Die waterbottel is vol.

Because Afrikaans usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• water
  • bottel → waterbottel

This is very common in Afrikaans, much like German and Dutch. English often writes these as two words, but Afrikaans normally joins them.

Die is the definite article, so it means the.

A very useful thing for English speakers to know is that Afrikaans does not have different definite articles for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. It just uses die.

So:

• die waterbottel = the water bottle
• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kinders = the children

It also stays die in the plural.

Yes. Is is the present-tense form of to be in Afrikaans, from the verb wees.

One important difference from English is that Afrikaans uses is with all persons and numbers in the present tense:

• Ek is = I am
• Jy is = you are
• Hy is = he is
• Ons is = we are
• Hulle is = they are

So even if the subject were plural, you would still use is.

Vol is an adjective meaning full. In this sentence, it comes after is because it is describing the subject through the verb to be.

This works much like English:

• The bottle is full
• Die waterbottel is vol

So the pattern is:

• subject + is + adjective

That is a very common sentence pattern in Afrikaans.

Because after is, adjectives are normally used in their basic form.

Here, vol is a predicate adjective, meaning it comes after the verb and describes the subject. In that position, Afrikaans adjectives usually do not take extra endings.

So:

• Die waterbottel is vol. = The water bottle is full.

This is simpler than in some other languages, because there is no agreement for gender or number here.

Not in the way Dutch or German do in everyday modern usage. Afrikaans has largely lost grammatical gender.

That means learners do not usually have to memorize nouns as masculine, feminine, or neuter for article choice. You just use:

• die for the
• ’n for a/an

That makes sentences like Die waterbottel is vol much more straightforward.

Yes, if the context already makes it clear which bottle you mean.

• Die bottel is vol. = The bottle is full.
• Die waterbottel is vol. = The water bottle is full.

Using waterbottel is more specific: it tells you that it is a water bottle, not just any bottle.

Also, be careful not to confuse this with ’n bottel water, which means a bottle of water.

So:

• waterbottel = water bottle
• bottel water = bottle of water

You would usually add -s to make waterbottel plural:

• waterbottel → waterbottels

So the sentence becomes:

• Die waterbottels is vol. = The water bottles are full.

Notice two important things:

• die stays the same
• is also stays the same

That is one of the nice simplifications in Afrikaans.

For a yes/no question, Afrikaans usually puts the verb first:

• Is die waterbottel vol? = Is the water bottle full?

This is similar to English inversion:

• The water bottle is full.
• Is the water bottle full?

So the change is mainly word order.

Afrikaans usually uses a double nie for standard negation:

• Die waterbottel is nie vol nie.

This is one of the most important patterns in Afrikaans.

In this sentence:

• the first nie comes after the verb is
• the second nie goes at the end of the clause

So:

• is nie vol nie = is not full

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• Die ≈ dee
• waterbottel ≈ VAH-ter-bot-tel
• is ≈ iss
• vol ≈ fol

A couple of useful pronunciation notes:

• Afrikaans w is usually pronounced more like an English v
• die in Afrikaans is pronounced dee, not like English die
• vol has a short o sound

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

dee VAH-ter-bot-tel iss fol