Die halsband is blou.

The collar is blue.

Breakdown of Die halsband is blou.

• wees: to be
• blou: blue
• die halsband: collar

Questions & Answers about Die halsband is blou.

Why does Afrikaans use die here? Does it mean the?

Yes. In this sentence, die is the definite article, so it means the.

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans uses die for the in general, without changing for grammatical gender the way Dutch or German do. So:

• die halsband = the collar

Afrikaans articles are much simpler than in many other European languages.

Is die pronounced like the English word die?

Usually, yes—very close to the English word die.

So Die halsband is blou is roughly pronounced:

dee HALS-bant is bloh

A few pronunciation notes:

• die sounds like English die
• halsband has a clear hals
  • band structure
• blou sounds roughly like blow, but with the Afrikaans ou vowel

What does halsband literally mean?