Die tarief is duur.

Yes. In this sentence, die is the definite article, so it works like English the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans die is much simpler than articles in many European languages:

• it does not change for grammatical gender
• it is used for both singular and plural definite nouns

So:

• die tarief = the rate / the tariff
• die tariewe = the rates / the tariffs

Tarief usually means a rate, tariff, fare, or charge, depending on context.

So it can be used for things like:

• service rates
• phone or electricity tariffs
• transport fares
• official charges

It does not always mean exactly the same thing as English price. A general price is often prys, while tarief is more like a set or official rate/fee.

Yes. Is is the present-tense form of to be, just like English is.

So:

• Die tarief is duur. = The rate is expensive.

This is one of the easy parts for English speakers, because Afrikaans is looks and works very similarly here.

Because duur is the adjective describing die tarief, and after is Afrikaans commonly places the adjective in this same kind of pattern:

• subject + is
  • adjective

So:

• Die tarief is duur.
• Die kos is lekker.
• Die kamer is groot.

This is very similar to English:

• The rate is expensive.
• The food is tasty.
• The room is big.

Because here it is being used after the verb is, as a predicate adjective.

In that position, Afrikaans adjectives normally stay in their basic form:

• Die tarief is duur.
• Die motor is vinnig.
• Die huis is groot.

For learners, the key point is simple: after is, the adjective usually appears in its plain dictionary form.

Yes. Duur can also be a verb meaning to last.

For example:

• Die fliek duur twee ure. = The movie lasts two hours.

But in Die tarief is duur, it is clearly an adjective, because it comes after is and describes the tariff/rate.

So here it means expensive, not lasts.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Die ≈ dee
• tarief ≈ ta-REEF
• is ≈ iss
• duur has no exact English equivalent, but you can think of it roughly as düür, with a rounded vowel a bit like German ü

So the whole sentence is roughly:

• dee ta-REEF iss düür

The hardest word for most English speakers is duur, because the vowel is not a normal English vowel.

You use Afrikaans nie ... nie negation:

• Die tarief is nie duur nie.

That means The rate is not expensive.

This double negative pattern is very common in Afrikaans, so it is worth learning early.

Usually you just put the verb first:

• Is die tarief duur?

That means Is the rate expensive?

This is very similar to English word order in yes/no questions.

In simple statements like this, yes:

• Die tarief is duur.

That is a very normal Afrikaans sentence pattern.

A helpful rule is that in a main clause, the finite verb tends to stay in the second position. So if something else comes first, is still stays second:

• Vandag is die tarief duur. = Today the rate is expensive.

So the basic sentence is simple, but the bigger rule behind it is the Afrikaans verb-second pattern.