Die voorafbetaalmeter is nuut.

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, often forms compound nouns by joining words together.

So:

• vooraf = in advance / beforehand
• betaal = pay
• meter = meter

Together, voorafbetaalmeter means a prepaid meter.

English often uses separate words where Afrikaans prefers one compound word. So what looks long to an English speaker is completely normal in Afrikaans.

Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, so here it means the.

A useful thing for English speakers: Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender like many other European languages. So die can be used for:

• the singular noun
• the plural noun

It does not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

Yes. Is in Afrikaans is the present-tense form of to be, and it is directly comparable to English is in this sentence.

So:

• Die voorafbetaalmeter is nuut.
• The prepaid meter is new.

This is one of those very helpful similarities between English and Afrikaans.

This is a very common learner question.

In this sentence, nuut comes after the verb is, so it is being used predicatively:

• Die voorafbetaalmeter is nuut. = The prepaid meter is new.

When many Afrikaans adjectives come before a noun, they often take an -e ending:

• die nuwe voorafbetaalmeter = the new prepaid meter

So:

• after the verb: nuut
• before the noun: nuwe

That is why nuut is correct here.

Yes. This is the standard word order for a simple statement.

The structure is:

• Die voorafbetaalmeter = subject
• is = verb
• nuut = complement/adjective

So Afrikaans here follows the familiar pattern:

• Subject + verb + adjective

This makes the sentence very straightforward for an English speaker.

You would use 'n for a/an:

• 'n voorafbetaalmeter is nuut.

A few useful notes about 'n:

• It is always written with an apostrophe: 'n
• It is never capitalized, even at the beginning of a sentence in normal spelling practice; instead, the first real word is capitalized if needed

So at the start of a sentence, you may see:

• 'n Voorafbetaalmeter is nuut.

Nuut is pronounced roughly like nyoot.

A rough guide:

• n as in English no
• uu is a long vowel sound, somewhat like the vowel in new for many English speakers
• t is a clear t

So nuut sounds close to nyoot, though exact pronunciation depends on accent.

A rough English-friendly breakdown is:

VOOR-af-beh-TAAL-mee-ter

Helpful parts:

• voor sounds roughly like foor
• af like uff or ahf, depending on accent
• betaal has stress on taal
• meter is close to mee-ter

If saying the whole compound feels difficult, it helps to mentally split it into parts first:

• vooraf
• betaal
• meter

Then say them smoothly together.

No. Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way languages like German or French do.

That means you do not need to learn separate forms like:

• masculine the
• feminine the
• neuter the

You can simply use die for the.

That is one reason Afrikaans grammar is often easier for English speakers than some other European languages.

You would say:

• Die nuwe voorafbetaalmeter ...

For example:

• Die nuwe voorafbetaalmeter werk goed. = The new prepaid meter works well.

Compare:

• Die voorafbetaalmeter is nuut. = The prepaid meter is new.
• Die nuwe voorafbetaalmeter = the new prepaid meter

So the meaning is similar, but the grammar changes:

• after the verb: nuut
• before the noun: nuwe