Learn Hardcore Dutch: Het is bijna middag, maar de lucht is nog steeds bewolkt. - It is almost noon, but the sky is still cloudy.

bijna means “almost” or “nearly.” It’s an adverb that you place before a verb, adjective, or time expression to indicate something is just short of happening or being true.
Examples:

Het is bijna vijf uur. – It’s almost five o’clock.
Ik ben bijna klaar. – I’m nearly ready.
Dat is bijna onmogelijk. – That’s almost impossible.

What does nog steeds mean and can I use just nog instead?

nog steeds means “still” in the sense of “continuing up to now.” It’s a combination of nog (“still”/“yet”) and steeds (“always”/“continuously”), so it adds extra emphasis. You can sometimes use just nog (“De lucht is nog bewolkt”), but nog steeds underlines that nothing has changed so far (“It’s still cloudy”).

Why does the sentence start with Het, and what does it refer to?

Here Het is a dummy subject (similar to English “It” in “It’s raining”). It doesn’t point to a specific noun; it just fills the subject slot in a weather- or time-related statement. In Dutch you often need that placeholder het:

Het regent. – It’s raining.
Het is half zeven. – It’s half past six.

What exactly does middag refer to in Dutch—“afternoon” or “noon”?

middag literally means “midday” or “noon” (around 12:00). Dutch also uses namiddag for “afternoon” (early to late afternoon). So bijna middag means “almost noon.” If you wanted “almost afternoon,” you would say something like bijna in de namiddag.

What is the role of maar in this sentence?

maar is the coordinating conjunction “but.” It links two main clauses and introduces a contrast:

Clause 1: Het is bijna middag – It’s almost noon
Clause 2: de lucht is nog steeds bewolkt – the sky is still cloudy
Together: “It’s almost noon, but the sky remains cloudy.”

How does bewolkt function grammatically, and how do I use it with zijn?

bewolkt is an adjective meaning “cloudy.” In the sentence it’s a predicative adjective following the verb zijn (“to be”):
subject (de lucht) + is + adjective (bewolkt).
You can swap word order in questions or add adverbs, but the basic pattern is:

De lucht
- is
  - bewolkt.

Why is it de lucht and not het lucht?

In modern Dutch nouns have two “genders” collapsed into one common class (using de) and a neuter class (using het). lucht is a common-gender noun, so it takes de. You memorize or check in a dictionary whether a noun uses de or het.

How do you pronounce bewolkt?

In IPA it’s [bəˈʋɔlkt]. Approximate English rendering:

be- ≈ “buh” (schwa + b)
wolkt ≈ “VOHLKT” (w as in “water,” o as in “more,” lkt with a clipped k)
Altogether: buh-VOHLKT.