Die universiteit is naby.

Here die means the.

It is not pronounced like English die. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee.

A useful thing for learners: Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for all nouns. Unlike languages such as German, it does not change for grammatical gender.

Because they are closely related words. Afrikaans has many words that look familiar to English speakers, especially in formal or academic vocabulary.

Here:

• universiteit = university

The spelling is different, but the meaning is easy to recognize. This is very common in Afrikaans.

This is the normal word order for a simple statement in Afrikaans:

subject + verb + complement

So:

• Die universiteit = subject
• is = verb
• naby = complement

This works very much like English The university is near/nearby.

naby means near or nearby, depending on context.

In this sentence, Die universiteit is naby, it means the university is close by.

A useful comparison:

• Die universiteit is naby. = The university is nearby.
• Die universiteit is naby die stasie. = The university is near the station.

So naby can stand on its own, or it can be followed by a noun phrase.

Because Afrikaans naby can already express the idea of near by itself.

English sometimes needs extra wording, but Afrikaans can simply say:

• is naby = is near / is nearby

If you want to say what something is near, you add it after naby:

• naby die skool = near the school

So nothing is missing in Die universiteit is naby.

Yes, very closely.

is is the present-tense form of to be for sentences like this:

• Die universiteit is naby. = The university is near.
• Die boek is interessant. = The book is interesting.

So for an English speaker, is is one of the easiest parts of the sentence.

It is capitalized only because it begins the sentence.

In normal writing, Afrikaans does not capitalize all nouns the way German does. So in the middle of a sentence, you would write:

• die universiteit

Only the first word of the sentence gets the capital letter here.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

dee oo-nee-ver-si-TATE is nah-BUY

A few notes:

• die sounds like dee
• universiteit has stress near the end
• naby does not sound exactly like English nearby, but nah-BUY is a helpful approximation

If you want to sound more natural, keep the vowels clear and do not pronounce die like English die.

In standard Afrikaans, you normally use nie ... nie around the part being negated:

Die universiteit is nie naby nie.

That means The university is not near / not nearby.

This double nie pattern is one of the most important features of Afrikaans grammar.

Not here. After is, naby stays unchanged.

So you say:

• Die universiteit is naby.

Afrikaans adjectives often change form when they come before a noun, but in this sentence naby comes after is, so there is no extra ending added.