Die spanne is gelykop.

In Afrikaans, is is used with all subjects in the present tense of to be.

So you say:

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

So Die spanne is gelykop is completely normal, even though spanne is plural.

Yes. Spanne is the plural of span.

• singular: span — team
• plural: spanne — teams

The plural here is made with -e, and the n is doubled in spelling: span → spanne.

This kind of spelling helps keep the vowel sound short.

Yes. Die means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for both singular and plural definite nouns:

• die span — the team
• die spanne — the teams

So unlike English, the article does not change.

Here, gelykop is describing the state of the teams, so it functions like a predicate adjective after is.

In other words:

• Die spanne — the teams
• is — are
• gelykop — tied / level / even

In sports contexts, gelykop is a very common word for tied or level.

Because it comes after the verb is.

In Afrikaans, adjectives used after a linking verb like is usually stay in their basic form:

• Die spanne is gelykop.
• Die wedstryd is spannend.
• Die telling is reg.

So there is no special plural form here.

The basic word order is:

Subject + verb + complement

So:

• Die spanne — subject
• is — verb
• gelykop — complement

That makes Die spanne is gelykop the standard word order for a simple statement.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• spanne → SPAN-uh
• gelykop → roughly khuh-LAKE-kop

A few notes:

• the g in Afrikaans is usually a throaty sound, not a hard English g
• the y in gelykop sounds roughly like the vowel in lake
• kop sounds like copp

So the whole sentence is approximately:

dee SPAN-uh is khuh-LAKE-kop

That is only an approximation, but it is a useful starting point.

Usually, learners should keep die here.

Die spanne is gelykop means the teams are tied, referring to specific teams.

If you say Spanne is gelykop, it sounds more general, unusual, or context-dependent. You might see article-less style in headlines or special kinds of writing, but in normal speech die is the natural choice here.

Yes. One common alternative is:

Dit is gelykop tussen die spanne.
This means It is tied between the teams / The teams are tied.

But Die spanne is gelykop is already a very natural and straightforward sentence, especially in a sports context.