Sy kies die swart merker.

Here, sy means she because it is the subject of the verb kies.

Yes, sy can also mean his, but then it is possessive and comes before a noun, for example sy merker = his marker.

So:

• Sy kies die swart merker. = She chooses the black marker.
• sy merker = his marker

The position in the sentence tells you which meaning is intended.

It can mean all of those, depending on context. Kies is a general verb for making a choice.

So in everyday English, this sentence could be understood as:

• She chooses the black marker
• She picks the black marker
• She selects the black marker

Usually much less than in English. In the present tense, kies stays the same with most subjects:

• ek kies = I choose
• jy kies = you choose
• sy kies = she chooses
• ons kies = we choose
• hulle kies = they choose

So Afrikaans does not add an extra -s for she the way English does in she chooses.

Die means the.

A very useful point for learners is that die is used for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So Afrikaans does not have separate words like the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

Examples:

• die merker = the marker
• die merkers = the markers

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

• Sy = subject
• kies = verb
• die swart merker = object

So the pattern is Subject + Verb + Object.

Also, the adjective comes before the noun, just as in English:

• swart merker = black marker

Because swart is the normal adjective form used here. In Afrikaans, adjectives often stay unchanged before nouns, and swart is one of the common adjectives that does so in ordinary usage.

So:

• die swart merker = correct

Learners should know that some Afrikaans adjectives do take an extra -e in certain forms, such as goeie or nuwe, but swart in this sentence remains swart.

Yes. Merker is a normal Afrikaans word and is clearly related to English marker. Depending on context, it can refer to a marker pen or something used for marking.

So for an English speaker, it is a helpful cognate: it looks and means something very similar to marker.

In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee, not like English dye.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

say kees dee swahrt mer-kuhr

That is only approximate, but it is a useful starting point:

• Sy ≈ say
• kies ≈ kees
• die ≈ dee
• swart ≈ swahrt
• merker ≈ mer-kuhr

Accent and exact vowel quality can vary, but this will get you close.

You would say:

Sy kies nie die swart merker nie.

Afrikaans typically uses a double negative structure with nie ... nie:

• first nie after the verb
• second nie at the end of the clause

So this is a very common Afrikaans pattern to learn early.

The plural of merker is merkers.

So:

• die swart merker = the black marker
• die swart merkers = the black markers

And the full sentence would become:

Sy kies die swart merkers. = She chooses the black markers.