Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie.

Here daar does not mainly refer to a location. In Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie, it works like English there in There are about three fleas.

This use is called existential daar: it introduces the existence of something.

• Daar is 'n hond. = There is a dog.
• Daar is twee kinders. = There are two children.

So in this sentence, daar is means there is/there are, not over there is.

Afrikaans does not change the verb is for singular and plural in this kind of sentence.

So both of these are correct:

• Daar is 'n vlooi. = There is a flea.
• Daar is drie vlooie. = There are three fleas.

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not say are here. Is is used for both.

Ongeveer means about, approximately, or roughly.

In this sentence:

• Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie.
• = There are about three fleas.

It comes before the number drie, just like English about three.

You can think of the structure as:

• Daar is = there are
• ongeveer drie = about three
• vlooie = fleas

Vlooi means flea and vlooie means fleas.

Afrikaans often forms plurals with -e, but spelling can change a little when the ending is added. Here:

• singular: vlooi
• plural: vlooie

The extra -e creates the plural, and the spelling reflects pronunciation.

This is something you largely learn word by word, but -e is a very common plural ending in Afrikaans.

A helpful rough guide is:

• vlooi sounds a bit like English floy
• vlooie sounds roughly like floy-uh

So:

• vlooi = one flea
• vlooie = fleas

The ending in vlooie is not silent, so do not pronounce it exactly the same as the singular.

That would sound unnatural in normal Afrikaans.

The natural position is:

• Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie.

The word ongeveer normally goes directly before the number or amount it modifies:

• ongeveer drie
• ongeveer tien minute
• ongeveer honderd mense

So it is best to keep ongeveer before drie.

No. They mean different things.

• drie vlooie = three fleas in general
• drie van die vlooie = three of the fleas

Your sentence Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie simply states that the number of fleas is about three. It does not refer to a specific known group.

No. Drie already gives the quantity, so no article is needed.

• Daar is drie vlooie. = There are three fleas.
• not Daar is 'n drie vlooie

The article 'n is only used with singular count nouns:

• Daar is 'n vlooi. = There is a flea.

It is completely normal and neutral Afrikaans. It works in both speaking and writing.

• Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie. = natural, standard Afrikaans

In very informal speech, people may shorten pronunciation a bit, but the sentence itself is standard.

Yes. Daar is is very common for introducing the existence of almost anything:

• Daar is water. = There is water.
• Daar is baie mense. = There are many people.
• Daar is 'n probleem. = There is a problem.
• Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie. = There are about three fleas.

So this sentence is a good example of a very common Afrikaans pattern.

The pattern is:

• Daar
  • is
    • quantity/expression
      • noun

So:

• Daar = there
• is = is/are
• ongeveer drie = about three
• vlooie = fleas

Full sentence:

• Daar is ongeveer drie vlooie.

This is a very useful structure to memorize because you can reuse it easily:

• Daar is twee boeke. = There are two books.
• Daar is ongeveer vyf kinders. = There are about five children.