Die insekweerder hou die muskiet weg.

Afrikaans usually writes compound nouns as a single word. So insekweerder is one compound:

• insek = insect
• weerder = repeller / thing that wards something off

English often leaves these as two words, like insect repellent, but Afrikaans normally joins them.

It is understandable, but many speakers would more often use insekweermiddel for insect repellent. That word literally means something like insect-warding substance/agent.

So the sentence is grammatical, but depending on context, Die insekweermiddel hou die muskiet weg may sound more everyday.

Because die is the normal definite article in Afrikaans, and it does not change for gender.

So:

• die insekweerder = the insect repellent
• die muskiet = the mosquito

Unlike some other languages, Afrikaans does not have different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns. It also does not change the article to show subject versus object in a sentence. Word order usually shows that.

Here hou means keep.

So hou ... weg means keep ... away.

That is one of several meanings of hou in Afrikaans. For example:

• hou van = like / love
• hou vas = hold tight
• hou weg = keep away

So in this sentence, hou is not hold in the physical sense. It means keeps.

Because weg is part of the separable verb idea weghou.

In a normal main clause, Afrikaans puts the finite verb early in the sentence, usually in second position, and the separable part often goes later:

• Die insekweerder hou die muskiet weg.

So the structure is:

• Die insekweerder = subject
• hou = finite verb
• die muskiet = object
• weg = separable particle

This is very similar to how Dutch and German handle many verbs of this type.

Yes. The dictionary form is often given as weghou, but in a main clause it commonly splits:

• main clause: Die insekweerder hou die muskiet weg.
• subordinate clause: ... dat die insekweerder die muskiet weghou.

You may also see the infinitive pattern:

• om die muskiet weg te hou

So yes: same basic verb, different sentence environments.

Grammatically, yes, muskiet is singular. But singular nouns can sometimes be used in a general or representative way.

So this sentence can describe:

• one specific mosquito, or
• a mosquito as a type, depending on context

If you want to talk clearly about mosquitoes in general, the plural is:

• muskiete

For example:

• Insekweerder hou muskiete weg.

That would sound very natural if you mean mosquitoes in general.

In this sentence, weg already carries the idea of away.

So:

• hou = keep
• weg = away

Together, hou ... weg gives the meaning keep away.

If you want to add where something is kept away from, Afrikaans can do that too, for example with van:

• Die insekweerder hou die muskiet van my af weg.

But in your sentence, the shorter version is enough.

Afrikaans main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule. That means the finite verb still comes second, even if another part of the sentence comes first.

For example:

• Die insekweerder hou die muskiet weg.
• Vandag hou die insekweerder die muskiet weg.

Notice that hou stays in second position. This is an important Afrikaans word-order pattern.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Die ≈ dee
• insekweerder ≈ in-SEK-veer-der
• hou ≈ how
• muskiet ≈ mus-KEET
• weg ≈ vekh or vegg with a guttural final sound

Two useful pronunciation notes:

• Afrikaans w sounds more like English v
• Afrikaans g is usually a guttural sound, not the English g in go

So weg does not sound like English weg would.