Die terugstuurbeleid bevat die terugstuurtydperk, waarborgtydperk en terugstuurkoste.

Die means the.

In Afrikaans, die is the definite article for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So it is much simpler than English in that sense.

It appears twice because it introduces two different noun phrases:

• Die terugstuurbeleid = The return policy
• die terugstuurtydperk, waarborgtydperk en terugstuurkoste = the return period, warranty period and return costs

The second die applies to the whole list, not just the first item.

Afrikaans very often forms compound nouns by writing the parts together as a single word.

So:

• terugstuur + beleid → terugstuurbeleid
• terugstuur + tydperk → terugstuurtydperk
• waarborg + tydperk → waarborgtydperk
• terugstuur + koste → terugstuurkoste

English usually writes these as separate words, but Afrikaans prefers one combined word. This is very normal and one of the first things English speakers have to get used to.

Bevat means contains or includes.

In this sentence, it is the present tense verb.

A useful thing for English speakers: Afrikaans verbs usually do not change much according to the subject in the present tense.

So:

• ek bevat would sound odd because of meaning, but the verb form itself does not change
• die beleid bevat
• hulle bevat

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add an extra -s for he/she/it contains. The form stays bevat.

The structure is very straightforward:

• Die terugstuurbeleid = subject
• bevat = verb
• die terugstuurtydperk, waarborgtydperk en terugstuurkoste = object

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That is the normal word order for a simple statement in Afrikaans.

Because Afrikaans, like English, often uses one article for a whole list.

So:

• die terugstuurtydperk, waarborgtydperk en terugstuurkoste

works like:

• the return period, warranty period and return costs

You could repeat die before each item for extra emphasis or clarity:

• die terugstuurtydperk, die waarborgtydperk en die terugstuurkoste

But in ordinary writing, using die once for the whole series is very natural.

Terugstuur literally means send back.

It is made from:

• terug = back
• stuur = send

In shopping or customer-service contexts, terugstuur is a very common word for returning an item.

So:

• terugstuurbeleid = return policy
• terugstuurtydperk = return period
• terugstuurkoste = return costs

• tydperk = period or time period
• waarborg = warranty or guarantee

So:

• terugstuurtydperk = the period during which something may be returned
• waarborgtydperk = the period during which the warranty is valid

A learner may notice that tyd means time, while tydperk is more specific: a period/term, not just time in general.

Koste usually means costs or expenses, so it is plural in meaning.

That is why terugstuurkoste is best understood as:

• return costs
• the costs of returning something

Even though Afrikaans compounds can look compact, the final part still tells you the basic meaning. Since koste is plural-like in meaning, the whole compound refers to costs/charges, not a single cost.

Usually, no. In a sentence like this, they are normally written as single words:

• terugstuurbeleid
• terugstuurtydperk
• waarborgtydperk
• terugstuurkoste

Afrikaans generally prefers compounds to be joined together rather than written with spaces. Hyphens are used in some special cases, but not for these ordinary compounds.

Yes, pretty much.

A rough word-for-word breakdown is:

• Die = the
• terugstuurbeleid = return policy
• bevat = contains/includes
• die terugstuurtydperk = the return period
• waarborgtydperk = warranty period
• en = and
• terugstuurkoste = return costs

So this is actually a good example of a sentence that is quite accessible to English speakers once you recognize the compound nouns.