Die kos bederf.

the food

Breakdown of Die kos bederf.

• bederf: to spoil or go bad

Questions & Answers about Die kos bederf.

What does die mean here? Does Afrikaans have different words for the depending on gender?

Here, die means the.

Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender the way German or Dutch does, so you do not need different definite articles for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. Die is the normal definite article for nouns in general.

A useful contrast:

• die kos = the food
• 'n kos would not normally be used here, because kos is usually treated like food in English rather than a food

Why is there no word for is in Die kos bederf?

Because bederf is already a full verb.

This sentence is not built like The food is bad. It is built like The food spoils / goes bad / is spoiling.

So:

• Die kos bederf = the food spoils / is spoiling / goes bad
• Die kos is bedorwe = the food is spoiled

In other words, bederf expresses the action or process, so no extra is is needed.

What tense is bederf here?