Sy werk die knoopsgat af.

In this sentence, sy is the subject pronoun, so it means she.

• Sy werk ... af. = She finishes/works ... off.

Afrikaans often uses sy for she and her, depending on the sentence:

• Sy werk. = She works.
• Ek sien haar. = I see her.

So here, because sy is doing the action, it means she.

No. In Afrikaans, verbs usually do not change depending on the subject in the present tense.

Compare:

• Ek werk = I work
• Jy werk = you work
• Sy werk = she works
• Ons werk = we work

So unlike English, Afrikaans does not add -s for he/she/it.

Because afwerk is a separable verb.

The full verb is:

• afwerk = to finish off / complete

In a normal main clause, Afrikaans often splits this kind of verb:

• Sy werk die knoopsgat af.

Here:

• werk is the main verb part
• af goes to the end

This is very common in Afrikaans with separable verbs.

Compare:

• Ek maak die deur oop. = I open the door.
• Hy skryf die taak neer. = He writes the task down.
• Sy werk die knoopsgat af.

Af often adds the idea of completion, finishing, or doing something fully.

So:

• werk = work
• afwerk = finish off, complete

In this sentence, af suggests that the buttonhole is being worked to completion, not just worked on in a general sense.

This is why the sentence does not simply mean She works on the buttonhole, but rather something like She finishes the buttonhole or She works the buttonhole off/finished, depending on the context.

Yes. Knoopsgat is a compound noun, which is very common in Afrikaans.

It is made from:

• knoops / from knoop = button
• gat = hole

So knoopsgat literally means button-hole, or buttonhole.

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, often joins nouns together into one word.

Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, meaning the.

So:

• die knoopsgat = the buttonhole

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not have different words for the based on gender. It is just die for all nouns.

Examples:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die huis = the house
• die knoopsgat = the buttonhole

Yes, mostly.

The basic order is:

• Subject + verb + object

So in this sentence:

• Sy = subject
• werk = verb
• die knoopsgat = object

But because afwerk is separable, the af moves to the end:

• Sy werk die knoopsgat af.

So the sentence is normal Afrikaans main-clause word order, with the extra feature of a separable verb.

The full infinitive is afwerk.

So you could say:

• Sy wil die knoopsgat afwerk. = She wants to finish the buttonhole.

In an infinitive, the verb is usually not split.

Likewise, in some subordinate clauses, the parts stay together more often than in a simple main clause. So learners should remember:

• Main clause: werk ... af
• Infinitive: afwerk

A natural negative sentence would be:

• Sy werk nie die knoopsgat af nie.

Afrikaans typically uses double nie in standard negation:

• one nie after the verb or main part of the clause
• another nie at the end

So the pattern is often:

• Sy werk nie die knoopsgat af nie.

This is a very important feature of Afrikaans grammar.

In this sentence, werk is being used in a more specific, craft-related sense because of afwerk and because the object is die knoopsgat.

With sewing or needlework, werk can mean to work on something in the sense of stitching, shaping, or finishing it.

So this is not just general employment-related work. It refers to doing the actual finishing work on the buttonhole.

Yes. Sy werk die knoopsgat af is in the present tense.

Depending on context, Afrikaans present tense can sometimes be translated in more than one way in English:

• She finishes the buttonhole
• She is finishing the buttonhole
• She works the buttonhole off/finished

Afrikaans often relies on context where English might choose between simple present and present continuous.

Yes. Afwerk is a general verb meaning to finish, complete, or finish off something.

For example:

• Ek werk my huiswerk af. = I finish my homework.
• Hy werk die projek af. = He finishes the project.

So in Sy werk die knoopsgat af, the same idea of bringing something to completion is being used, just in a sewing context.