Hulle help hulself.

Because hulself is the reflexive form, meaning that the action comes back to the same people who do it.

• hulle = they / them
• hulself = themselves

So:

• Hulle help hulle would normally mean They help them
• Hulle help hulself means the subject and object are the same group

That is why hulself is needed here.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Hulle — subject pronoun (they)
• help — verb (help)
• hulself — reflexive pronoun (themselves)

So the structure is:

subject + verb + reflexive pronoun

No. In Afrikaans, most verbs do not change form the way English verbs sometimes do.

So you get:

• Ek help
• Jy help
• Hy help
• Ons help
• Hulle help

The verb stays help in each case.

Yes. In this simple main clause, the word order is very similar to English:

Hulle + help + hulself

That is a normal subject–verb–object order.

Afrikaans word order becomes more different from English in subordinate clauses, questions, or sentences with extra verbs, but this sentence is straightforward.

It is written as one word: hulself.

Afrikaans normally writes these -self reflexive forms as single words, for example:

• myself
• jouself
• homself
• haarself
• onsself
• julleself
• hulself

So hulle self would not be the normal spelling for the reflexive pronoun here.

This is an important distinction.

• hulself = themselves
  The action goes back to the same people.
• mekaar = each other / one another
  The action goes between the people.

Compare:

• Hulle help hulself = they help themselves
• Hulle help mekaar = they help each other

English speakers often need to watch this difference carefully.

Yes, depending on context.

Just like English help themselves, Afrikaans hulself help can sometimes mean taking food, drink, or something available without waiting for someone else to serve it.

For example, in the right context, it could mean something like:

• they serve themselves
• they help themselves to food

So context tells you exactly what kind of helping themselves is meant.

In standard Afrikaans, the reflexive form for they is commonly written as hulself.

So the pair is:

• hulle → subject/object form
• hulself → reflexive form

For a learner, the safest approach is simply to memorize hulself as the standard reflexive form meaning themselves.

A simple learner-friendly guide would be:

• Hulle ≈ HUL-uh
• help ≈ help (similar to English, but usually with a shorter vowel)
• hulself ≈ HUL-self

A few notes:

• The u in hul- is not exactly the same as English u in full or fun, but HUL- is a useful approximation.
• The e at the end of hulle is weak, like uh.

Yes. Hulle can be used for both the subject and the object.

For example:

• Hulle sien ons = they see us
• Ons sien hulle = we see them

That is another reason why the reflexive form hulself is useful: it clearly shows that the object refers back to the subject.

Formally, it is in the simple present, but in Afrikaans the simple present often covers ideas that English expresses with either:

• they help themselves
• they are helping themselves

So the exact time sense depends on context.

If someone wants to be very explicit about an action in progress, Afrikaans can also use other constructions, but the simple present is very common and natural.