Die blik is leeg.

The tin is empty.

Breakdown of Die blik is leeg.

• wees: to be
• leeg: empty
• die blik: the tin; metal can

Questions & Answers about Die blik is leeg.

What does die mean here?

Here, die is the definite article, so it means the.

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

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike languages such as German or Dutch, you do not have to learn different forms like the masculine the, the feminine the, etc.

Also, Die is capitalized here only because it starts the sentence. In the middle of a sentence, it would normally be die.

Is die pronounced like the English word die?

No. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

So:

• die ≈ dee
• not like English die

That is a very common beginner mistake.

What is is doing in this sentence?

Is is the present-tense form of the verb wees, which means to be.

So it works very much like English is in a sentence like:

• The can is empty.

It links the subject (die blik) to the description (leeg).