Noudat sy sonsteek het, behandel die dokter haar.

Noudat means now that. In standard Afrikaans, it is normally written as one word when it functions as a conjunction introducing a clause:

• Noudat sy sonsteek het, ... = Now that she has sunstroke, ...

So here noudat links the reason/background clause to the main clause.

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

Compare:

• Main-clause style: Sy het sonsteek. = She has sunstroke.
• After noudat: Noudat sy sonsteek het ...

That final het is very typical Afrikaans subordinate-clause word order.

Here sy means she.

Afrikaans sy can mean either:

• she
• his

But the grammar shows which one it is. In Noudat sy sonsteek het, sy is the subject of the clause:

• sy ... het = she has ...

If it meant his, the structure would have to be different.

In Afrikaans, some illnesses or conditions are commonly used without an article after hê (to have).

So:

• Sy het sonsteek. = She has sunstroke.
• Hy het griep. = He has flu.

This is just a normal idiomatic pattern. English also sometimes does something similar, as in have flu in some varieties, though standard English more often says have the flu or have sunstroke.

Because the sentence starts with the subordinate clause Noudat sy sonsteek het. In Afrikaans main clauses, the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

The whole opening clause counts as the first element, so the main clause must begin with the verb:

• Noudat sy sonsteek het, behandel die dokter haar.

Structure:

1. Noudat sy sonsteek het = first element
2. behandel = finite verb in second position
3. die dokter = subject
4. haar = object

This is a very important Afrikaans word-order pattern.

Because haar is the object form of she/her, while sy is the subject form.

So:

• Sy behandel ... = She treats ...
• behandel ... haar = treats her

In this sentence, die dokter is the subject of the main clause, and haar is the person receiving the action.

Yes, behandel is present tense here.

The sentence means that now that she has sunstroke, the doctor is treating her. Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English uses is treating.

So:

• behandel can mean treats or is treating, depending on context.

There is no need for het behandel here, because the treatment is presented as something happening now, not as a completed past action.

The comma separates the introductory subordinate clause from the main clause:

• Noudat sy sonsteek het, behandel die dokter haar.

This is standard punctuation in Afrikaans when a subordinate clause comes first. It helps show where the first clause ends and the main statement begins.