Die troeteldier slaap rustig.

to sleep

Breakdown of Die troeteldier slaap rustig.

• rustig: calmly
• die troeteldier: pet

Questions & Answers about Die troeteldier slaap rustig.

Why does the sentence start with die? Does it mean the?

Yes. Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so here it means the.

A useful difference from English is that die does not change for gender or number. So Afrikaans does not have separate forms like the for masculine/feminine/neuter, and it also stays die in many plural contexts.

In this sentence, Die troeteldier = The pet.

What does troeteldier literally mean?

Troeteldier means pet.

It is a compound word:

• troetel = to pamper / to pet / to cherish
• dier = animal

So the literal idea is something like a cherished animal or pampered animal, but in normal English the natural translation is simply pet.

Why is troeteldier one word and not two?

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, often forms compound nouns by writing them as one word.

So:

• troetel + dier → troeteldier

This is very common in Afrikaans. English sometimes uses two words where Afrikaans prefers one compound word.