Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Afrikaans grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Die omstandigheid is ernstig.
What does die mean here?
In this sentence, die is the definite article, meaning the.
A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans uses die for:
- singular nouns: die omstandigheid = the circumstance
- plural nouns: die omstandighede = the circumstances
Unlike languages such as German, Afrikaans does not change the article for grammatical gender.
Why is it die omstandigheid and not something like de or another article?
Afrikaans has a very simple article system compared with many European languages.
The main definite article is always die:
- die man = the man
- die vrou = the woman
- die kind = the child
- die omstandigheid = the circumstance
So you do not need to learn different forms for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.
Why is the sentence Die omstandigheid is ernstig and not Die omstandigheid ernstig is?