Die aantal is hoog.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, so here it means the.

A useful thing to remember is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike some other languages, you do not have to learn different forms like the for masculine/feminine/neuter.

In Afrikaans, aantal is a singular noun meaning number or quantity.

So the sentence is structured like The number is high, not The things are many. Because the subject is die aantal, the verb stays singular: is.

Both can relate to number, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• aantal = the number/quantity of things or people
• getal = a number in a more abstract or mathematical sense

So if you are talking about how many students, books, or cases there are, aantal is usually the natural word. If you are talking about the number 7, odd numbers, or a numerical figure itself, getal is more likely.

Is is the present-tense form of wees (to be), and Afrikaans uses is with all persons in the present tense:

• ek is
• jy is
• hy/sy/dit is
• ons is
• julle is
• hulle is

So Die aantal is hoog is completely regular.

Because hoog comes after the verb is, it is being used as a predicative adjective. In Afrikaans, predicative adjectives normally stay in the basic form.

Compare:

• Die aantal is hoog. = adjective after the verb, so hoog
• die hoë aantal = adjective before the noun, so hoë

So this is the same kind of difference as The number is high versus the high number.

Yes, grammatically you can, but it is a different structure.

• Die aantal is hoog. = The number is high.
• die hoë aantal = the high number

The first is a full sentence. The second is a noun phrase, not a complete sentence by itself.

In this sentence, yes: it is very close to English.

The pattern is:

Subject + verb + adjective

So:

• Die aantal = subject
• is = verb
• hoog = adjective/complement

Afrikaans does have its own word-order rules in longer sentences, but this simple sentence lines up neatly with English.

Sometimes yes, but the nuance is slightly different.

• hoog emphasizes that the number is high on a scale
• groot emphasizes that the number is large

Both ideas can overlap, and both may be natural depending on context. In this sentence, hoog is a very normal choice if you want the idea of high rather than just large.

Die aantal means the number — a specific number already known from the context.

’n aantal means a number or sometimes a number of / some.

Compare:

• Die aantal is hoog. = The number is high.
• ’n Aantal mense het gekom. = A number of people came / Some people came

So die makes it definite and specific.

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

• Die ≈ dee
• aantal ≈ AHN-tahl
• is ≈ iss
• hoog ≈ something like hohkh or ho-ukh, with a throaty final sound

A few pronunciation notes:

• aa is a long vowel
• oo is also a long vowel
• the g in hoog is not an English g; it is a guttural Afrikaans sound made at the back of the throat

So the whole sentence is roughly:

dee AHN-tahl iss hohkh