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Die projek is 'n sukses.

Die projek is 'n sukses.
The project is a success.
From Lesson 46:Browsing a flea market with a friend·Hardcore Afrikaans

Breakdown of Die projek is 'n sukses.

'n
a
wees
to be
die projek
the project
die sukses
the success

Questions & Answers about Die projek is 'n sukses.

What does die mean here?
Here die means the. In Afrikaans, die is the normal definite article for both singular and plural nouns, and it does not change for gender. It is also pronounced dee, not like the English verb die.
Why is Die capitalized?
It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence. In the middle of a sentence, it would normally be written die.
Is projek basically the same word as English project?
Yes. Projek is the Afrikaans word for project, and it is clearly related to the English word. The spelling is a little different, and the j is pronounced like English y.
Why is is the same as in English? Does it change like am / is / are?

Is is the present-tense form of wees, which means to be. Unlike English, Afrikaans uses is for all persons in the present tense:

  • ek is = I am
  • jy is = you are
  • hy is = he is
  • ons is = we are

So in that sense, Afrikaans is simpler than English.

What does 'n mean?

'n means a or an. Afrikaans has just this one form, so it does not switch between two versions the way English does.

In this sentence:

  • die projek = the project
  • 'n sukses = a success
Why is 'n written with an apostrophe?

The apostrophe is just part of how the Afrikaans indefinite article is written. You should learn 'n as a fixed form.

A very important spelling point: 'n stays lowercase even at the beginning of a sentence. So you write:

  • 'n Projek is belangrik.

not with a capital N.

How do you pronounce 'n?
It is usually pronounced as a very weak uh sound, like an unstressed schwa. So 'n sukses sounds roughly like uh sukses, not like saying the letter n by itself.
Why is it 'n sukses instead of suksesvol?

Because sukses is a noun, and the sentence is using a noun after is:

  • Die projek is 'n sukses. = The project is a success.

If you want to use an adjective instead, you can say:

  • Die projek is suksesvol. = The project is successful.

Both are natural, but they are slightly different structures.

Is this the normal word order in Afrikaans?

Yes. This is the standard word order for a simple statement:

  • Die projek = subject
  • is = verb
  • 'n sukses = complement

So it follows the basic pattern subject + verb + complement.

More generally, Afrikaans main clauses usually keep the finite verb in second position. In this sentence, the subject comes first, so is comes second.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence?

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

dee pro-YEK iss uh suk-SES

The main things to remember are:

  • die sounds like dee
  • j in projek sounds like English y
  • 'n is just a weak uh
Can I leave out 'n and say Die projek is sukses?

Usually no. In this sentence, sukses is a singular countable noun, so Afrikaans normally needs the article 'n. The natural sentence is:

Die projek is 'n sukses.

Without 'n, it sounds incomplete or unnatural here.

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