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Questions & Answers about Die verdagte is onbekend.
What does die mean here?
Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so here it means the.
A few useful things about die:
- It is used for all genders. Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender like German.
- It is also used for both singular and plural nouns.
- So die can mean the whether the noun is one thing or more than one thing.
In this sentence, die verdagte means the suspect.
Why is verdagte used for suspect?
In modern Afrikaans, verdagte is a normal noun meaning suspect.
It is related to verdag, which means suspicious. So the idea is similar to the suspicious person becoming the suspect.
For a learner, the safest approach is simply:
- verdagte = suspect as a noun
So in Die verdagte is onbekend, verdagte is the subject of the sentence.
Why is the verb is the same as in English?