Die deegskraper en broodmes is skoon.

the

Breakdown of Die deegskraper en broodmes is skoon.

• wees: to be
• skoon: clean
• en: and

Questions & Answers about Die deegskraper en broodmes is skoon.

Why does the sentence use is even though it refers to two things?

Because Afrikaans does not change the present-tense form of wees (to be) the way English does.

So you get:

• ek is = I am
• jy is = you are
• hy is = he is
• hulle is = they are

That means is is correct even with a compound subject like die deegskraper en broodmes.

What does die mean here?

Die is the definite article, so it means the.

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

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So unlike languages such as German or Dutch, you do not have to learn different forms of the for masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural.

Why is there only one die before two nouns?

In Afrikaans, one article can cover two nouns joined by en (and).

So die deegskraper en broodmes means that both nouns are understood as definite.

You could also say:

• die deegskraper en die broodmes

That is also correct. Using die only once is a normal way to treat the two nouns as one coordinated phrase.