Wat 'n duikslag!

Here wat is being used in an exclamatory way, not a question-word way.

So Wat 'n duikslag! works like English What a ...! rather than What?

It expresses a reaction, not a request for information.

Because this is an exclamation, not a full statement.

Afrikaans often allows a short noun phrase in exclamations, just like English does:

• What a mess!
• What a surprise!

Those English examples also have no verb. Afrikaans does the same thing with Wat 'n ...!

If you wanted a full sentence, you would add a verb, depending on context.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So the pattern is:

• wat = what
• 'n = a/an
• duikslag = the noun

Together, the structure is What a ...!

That is simply the normal written form of the Afrikaans indefinite article.

A few useful things to know:

• it is always written 'n
• it is normally lowercase
• the apostrophe is part of the spelling

So this is not optional punctuation; it belongs to the word.

It is usually pronounced as a very short, weak uh sound.

It is not pronounced like the English letter name en.

So in normal speech, 'n is unstressed and very light.

Because Afrikaans usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

That means when two ideas combine into one noun, Afrikaans often joins them together instead of separating them.

So duikslag is treated as one vocabulary item in writing.

Yes, at least partly.

It is a compound noun, and the first part duik is related to diving. The second part slag is a common element in Afrikaans compounds.

That said, it is still best to learn duikslag as a whole word, because compound meanings are not always perfectly predictable from their parts.

Because wat and watter do different jobs.

• wat = what
• watter = which

In the exclamation pattern What a ...!, Afrikaans uses wat 'n ...!, not watter.

So Wat 'n duikslag! is the correct structure.

Yes, very common.

You can reuse it with many nouns, for example:

• Wat 'n dag! = What a day!
• Wat 'n gemors! = What a mess!
• Wat 'n verrassing! = What a surprise!

So Wat 'n duikslag! is following a very common and useful pattern.

It sounds emotional.

The pattern Wat 'n ...! is naturally expressive, and the exclamation mark strengthens that feeling.

Depending on tone and context, it can show surprise, admiration, shock, or strong reaction.