Afval usually means waste, garbage, rubbish, or refuse, depending on context.
In a sentence like Ons sorteer die afval, it often suggests:
So the exact English translation can vary a little depending on the situation, but waste is a good general meaning.
Afval is often treated like a mass noun, similar to English waste or trash.
That means it refers to material in a general, collective sense rather than to countable individual items.
So:
If you wanted to talk about separate items, you would normally use different wording.
A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker is:
ons sor-TEER dee AF-val
A few notes:
Pronunciation can vary a bit by speaker and region, but this is a good practical guide.
Yes, in Afrikaans die is normally pronounced dee.
This surprises many English speakers because it is spelled exactly like the English word die, but it is not pronounced the same way.
So:
This is one of the first pronunciation habits learners need to get used to.
Ons sorteer nie die afval nie.
Afrikaans normally uses double negation:
So:
This double nie pattern is a very important feature of Afrikaans.
Yes, that can be possible, but the meaning becomes a bit more general.
Compare:
Ons sorteer die afval. = We sort the waste.
Ons sorteer afval. = We sort waste.
Both can be correct, but die makes the noun phrase more definite.
It is not one of the oldest core Germanic words in the language; it is a borrowed/international-type word, similar to English sort and sort out.
That is quite common in Afrikaans. Many words are easy for English speakers to recognize because they resemble English, Dutch, French, or other European vocabulary.
So sorteer is a useful word to remember because it is both common and fairly transparent in meaning.
Yes, very often.
In everyday use, Ons sorteer die afval may imply that people are sorting waste for recycling, even if the sentence does not explicitly say recycling.
If you wanted to make that clearer, the wider context would help, or you could use a longer sentence. But on its own, this sentence naturally fits environmental or household recycling contexts.