Die skakelaar is af.

to be

Breakdown of Die skakelaar is af.

• af: off
• die skakelaar: the electrical switch

Questions & Answers about Die skakelaar is af.

Why is die used here? Does it mean the, and does Afrikaans have grammatical gender?

Yes. Die here means the.

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender the way languages like German or Dutch do. So:

• die = the for singular nouns
• die = the for plural nouns too

That means you do not have to learn separate masculine, feminine, or neuter forms of the.

In Die skakelaar is af., die skakelaar simply means the switch.

What does skakelaar literally mean, and is it a common word?

Skakelaar is the normal Afrikaans word for switch.

It comes from the idea of switching or connecting/changing over. In everyday use, it can refer to things like:

• a light switch
• a power switch
• a wall switch

So Die skakelaar is af. is a very natural everyday sentence.

Why is is the same as English is?