ bay
• die ≈ dee
• werkswinkel ≈ VERKS-vin-kel

A few helpful pronunciation notes:

• Afrikaans w sounds like English v
• the g sound is often a rough, throaty sound, not a hard English g
• the vowel in voertuig does not have a perfect English equivalent, so approximation is normal for beginners

No, not in standard Afrikaans.

You need both articles because both noun phrases are definite:

• die voertuig
• die werkswinkel

So the full sentence should be:

Die voertuig is by die werkswinkel.

Leaving one out would sound incomplete or ungrammatical.