Die sakhorlosie is duur.

Yes. In this sentence, die is the definite article, so it means the.

A useful thing for English speakers: Afrikaans does not have grammatical gender like German or Dutch. That means you do not need different words for the depending on whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. You just use die.

It is also used with plural nouns:

• die sakhorlosie = the pocket watch
• die sakhorlosies = the pocket watches

Because Afrikaans usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• sak = pocket or bag/pouch
• horlosie = clock/watch

Together:

• sakhorlosie = pocket watch

This is very normal in Afrikaans and is something English learners need to get used to. English often uses two words where Afrikaans prefers one compound word.

Is is the present-tense form of the verb wees = to be.

So here it works just like English is in The pocket watch is expensive.

One nice feature of Afrikaans is that verbs usually change much less than in English. With wees, you get:

• ek is = I am
• jy is = you are
• hy/sy is = he/she is
• ons is = we are
• hulle is = they are

So is stays the same with all subjects in the present tense.

No, this sentence has very straightforward word order.

It follows the same basic pattern as English:

• Die sakhorlosie = subject
• is = verb
• duur = adjective/complement

So it is simply:

subject + is + adjective

That makes this sentence a very beginner-friendly Afrikaans sentence.

Because duur comes after the verb is. In that position, Afrikaans normally uses the basic form of the adjective.

So:

• Die sakhorlosie is duur. = The pocket watch is expensive.

This is called a predicative use of the adjective: it describes the subject after a linking verb like is.

For a learner, the important point is:

• after is, the adjective is often just the plain dictionary form

Not always. Duur can have more than one meaning depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• expensive
• dear/beloved in some contexts
• sometimes ideas related to lasting or enduring in older/literary use

But in Die sakhorlosie is duur, the natural meaning is clearly expensive.

So if you see duur with an object like a watch, car, house, or meal, expensive is usually the right interpretation.

You would usually use ’n for a/an:

• ’n Sakhorlosie is duur.

A few useful notes:

• ’n is written with an apostrophe
• it is not capitalized, even at the beginning of a sentence in normal spelling conventions; instead, the next word is capitalized if needed in running text
• in pronunciation, ’n is very weak, like a short unstressed vowel

So:

• die sakhorlosie = the pocket watch
• ’n sakhorlosie = a pocket watch

You would change the noun to its plural form:

• Die sakhorlosies is duur. = The pocket watches are expensive.

Notice two important things:

1. sakhorlosie becomes sakhorlosies
2. is stays is

That second point is important for English speakers, because English changes is to are, but Afrikaans does not:

• Die sakhorlosie is duur.
• Die sakhorlosies is duur.

No. In Afrikaans, die is usually pronounced roughly like dee, not like the English verb die.

That is a very common beginner mistake.

So in this sentence:

• die sounds roughly like dee

This is one of those words that looks familiar to English speakers but is pronounced differently.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

dee SAK-hor-LO-see uhs DUUR

A few notes:

• die ≈ dee
• sakhorlosie has the stress roughly on -lo-
• duur has a long vowel sound that English does not match exactly

A more important beginner goal than perfect pronunciation is just to avoid saying:

• die like English die

If you say dee sakhorlosie is duur, you will already sound much closer to correct Afrikaans.

Yes, very closely:

• Die = The
• sakhorlosie = pocket watch
• is = is
• duur = expensive

So the structure matches English very well.

The main differences for a learner are not the meaning, but the grammar details:

• die is the same article for many situations
• compounds like sakhorlosie are written as one word
• is does not change for plural
• die is pronounced dee, not like English die