Die rekening bevat 'n raming en die tarief.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, usually meaning the.

In this sentence:

• Die rekening = the bill/account/invoice
• die tarief = the rate/tariff

It appears twice because both nouns are definite. Afrikaans often repeats the article before each noun if both are meant separately:

• die rekening ... en die tarief

That is very natural and clear. English can sometimes omit the second the, but Afrikaans often keeps it.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So:

• 'n raming = an estimate

It is always written with a lowercase n and an apostrophe in front: 'n.

A useful thing to remember:

• Even at the beginning of a sentence, the n itself stays lowercase.
• If it starts a sentence, the next word is capitalized instead.

For example:

• 'n Raming is ingesluit.

This shows a difference between something non-specific and something specific.

• 'n raming = an estimate → any estimate / an unspecified estimate
• die tarief = the rate → a particular, known rate

So the sentence suggests:

• the bill contains an estimate
• and also the rate (probably a specific rate relevant in context)

This article choice works much like English.

Because Afrikaans main clauses normally follow a verb-second pattern.

Here the structure is:

• Die rekening = subject
• bevat = verb
• 'n raming en die tarief = object

So the basic order is:

Subject + Verb + Rest

That gives:

Die rekening bevat 'n raming en die tarief.

This is very similar to normal English word order in a simple statement.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change much for person or number in the present tense.

So the verb stays the same:

• Ek bevat (rare in meaning, but grammatically same pattern)
• jy bevat
• die rekening bevat
• hulle bevat

In practical terms, Afrikaans is much simpler than English here. You do not usually add endings like English contain/contains.

So bevat stays bevat.

They are related historically, but in modern Afrikaans rekening usually means things like:

• bill
• account
• invoice
• sometimes calculation, depending on context

In this sentence, it most likely means bill, account, or invoice.

So although it looks a bit like English reckoning, you should learn it as its own Afrikaans word.

They are both nouns.

• raming = a noun meaning estimate
• tarief = a noun meaning rate or tariff

You can often spot nouns in Afrikaans by their position after articles:

• 'n raming
• die tarief

Also, unlike languages such as German or French, Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender in the same way, so you do not have to memorize masculine/feminine noun classes with different articles.

'n is usually pronounced as a very weak sound, like the a in English about: uh / ə.

So:

• 'n raming

sounds roughly like:

• uh rah-ming

The stress is not on 'n. The important word is raming, not the article.

Yes, in this sentence en simply means and.

So:

• 'n raming en die tarief = an estimate and the rate

It joins two noun phrases together, just like English and.

Yes. Bevat often means contains, but depending on context, English might also use:

• contains
• includes
• has

So this sentence could naturally be understood as something like:

• The bill contains an estimate and the rate.
• The bill includes an estimate and the rate.

The best English choice depends on the context, but the Afrikaans grammar stays the same.