Die watermeter is foutief.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, equivalent to the in English.

A few useful points:

• Afrikaans does not have different words like the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.
• Die can be used with both singular and plural nouns.
• In this sentence, die watermeter means the water meter.

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often forms compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• water = water
• meter = meter
• watermeter = water meter

This is very normal in Afrikaans. English often writes such combinations as two words, but Afrikaans usually joins them.

Other examples:

• huisdeur = house door / front door
• sonlig = sunlight
• skooltas = school bag

Mostly yes. Is is the present-tense form of the verb wees (to be), and here it works like English is.

So the structure is:

• Die watermeter = subject
• is = verb
• foutief = complement/adjective

A very useful difference from English is that Afrikaans verbs do not change much according to the subject:

• Ek is
• Jy is
• Hy is
• Ons is

So is is used very widely.

Foutief means faulty, defective, or sometimes incorrect, depending on context.

With watermeter, it usually means the meter is not functioning properly or is giving wrong readings.

So the idea is something like:

• the meter is defective
• the meter is faulty
• the meter is not working correctly

Because foutief is used after the verb is. In Afrikaans, adjectives used predicatively (after a verb like is) usually stay in their basic form.

So:

• Die watermeter is foutief. = The water meter is faulty.

But when the adjective comes before the noun, it usually takes -e:

• die foutiewe watermeter = the faulty water meter

This is a very common Afrikaans pattern:

• Die huis is groot.

• die groot huis

• Die boek is interessant.
• die interessante boek

The word order is the normal Afrikaans pattern for a simple statement:

Subject + verb + complement

So:

• Die watermeter = subject
• is = verb
• foutief = complement

This is very similar to English:

• The water meter is faulty.

In Afrikaans, yes/no questions usually use verb-first word order.

So:

• Statement: Die watermeter is foutief.
• Question: Is die watermeter foutief?

This is very close to English:

• The water meter is faulty.
• Is the water meter faulty?

Afrikaans normally uses a double negative with nie ... nie.

So:

• Die watermeter is nie foutief nie.

That means:

• The water meter is not faulty.

Pattern:

• subject + verb + nie
  • rest + nie

This double nie is a very important feature of standard Afrikaans.

No. Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way some European languages do.

That means:

• nouns are not treated as masculine, feminine, or neuter in the article system
• you do not need to memorize different forms of the for different genders

So die watermeter is simply the water meter, with no gender issue to worry about.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

FOW-tee-ef

A few notes:

• fou sounds somewhat like foh or the start of focus, but it can vary by accent
• the tie part is not like English tie; it is closer to tee
• the final f is clearly pronounced

If you want to sound more natural, it helps to hear native audio, because Afrikaans vowels are often a bit different from English ones.

Yes. Foutief can describe something that is:

• factually wrong
• technically incorrect
• defective
• malfunctioning

With a device like a watermeter, the likely meaning is:

• it is defective, or
• it gives incorrect readings

So the exact nuance depends on context, but in everyday use here, faulty is probably the best translation.

Yes. That means The water meter is not working properly, and it is a natural alternative.

There is a slight difference in focus:

• Die watermeter is foutief = the meter is faulty/defective
• Die watermeter werk nie reg nie = the meter is not working properly

The first sounds a bit more like a diagnosis of the meter itself; the second emphasizes its bad functioning. Both are useful and natural.