Hy beskryf die reël.

Hy is the Afrikaans subject pronoun meaning he.

A few useful points:

• hy = he
• It is capitalized here only because it starts the sentence.
• In the middle of a sentence, it would normally be hy, not Hy.

So:

• Hy beskryf die reël. = He describes the rule.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form in the present tense depending on the subject.

Compare:

• Ek beskryf = I describe
• Jy beskryf = you describe
• Hy beskryf = he describes
• Ons beskryf = we describe

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not usually add an -s for he/she/it. So English he describes is simply hy beskryf.

This is the normal word order for a simple main clause in Afrikaans:

• Subject + verb + object

So here:

• Hy = subject
• beskryf = verb
• die reël = object

That makes Hy beskryf die reël the straightforward equivalent of He describes the rule.

Afrikaans main clauses often look quite similar to English in simple sentences like this.

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

A very important Afrikaans point: die does not change for gender.

English only has the, and Afrikaans is similar in that respect:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kind = the child

It is also used for plural nouns:

• die reëls = the rules

So die reël means the rule.

No, not in the way languages like German do.

In this sentence, die does not tell you whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, because Afrikaans does not use that kind of article system.

So learners do not need to memorize different forms like der / die / das. You just use die here.

That makes sentences like this simpler to build.

The two dots are called a diaeresis.

In reël, they show that the vowels are pronounced in separate syllables, not blended together as one sound.

So reël is not pronounced like one long vowel sound. It is said in two syllables, roughly:

• ree-uhl

The diaeresis helps you see that the word should be split up in pronunciation.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• beskryf ≈ buh-SKRAYF
• reël ≈ REE-uhl

A few notes:

• In beskryf, the stress is on the second part: -skryf
• The y in Afrikaans is not exactly the English y sound; it is closer to the vowel sound in something like say, though not identical
• In reël, the ë shows that you should clearly pronounce two syllables

So the whole sentence is approximately:

• Hy beskryf die reël ≈ hay buh-SKRAYF dee REE-uhl

That is only an approximation, but it helps many beginners.

Yes. Reël can have more than one meaning depending on context.

As a noun, it can mean things like:

• rule
• line (for example, a line of text or verse)

As a verb, reël can mean:

• arrange
• organize

But in Hy beskryf die reël, it is clearly a noun, because it comes after die:

• die reël = the rule / the line

So the structure of the sentence tells you that reël is not being used as a verb here.

A common past form in Afrikaans is made with het plus a past participle.

So:

• Hy beskryf die reël. = He describes the rule.
• Hy het die reël beskryf. = He described the rule. / He has described the rule.

An interesting detail is that beskryf keeps the same spelling here. That is because verbs with prefixes like be- normally do not take ge- in the participle.

So you get:

• beskryf → het beskryf

not

• het gebeskryf

Yes. Die reël is the direct object.

It is the thing receiving the action of the verb beskryf:

• Who is doing the action? Hy
• What is he describing? die reël

So:

• Hy = subject
• beskryf = verb
• die reël = direct object

Afrikaans does not mark the object with a special ending here, so you identify it mainly by its position and its role in the sentence.