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Die broodmes is skoon.

Die broodmes is skoon.
The bread knife is clean.
From Lesson 47:Baking a loaf of bread at home·Hardcore Afrikaans

Breakdown of Die broodmes is skoon.

wees
to be
skoon
clean
die broodmes
bread knife

Questions & Answers about Die broodmes is skoon.

What does die mean here?
Here, die means the. It is the definite article in Afrikaans.
Why is it die and not 'n?
Use die when you mean a specific thing: the bread knife. Use 'n when you mean a/an, as in 'n broodmes = a bread knife.
Is die pronounced like the English word die?
No. In this sentence, die is pronounced roughly like dee.
Why is broodmes written as one word?
Afrikaans usually writes compound nouns as one word. So instead of writing bread knife as two words, Afrikaans combines the parts into broodmes.
What do the parts of broodmes mean?
brood means bread, and mes means knife. So broodmes literally means bread-knife, or bread knife in natural English.
What is is doing in the sentence?
is is the verb is, just like in English. It links the subject die broodmes to the description skoon.
Why is the word order so similar to English?

Because this is a simple main clause, and Afrikaans often uses the same basic pattern as English here:

subject + verb + description

So:

Die broodmes + is + skoon

This makes the sentence structure very familiar to English speakers.

What kind of word is skoon?
skoon is an adjective. In this sentence, it describes the bread knife. After a linking verb like is, Afrikaans adjectives stay in their basic form, so you simply say is skoon.
Does skoon only mean clean?
Not always. Depending on context, skoon can also suggest ideas like tidy, clear, or pure. But in this sentence, clean is the natural meaning.
Does Afrikaans have grammatical gender for nouns like broodmes?
No. Modern Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way some other European languages do. That means you do not need different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.
How would I say The bread knives are clean?

You would say Die broodmesse is skoon.

A useful thing to notice:

  • mes becomes messe in the plural
  • broodmes becomes broodmesse
  • the verb stays is

So Afrikaans would still use is even with a plural subject.

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