Ons het die sanger 'n liedjie hoor sing.

Yes. Ons het ... is the normal Afrikaans perfect form, and very often Afrikaans uses this where English would simply use the past tense.

So:

• Ons het ... hoor sing = We heard ... sing

Even though English says heard, Afrikaans commonly uses het + verb pattern for past events.

This is a very common learner question.

After het, some Afrikaans verb combinations use a double infinitive structure. Verbs like hoor , sien , laat , and modal verbs often behave this way.

So instead of:

• het gehoor gesing ❌

you get:

• het ... hoor sing ✅

In other words, both verbs stay in their basic infinitive form at the end of the clause.

Here:

• hoor = to hear
• sing = to sing

So the structure is literally something like:

• We have the singer a song hear sing

but in natural English that becomes:

• We heard the singer sing a song

Because after a perception verb like hoor in this kind of construction, Afrikaans uses a bare infinitive.

So:

• hoor sing = hear sing
• not hoor om te sing

This is similar to English:

• We heard him sing ✅
• We heard him to sing ❌

So sing appears without om te because it is directly dependent on hoor.

They belong to different verbs.

• die sanger goes with hoor
• 'n liedjie goes with sing

So the sentence breaks down like this:

• Ons het = we heard / we have
• die sanger = the singer
• 'n liedjie = a song
• hoor sing = hear sing

More structurally:

• We heard the singer
• sing a song

So:

• die sanger is the person being heard
• 'n liedjie is the thing being sung

Because die sanger is the object of the higher verb hoor, while 'n liedjie belongs to the lower verb sing.

Afrikaans usually keeps the person being perceived before the infinitive phrase:

• Ons het die sanger 'n liedjie hoor sing

This is the normal way to show:

• we heard the singer
• singing a song

So the order helps show the relationship between the parts of the sentence.

Afrikaans often sends verbs to the end in verb clusters, especially in perfect constructions and subordinate-like verb groupings.

In this sentence, the final verb cluster is:

• hoor sing

The last position is a very normal place for infinitives in Afrikaans.

So although English says:

• We heard the singer sing a song

Afrikaans prefers:

• Ons het die sanger 'n liedjie hoor sing

with the verbs grouped at the end.

They are two different articles:

• die = the
• 'n = a / an

So:

• die sanger = the singer
  a specific singer, known or identified in context

• 'n liedjie = a song
  any song, not a specific one

That is why the sentence means:

• We heard the singer sing a song
• not We heard a singer sing the song

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a / an. It is usually pronounced as a very weak vowel, like uh or schwa.

So:

• 'n liedjie sounds roughly like uh lee-kee

The apostrophe is just part of the standard spelling of this little word in Afrikaans.

A useful spelling note:

• 'n stays lowercase, even when the next word is capitalized in normal writing conventions

It can often match either English wording, depending on context.

So this sentence could be translated naturally as:

• We heard the singer sing a song
• We heard the singer singing a song

The Afrikaans structure itself does not force a big distinction here. The main idea is that the action of singing was perceived.

Not very well. A word-for-word version would sound strange:

• We have the singer a song hear sing

That is because Afrikaans and English organize these verb combinations differently.

A better approach is to understand the pattern:

• Ons het = we heard / we have
• die sanger = the singer
• 'n liedjie = a song
• hoor sing = heard sing

Then turn it into natural English:

• We heard the singer sing a song

Yes. This pattern is very common with verbs of perception such as:

• hoor = hear
• sien = see
• sometimes also verbs like laat = let / make

For example, Afrikaans often says things like:

• Ek het hom hoor praat = I heard him speak
• Ons het haar sien dans = We saw her dance

So Ons het die sanger 'n liedjie hoor sing follows a very normal and useful Afrikaans pattern.