Ons plant die saailing oor sonder dat dit verlep.

Because oorplant is a separable verb in Afrikaans, meaning to transplant.

In a main clause, the conjugated verb usually comes early in the sentence, and the separable part moves to the end:

• Ons plant die saailing oor. = We transplant the seedling.

But in an infinitive or a subordinate clause, it normally stays together:

• om die saailing oor te plant
• dat ons die saailing oorplant

So plant ... oor is not two unrelated words here; together they make the idea transplant.

More or less, yes, but the natural meaning is transplant.

The particle oor often adds the idea of over, across, or again/from one place to another. So with plant, it gives the sense of moving a plant and planting it somewhere else.

So in normal English, you would usually translate die saailing oorplant as:

• transplant the seedling

rather than the more literal plant the seedling over.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form according to the subject the way English verbs sometimes do.

So you get:

• ek plant
• jy plant
• hy plant
• ons plant

The verb stays plant. This is much simpler than English or Dutch.

Saailing means seedling: a very young plant that has just started growing from seed.

It comes from saai (to sow) plus a noun ending. So it is specifically a young plant in the early stage of growth.

Yes. Die is the normal definite article in Afrikaans, and it is used for singular and plural nouns.

So:

• die saailing = the seedling
• die saailinge = the seedlings

Afrikaans does not have different forms like the for gender, and it does not use a separate plural form of the article.

Sonder dat means without ... followed by a full clause.

Here, the sentence is not just saying without wilting in a loose way. It gives a complete clause with its own subject:

• sonder dat dit verlep
• literally: without that it wilts

In natural English, this becomes:

• without it wilting
• without it withering

So sonder dat is used when what follows has its own subject and verb.

Sometimes yes, but not in exactly the same structure.

Sonder om ... te is used before an infinitive, for example:

• sonder om te wag = without waiting

But in your sentence, the part after sonder is a full clause with its own subject, dit. That is why sonder dat is the natural choice:

• sonder dat dit verlep

A different wording with om ... te would need to be restructured, for example:

• sonder om die saailing te laat verlep = without letting the seedling wilt

So sonder dat fits the original sentence better.

Because dit is the normal pronoun for a thing or an inanimate object in Afrikaans.

A saailing is a plant, not a person, so dit is the expected pronoun:

• die saailing ... dit

English also often uses it for plants, so this matches quite well.

Here it is a verb.

After dat dit, the word verlep means wilts, withers, or becomes limp/dried out.

Compare:

• Die plant verlep. = The plant wilts.
• Die plant is verlep. = The plant is wilted.

So in your sentence, it is verbal: the seedling does not wilt during the transplanting.

Because dat introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Afrikaans usually send the finite verb to the end.

So:

• dit verlep = it wilts
• sonder dat dit verlep = without it wilting

This verb-final pattern is very common after words like:

• dat = that
• omdat = because
• as = if/when
• terwyl = while

Yes, very often in Afrikaans the verb form looks the same in both cases.

For example:

• verlep = wilt / wilts
• plant = plant / plants

Afrikaans does not usually add an -s like English does in he wilts or it wilts. So the form stays the same.

It breaks down like this:

• Ons = we
• plant ... oor = transplant
• die saailing = the seedling
• sonder dat = without
• dit verlep = it wilts

So the structure is:

main clause + subordinate clause

• Ons plant die saailing oor
• sonder dat dit verlep

A good literal sense is:

• We transplant the seedling without it wilting.

Yes. It is grammatically natural and clear.

It uses several very normal Afrikaans features:

• a separable verb: oorplant
• a subordinate clause with sonder dat
• ordinary pronoun use: dit
• normal verb-final order after dat

So it is a good example sentence for learning Afrikaans sentence structure.