Afrikaans to Hebrew: separate possession from past tense and agreement
Het can mean ownership or mark a completed event
Afrikaans Ek het ’n boek states that I have a book. Ek het ’n boek gelees instead describes reading a book. The same Afrikaans het participates in two different constructions, and Hebrew should not translate both as possession. Read through to the participle before deciding what het contributes.
Hebrew יש לי expresses present possession, literally an existence-to-me construction. It is suitable as the basis of an ownership statement, not as a replacement for the past auxiliary in a reading report. If a long Afrikaans sentence places several phrases between het and the participle, keep the whole clause together so the translator can identify that relationship.
Afrikaans is need not appear as an extra Hebrew verb
Afrikaans normally includes is in a present description or identity statement. Modern Hebrew often has no corresponding overt present-tense be verb in a simple descriptive sentence. Some constructions use a pronoun in a linking role instead. An output with fewer words can therefore express the full source statement.
Do not insert a dictionary form of to be merely because the Afrikaans sentence contains is. The contrast with was also matters: Hebrew past descriptions use an inflected form where the present may not. A translated description of someone’s current role and a description of their former role should retain that time difference without forcing identical target structures.
Ek werk leaves a gender choice for Hebrew
Afrikaans present verbs do not change their form for the speaker’s gender or for singular versus plural subjects. Hebrew present forms distinguish gender and number. A sentence beginning Ek can therefore require different target forms according to who is speaking, even though Afrikaans werk stays unchanged.
For a personal introduction, identify the actual speaker. For a quotation in a message, preserve the quoted person’s agreement rather than the agreement of the person pasting it into the tool. The same issue can arise when translating julle: a plural source pronoun does not itself describe the gender composition needed for traditional Hebrew plural agreement.
Short ownership replies still refer to a particular thing
Afrikaans can answer an ownership question with Dit is myne or Dit is hare. Hebrew possession, personal reference, and noun agreement require the translator to identify both the owner and the thing discussed. The Afrikaans dit does not reveal the grammatical gender of that thing.
Keep the noun from the question when translating an isolated answer about a bag, book, or document. Otherwise a short reply may be interpreted as a general identity statement rather than ownership of the item. This is especially useful when several objects are under discussion: repeat which item belongs to whom, so the Hebrew can preserve the relationship instead of resolving it through an unsupported guess.
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