Daardie

Daardie is an Afrikaans demonstrative determiner meaning that or those when pointing to a noun. It is used before nouns to indicate a specific thing or group that is away from the speaker or has already been mentioned in the discourse. The word does not change form for gender, and it agrees with the noun in number (singular or plural).

In use, hierdie is the opposite of daardie, meaning this or these. Daardie precedes the noun directly, as in daardie man (that man) or daardie mense (those people). It can be combined with any noun, and the meaning shifts with context: it can refer to a single item or to multiple items previously identified.

Daardie is a standard part of the Afrikaans demonstrative system, which also includes hierdie (this/these) and daardie (that/those). The choice among these demonstratives helps convey spatial or contextual distance in conversation and writing, and the distinction is typically made without changing the word form.

Etymology and cognates: daardie is rooted in the Afrikaans demonstrative tradition that developed from Dutch and other West Germanic influences. It is commonly taught in basic Afrikaans grammar and appears in both formal and colloquial registers.

Examples:

- Daardie boek is interessant. (That book is interesting.)

- Daardie mense woon hier. (Those people live here.)

Daardie is a concise, widely used element of Afrikaans grammar for signaling reference to a known or identifiable noun, with clear parallels to the English determiner that.