Is die skeidsregter gereed?

Because this is a yes/no question in Afrikaans. Like English, Afrikaans often puts the verb first to ask this kind of question.

• Statement: Die skeidsregter is gereed. = The referee is ready.
• Question: Is die skeidsregter gereed? = Is the referee ready?

So the word order changes mainly because it is a question.

Here, die means the.

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for all nouns, whether singular or plural in many contexts:

• die skeidsregter = the referee
• die spelers = the players

Unlike many European languages, Afrikaans does not have different words for the based on gender.

No. This is just a false friend.

In this sentence, die is the Afrikaans word for the, and it is pronounced differently from the English verb die.

So in Is die skeidsregter gereed?, die is completely harmless—it just means the.

Skeidsregter means referee.

It is a compound word, which is very common in Afrikaans. It comes from parts related to the idea of judging/separating/deciding. You do not need to break it apart to use it, but it helps to know that Afrikaans often combines words into one longer noun.

So:

• skeidsregter = referee
• die skeidsregter = the referee

Because gereed is the adjective meaning ready, and in this sentence it comes after the subject, just as in English:

• The referee is ready.
• Die skeidsregter is gereed.

In the question form, Afrikaans moves is to the front:

• Is die skeidsregter gereed?

So gereed stays in its normal predicate position after the subject.

Afrikaans adjectives often stay unchanged when used after a linking verb like is.

Here, gereed is a predicate adjective:

• Die skeidsregter is gereed.

In this position, Afrikaans does not add extra endings the way some languages do. That makes Afrikaans grammar simpler for learners.

Yes. Just switch the word order:

• Question: Is die skeidsregter gereed?
• Statement: Die skeidsregter is gereed.

This is one of the most useful patterns in Afrikaans:

• Is hy hier? → Hy is hier.
• Is die span gereed? → Die span is gereed.

A few common answers are:

• Ja, die skeidsregter is gereed. = Yes, the referee is ready.
• Ja, hy is gereed. = Yes, he is ready.
• Nee, die skeidsregter is nie gereed nie. = No, the referee is not ready.

Notice the double nie in standard Afrikaans negation:

• is nie ... nie

A few things may stand out to English speakers:

• is sounds similar to English iss
• die is pronounced roughly like dee, not like English die
• gereed is roughly guh-REET or khuh-REET, depending on accent and how strongly the g is pronounced
• skeidsregter has the Afrikaans/Dutch-style g/ch sound, which may be unfamiliar to English speakers

The biggest pronunciation trap for beginners is usually die, because they want to say it like the English word die, but in Afrikaans it sounds more like dee.

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

That means:

• die stays die
• adjectives do not change because a noun is masculine or feminine
• you do not need to memorize noun genders for sentences like this

So die skeidsregter simply means the referee, without any gender marking on the article.