Sy was onlangs hier.

Here sy means she because it is the subject of the sentence and comes before the verb was.

A useful thing to know is that sy can also mean his in other contexts.

• Sy was onlangs hier. = She was here recently.
• sy boek = his book

So the role in the sentence tells you which meaning is intended.

Yes. In this sentence, was is the past tense form of is.

• Sy is hier. = She is here.
• Sy was hier. = She was here.

This is very similar to English, although Afrikaans verbs usually change much less than English verbs.

Onlangs is an adverb meaning recently, not long ago, or lately, depending on context.

It tells you when something happened. In this sentence, it modifies the whole situation:

• Sy was onlangs hier. = She was here recently.

You can think of onlangs as a time word.

The basic word order here is very natural in Afrikaans:

• Sy = subject
• was = verb
• onlangs = time adverb
• hier = place adverb

So the pattern is roughly:

subject + verb + time + place

That is why Sy was onlangs hier sounds normal and straightforward.

Yes. Afrikaans allows some flexibility, especially if you want to emphasize the time.

For example:

• Sy was onlangs hier. = neutral
• Onlangs was sy hier. = emphasis on recently

Notice that when onlangs comes first, the verb still stays in second position:

• Onlangs was sy hier
• not Onlangs sy was hier

That verb second pattern is a very important feature of Afrikaans main clauses.

No, you do not need gewees here.

Sy was onlangs hier is completely correct and natural.

Learners often expect gewees because they know it is related to to be, but with simple past statements like this, was is enough.

You may hear gewees in some spoken varieties or in other structures, but for a basic sentence like this, was on its own is the standard and safest choice.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Sy ≈ like say, but shorter
• was ≈ sounds more like vas than English wos, because Afrikaans w is usually pronounced like an English v
• onlangs ≈ roughly on-lahngs
• hier ≈ roughly heer or hee-ur, depending on accent

A rough full sentence could sound like:

say vahs on-lahngs heer

That is only an approximation, but it will point you in the right direction.

Because in Afrikaans, the letter w is usually pronounced like an English v sound.

So:

• was sounds closer to vas
• water sounds closer to vah-ter

This is very common and worth getting used to early.

The negative is:

Sy was nie onlangs hier nie.

Afrikaans usually uses a double nie in standard negation:

• the first nie goes after the verb or after the first main part of the sentence
• the second nie goes at the end

So:

• Sy was onlangs hier.
• Sy was nie onlangs hier nie.

The double nie is one of the most important things to learn in Afrikaans sentence structure.

You might be understood, but Sy was onlangs hier is more natural.

In Afrikaans, time expressions like onlangs often come before place expressions like hier in a neutral sentence.

So the more natural order is:

• Sy was onlangs hier

rather than:

• Sy was hier onlangs

The second version may sound marked, less idiomatic, or dependent on context.

Hier means here and refers to a place near the speaker or the current point of reference.

Examples:

• Ek is hier. = I am here.
• Sy was hier. = She was here.

So in Sy was onlangs hier, hier tells you the location, while onlangs tells you the time.

You only need to change the subject pronoun. The rest stays the same.

Examples:

• Hy was onlangs hier. = He was here recently.
• Hulle was onlangs hier. = They were here recently.
• Ek was onlangs hier. = I was here recently.
• Ons was onlangs hier. = We were here recently.

Notice that was stays the same with all these subjects. That is one nice, simple feature of Afrikaans verbs.