Dit voel asof die materiaal swaar is.

to be

Breakdown of Dit voel asof die materiaal swaar is.

• dit: it
• voel: to feel
• swaar: heavy

Questions & Answers about Dit voel asof die materiaal swaar is.

Why does the sentence start with Dit? What is it referring to?

Here Dit is a dummy subject, like English it in It feels...

It does not necessarily refer to a specific thing. The sentence is built around the idea It feels as if..., so Dit is just the normal grammatical subject.

You will often see this in Afrikaans:

• Dit lyk of... = It looks as if...
• Dit klink asof... = It sounds as if...
• Dit voel asof... = It feels as if...

What does voel mean here? Is it physical touch or a general impression?

Voel can mean both:

• to feel physically / touch
• to feel / seem / give the impression

In this sentence, it means to feel / seem, not literally touching in a narrow sense.

So Dit voel asof die materiaal swaar is means something like:

• It feels as if the material is heavy
• The material seems heavy

What does asof mean?