Diegene wat help, kom vroeg.

Diegene means those or the ones. In this sentence, Diegene wat help means those who help.

It is correct Afrikaans, but in everyday speech people often use simpler alternatives such as:

• Die wat help, kom vroeg.
• Mense wat help, kom vroeg. depending on the context

So diegene is a bit more formal or written in style.

Wat is the relative word who/that/which in Afrikaans. In this sentence, it links diegene to help:

• Diegene = those
• wat help = who help

So wat introduces the relative clause.

Afrikaans uses wat much more widely than English uses who/that/which. You do not need a special form for people here; wat works fine.

In Afrikaans, verbs usually do not change form according to the subject the way they do in English.

So you get:

• Ek help = I help
• Jy help = you help
• Hulle help = they help
• Diegene help = those help / those are helping

That is why it stays help, not something like helps.

Kom is the present-tense form of kom (to come) and, again, Afrikaans verbs usually do not change for person or number.

Vroeg means early and is an adverb here, describing when they come.

So:

• kom vroeg = come early

There is no extra ending needed.

The comma separates the main idea from the descriptive relative clause before it.

Structure:

• Diegene wat help = the people being talked about
• kom vroeg = what they do

In Afrikaans, commas are often used before the main clause after a long introductory or descriptive subject phrase like this. You may see this especially in careful writing.

Yes, but it is also very normal for Afrikaans.

The subject is the whole phrase:

• Diegene wat help

Then comes the verb of the main clause:

• kom

Then the adverb:

• vroeg

So the pattern is basically:

• Subject + verb + adverb

Inside the subject, wat help comes right after diegene because it describes which people are meant.

You may sometimes see it without a comma, especially in less formal writing, but Diegene wat help, kom vroeg is the clearer and more standard written version.

The comma helps show that wat help belongs to diegene, and that kom vroeg is the main statement.

A more natural spoken version is often:

• Die wat help, kom vroeg.

This means the same thing: Those who help come early.

Diegene is absolutely correct, but it can sound a little formal or bookish in everyday conversation.

Yes. In many contexts, Afrikaans present tense can cover both a general meaning and a current action, depending on context.

So wat help can mean:

• who help
• who are helping

If you need to emphasize an ongoing action, Afrikaans often uses other structures, but in a simple sentence like this, wat help is perfectly normal.

A simple learner-friendly guide is:

• diegene ≈ dee-GHEE-nuh or dee-KHEE-nuh, depending on accent

A few points:

• die here sounds roughly like dee
• the g in Afrikaans is usually a throaty sound, not an English g
• the stress is usually on ge

If you are just starting out, saying dee-GEE-nuh will usually still be understood, even if the g is not perfect yet.