Pak die lantern weg, tensy ons dit nodig het.

Because wegpak is a separable verb in Afrikaans.

• The full verb is wegpak, meaning to put away / pack away.
• In a main clause or command, the first part stays with the verb, and weg moves to the end.

So:

• Infinitive: om die lantern weg te pak
• Command: Pak die lantern weg

This is similar to separable verbs in Dutch and a bit like phrasal verbs in English, such as put away.

This is the imperative form, used for giving a command.

In Afrikaans, commands often use just the verb by itself, without stating the subject:

• Pak die lantern weg. = Put the lantern away.

The subject jy is understood. English does the same:

• Put the lantern away.

You could add jy in some contexts for emphasis, but normally it is omitted in commands.

Tensy means unless.

It introduces an exception:

• Pak die lantern weg, tensy ons dit nodig het. = Put the lantern away, unless we need it.

So the main idea is:

• put it away

and the exception is:

• if we need it, then don't put it away

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

Compare:

• Main clause: Ons het dit nodig. = We need it.
• After tensy: tensy ons dit nodig het = unless we need it

So the verb het moves to the end because of the subordinate clause structure.

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Afrikaans.

Nodig hê / nodig het is the usual Afrikaans way to say to need.

Literally, nodig means something like necessary / needed, and hê means to have, but together they function like the English verb need.

Examples:

• Ek het hulp nodig. = I need help.
• Ons het dit nodig. = We need it.

In the subordinate clause, hê appears as het at the end:

• tensy ons dit nodig het

So yes, it is completely normal Afrikaans.

Because dit is the normal pronoun for an inanimate thing like die lantern.

• die lantern = the lantern
• dit = it

Afrikaans does not assign grammatical gender to nouns in the same way some other languages do, so for objects like a lantern, dit is the expected pronoun.

So:

• ons dit nodig het = we need it

The comma separates the main clause from the subordinate clause.

• Main clause: Pak die lantern weg
• Subordinate clause: tensy ons dit nodig het

In standard Afrikaans spelling and punctuation, a subordinate clause introduced by a word like tensy is normally separated with a comma here.

Die means the, while 'n means a / an.

So die lantern refers to a specific lantern that both speaker and listener can identify:

• Pak die lantern weg = Put the lantern away

If you said 'n lantern, it would mean a lantern, which sounds less specific.

They are similar, but not always exactly the same.

• wegpak = put away, pack away
• bêre = store, put away, keep safely

In many situations, they can both work:

• Pak die lantern weg
• Bêre die lantern

But wegpak often emphasizes the action of putting something away after use, while bêre can sound a bit more like storing or keeping it somewhere.

Yes, that is also correct.

Afrikaans allows the subordinate clause to come first:

• Tensy ons dit nodig het, pak die lantern weg.

This means the same thing as:

• Pak die lantern weg, tensy ons dit nodig het.

When the clause with tensy comes first, it is followed by a comma, and the main clause still starts with the verb pak because it is a command.