Die vlooimark maak vandag oop.

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

In Die vlooimark maak vandag oop, Die vlooimark means the flea market.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans uses die for all definite nouns:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kinders = the children

So unlike some languages, you do not have to change the word for gender.

Vlooimark is a compound noun:

• vlooi = flea
• mark = market

So literally it is flea market, just like in English.

Afrikaans often forms nouns by joining words together into one word. That is very common, so learners should get used to seeing long compound words.

Because Afrikaans commonly writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• vlooi + mark becomes vlooimark

This is similar to how German works, and it is more consistent than English, where similar expressions may be written as one word, two words, or hyphenated.

So in Afrikaans, flea market is normally one word: vlooimark.

In this sentence, maak ... oop means opens or opens up.

Literally:

• maak = make
• oop = open

But together, oopmaak / maak oop is the normal verbal expression for to open something or to open up.

So:

• Die deur maak oop can mean The door opens
• Die winkel maak oop = The shop opens

In your sentence, Die vlooimark maak vandag oop means the flea market is opening / opens today.

Because in a main clause, Afrikaans often splits certain verb combinations.

The full verb is often thought of as oopmaak = to open, but in a normal statement the conjugated part comes earlier and the other part moves to the end:

• Die vlooimark maak vandag oop.

This is very common in Afrikaans and is similar to separable verbs in Dutch and German.

Compare:

• Ek maak die venster oop. = I open the window.
• Die winkel maak om nege-uur oop. = The shop opens at nine o’clock.

So the separation is normal grammar.

Because Afrikaans often expresses actions differently from English.

English uses the verb to open, but Afrikaans very often uses oopmaak / maak oop.

So even though oop means open, you usually need maak oop for the action:

• Die winkel maak oop. = The shop opens.

This is one of those cases where translating word-for-word can be misleading.

Vandag means today.

It tells you when the flea market opens:

• Die vlooimark maak vandag oop. = The flea market opens today.

Afrikaans often puts time expressions like vandag, môre, nou, or om tienuur in the middle of the sentence, after the finite verb and before the final verb part.

Yes, but the word order may shift depending on emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• Die vlooimark maak vandag oop.

You can also front vandag for emphasis:

• Vandag maak die vlooimark oop.

That means something like Today, the flea market opens or It is today that the flea market opens.

When something other than the subject comes first in Afrikaans, the verb still stays in second position, so:

• Vandag
  • maak
    • die vlooimark
      • oop

Because this sentence is using a normal lexical verb, not the verb to be.

English can say:

• The flea market opens today or
• The flea market is open today

Those do not mean exactly the same thing.

Afrikaans maak ... oop means opens / opens up, so it describes the action of opening, not the state of already being open.

If you wanted to say The flea market is open today, you would use a different structure, for example:

• Die vlooimark is vandag oop.

So:

• maak oop = opens
• is oop = is open

Usually it means a scheduled or announced opening: The flea market opens today.

Afrikaans present tense can cover several English ideas, depending on context:

• a general present
• a near future
• a scheduled event

So this sentence could mean:

• it opens at some point today
• today is the day it starts operating
• today is opening day

If you wanted to make the future more explicit, context or extra words would help, but the given sentence is perfectly natural as it is.

A simple learner-friendly guide is:

• vlooi sounds roughly like floy
• mark sounds close to English mark, but with an Afrikaans r

So vlooimark is approximately FLOY-mark.

A few notes:

• v in Afrikaans is often pronounced like an English f
• ooi in vlooi gives that oy sound
• the r may sound more tapped or rolled than in many English accents

A simple guide:

• oop sounds roughly like ohp
• maak sounds roughly like mahk

So maak oop is approximately mahk ohp.

A few extra pronunciation tips:

• aa in maak is a long a sound
• oo in oop is a long o sound
• Afrikaans spelling is often more regular than English spelling, which helps once you learn the sound patterns

No, that word order is not correct in a normal main clause.

The standard order is:

• Die vlooimark maak vandag oop.

Afrikaans main clauses usually follow the verb-second pattern:

1. first element
2. finite verb
3. the rest
4. final verb element if there is one

So here:

• Die vlooimark = first element
• maak = finite verb
• vandag = time expression
• oop = final verb part

That is why maak must come early and oop stays at the end.

No, that would not be standard Afrikaans.

Afrikaans does have the adjective oop for open, but for the action to open, the natural expression is oopmaak / maak oop.

So you should say:

• Die vlooimark maak vandag oop.

Not:

• Die vlooimark open vandag.

English-looking forms are often tempting, but it is better to learn the Afrikaans pattern as its own structure.