Sy knie die deeg.

Word by word:

• Sy = she
• knie = kneads
• die = the
• deeg = dough

So the sentence structure is very close to English: She kneads the dough.

It can mean either, depending on how it is used.

In this sentence, sy means she because it is the subject of the verb knie.

As a possessive, sy can also mean his, for example:

• sy brood = his bread
• sy huis = his house

A learner can also notice that knie can be a noun meaning knee, so sy knie by itself could mean his knee in another context. But in Sy knie die deeg, the full sentence clearly shows that sy is the pronoun she.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject in the present tense.

So you get:

• ek knie = I knead
• jy knie = you knead
• hy/sy knie = he/she kneads
• ons knie = we knead

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add an -s for he/she/it in the present tense.

Here, die means the.

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for nouns. One useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not have the kind of article gender system you see in languages like German or Dutch. So you do not need to learn separate words for the depending on masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

In this sentence:

• die deeg = the dough

Yes. Kniel is to kneel, but knie here means to knead, as in working dough with your hands.

It is a good example of a word that may look a little unfamiliar at first, but its meaning is close to an English cooking word.

Also, knie can be a noun meaning knee, so context matters:

• Sy knie die deeg = She kneads the dough.
• Haar knie is seer = Her knee is sore.

Yes, in this simple sentence it is.

The pattern is:

• Sy = subject
• knie = verb
• die deeg = object

So it follows a normal subject–verb–object order, just like English:

• She kneads the dough

That makes this sentence very beginner-friendly.

A rough guide is:

• Sy ≈ say
• knie ≈ knee, but with the k pronounced
• die ≈ dee
• deeg ≈ a long deegh, with a guttural final sound

A few important notes:

• In Afrikaans, the k in knie is pronounced, unlike in English knee.
• The final g in deeg is the throaty Afrikaans/Dutch-type sound, not a hard English g.

For the negative, Afrikaans usually uses double nie:

• Sy knie nie die deeg nie. = She does not knead the dough.

For the past tense, a very common form is:

• Sy het die deeg geknie. = She kneaded the dough / She has kneaded the dough.

So this sentence is a good example of two important Afrikaans patterns:

• present tense with an unchanged verb
• negative with nie ... nie
• past tense with het
  • past participle (geknie)