Afrikaans to Rundi: match the noun before choosing its describing words
A plural changes the verb as well as the noun
Afrikaans Die seun werk and Die seuns werk keep werk unchanged. Rundi distinguishes a singular human subject from a plural one in the verb: umuhungu arakora describes a boy working, while abahungu barakora describes boys working. The noun prefix and verbal agreement belong to one construction.
If a notice changes from one helper to several helpers, translate the revised sentence instead of changing only the Rundi noun. Related adjectives and other words can need different agreement too. A target with the correct plural noun but a singular verb can leave the message internally inconsistent even though Afrikaans required only a small noun edit.
Afrikaans descriptions do not identify a Rundi noun class
Afrikaans groot and klein can describe many kinds of nouns without a system of class-specific agreement prefixes. Rundi descriptive words follow the grammatical class of the noun. An Afrikaans phrase referring to a large house and one referring to a large chair therefore need not use an identical target adjective form.
Identify which item a description belongs to when several objects appear in an instruction. If the task concerns bringing a small chair from a large house, switching the two agreements can confuse the intended relationship. Noun class is a grammatical property of the Rundi word, not a category to infer from the Afrikaans article die or from an object’s size.
Is nie does not become one universal negative copula
Afrikaans can use is nie in both an identity denial and a location denial. Rundi ni and its negative si have a more limited distribution, including basic identity or classification constructions; they are not universal replacements in every sentence mentioning where something is.
For example, denying that a person is a teacher and saying that the teacher is not at home are different predicates. Keep the role word or location phrase in the source. The target construction must negate the intended relationship. Translating is nie separately and attaching it before any following word can preserve a negative sound while changing or breaking the sentence.
Sy ownership and het possession need complete phrases
Afrikaans sy before a noun identifies a possessor, but its form does not change with the grammatical class of the possession. Rundi possessive agreement depends on the noun referred to. A phrase about someone’s books may therefore look different from one about their house even though the same person owns both.
Also distinguish Afrikaans het as possession from het in a past construction. A statement that someone has books is different from a statement that someone brought books. Rundi expresses the participant and event through its own verbal forms, so keep the full Afrikaans clause through the participle. The translator needs to know whether het states ownership or helps report an earlier action.
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