Ons roer die muurverf met die roerstok.

Here ons means we because it is the subject of the sentence: Ons roer ... = We stir ...

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans uses ons for both we and us. So the form does not change the way it does in English.

• Ons roer die muurverf. = We stir the wall paint.
• Hy sien ons. = He sees us.

You work out whether it means we or us from its role in the sentence.

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

So you get:

• Ek roer = I stir
• Jy roer = you stir
• Ons roer = we stir
• Hulle roer = they stir

That makes Afrikaans verb conjugation much simpler than English in many everyday sentences.

Roer usually means to stir in a sentence like this.

Because the object is die muurverf and the tool is die roerstok, the meaning is clearly stir rather than some other possible sense like move.

So:

• Ons roer die muurverf = We stir the wall paint

Context is what tells you the exact meaning.

Both die muurverf and die roerstok are definite noun phrases, so each one gets die.

• die muurverf = the wall paint
• die roerstok = the stirring stick

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So unlike languages such as German or Dutch, you do not have to learn different forms of the for masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural.

In sentences like this, yes: die means the.

But learners should know that die can also be the plural form of that/those in some contexts, depending on grammar and sentence structure. In Ons roer die muurverf met die roerstok, though, both instances are simply the.

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• muur = wall
• verf = paint
• muurverf = wall paint

This is completely normal in Afrikaans. English sometimes writes similar ideas as two words, hyphenated words, or one word, but Afrikaans strongly prefers a single compound form.

Muurverf literally means wall paint — paint used for walls.

It is made up of:

• muur = wall
• verf = paint

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• wall paint
• paint for walls
• sometimes just paint

But the Afrikaans word itself is specifically the compound muurverf.

For the same reason: it is a compound noun.

It is built from:

• roer = stir
• stok = stick

So roerstok means something like:

• stirring stick
• stir stick
• paint stirrer (depending on context)

Afrikaans commonly joins these parts into one noun.

Met means with.

In this sentence it introduces the instrument used to do the action:

• met die roerstok = with the stirring stick

So the structure is:

• Ons = subject
• roer = verb
• die muurverf = object
• met die roerstok = prepositional phrase telling you what tool is used

This is the normal word order in a simple main clause in Afrikaans:

subject + verb + object + prepositional phrase

So:

• Ons = subject
• roer = verb
• die muurverf = direct object
• met die roerstok = prepositional phrase

That is very similar to ordinary English word order:

• We stir the wall paint with the stirring stick.

Not on the nouns themselves, and not on the article die.

Afrikaans has largely lost the old case system, so you do not see special endings here showing subject or object. Instead, meaning is mostly shown by:

• word order
• prepositions
• context

So in this sentence, you understand who is doing what mainly from the order of the words.

It is possible in some contexts, but it is less neutral and may sound marked or stylistically different.

The most straightforward, natural version is:

• Ons roer die muurverf met die roerstok.

That is the best basic pattern for a learner to use.

Afrikaans usually uses a double negative:

• Ons roer nie die muurverf met die roerstok nie.
• We do not stir the wall paint with the stirring stick.

That means you normally get:

• one nie after the verb phrase begins
• another nie at the end of the clause

This is a very important Afrikaans pattern.

A native English speaker often notices that Afrikaans pronunciation can differ from English in a few ways:

• r is often trilled or tapped more than in English, depending on accent.
• oe sounds like oo in food.
• roer sounds roughly like roo-er, though exact pronunciation varies by accent.
• stok has a short o, not the English sound in stoke.

You do not need perfect pronunciation immediately, but it helps to know that Afrikaans vowels are usually more stable and less gliding than English ones.