Ten spyte van die salarisafwyking betaal hulle die netto salaris.

Yes. Ten spyte van is a fixed expression meaning despite or in spite of.

So:

• ten spyte van die salarisafwyking = despite the salary discrepancy

You should usually learn it as one chunk, not word by word. The ten here is old-fashioned in origin and survives mainly in set expressions, so learners normally just memorize ten spyte van as the standard phrase.

That whole part is a prepositional phrase giving context: despite the salary discrepancy.

Afrikaans often puts this kind of phrase first for emphasis or flow, just like English can do:

• Despite the salary discrepancy, they pay the net salary.

Starting with it highlights the contrast before the main action.

Because Afrikaans follows a verb-second pattern in main clauses.

If something other than the subject comes first, the finite verb usually comes next, and the subject moves after the verb.

So:

• Normal order: Hulle betaal die netto salaris.
• With the fronted phrase: Ten spyte van die salarisafwyking betaal hulle die netto salaris.

This is very important in Afrikaans word order.

No. Afrikaans verbs do not usually change form for person or number in the present tense.

So you get:

• ek betaal
• jy betaal
• hy betaal
• ons betaal
• hulle betaal

That is why the verb stays betaal even with hulle.

Salarisafwyking is a compound noun:

• salaris = salary
• afwyking = deviation, discrepancy, irregularity

Together, it means something like:

• salary discrepancy
• pay discrepancy
• salary irregularity

Afrikaans uses compound nouns very freely, and they are normally written as one word.

Yes, very often.

This is one of the most noticeable differences from English. Where English may write two words, Afrikaans often writes one compound word.

Examples:

• salaris + afwyking → salarisafwyking
• netto + salaris is not written as one word here, because netto is functioning as an adjective, not as the first noun in a compound

So in this sentence:

• salarisafwyking = one noun
• netto salaris = adjective + noun

Netto salaris means net salary or net pay — the amount after deductions.

Compare:

• bruto salaris = gross salary
• netto salaris = net salary

So this sentence is saying that, despite the discrepancy, they still pay the take-home amount.

Because the sentence is referring to a specific salary: the net salary.

In Afrikaans, die is the definite article for both singular and plural nouns in most cases:

• die salaris = the salary
• die salarisse = the salaries

Here, die netto salaris means a particular net salary, not just net salary in general.

Because netto is used as an adjective here, and words like this often stay unchanged.

So:

• die netto salaris

In Afrikaans, many adjectives can take an -e ending before a noun, but some adjectives, especially certain borrowed or fixed forms like netto, commonly remain unchanged.

So netto salaris is the normal form.

Here hulle means they, because it is the subject of the verb betaal.

Afrikaans hulle can be a little tricky because it can appear in several roles depending on context, but in this sentence it clearly means:

• they pay

So:

• betaal hulle = do they pay / they pay depending on word order and sentence type

Here, because it is a statement with a fronted phrase, it means they pay.

In a simple sentence like this, Afrikaans often does not require a comma after a fronted prepositional phrase.

So this is normal:

• Ten spyte van die salarisafwyking betaal hulle die netto salaris.

English also often leaves out the comma in short sentences of this kind, though style can vary.

Yes, that is grammatically possible.

That version keeps the basic subject-verb order:

• Hulle betaal die netto salaris ten spyte van die salarisafwyking.

The meaning is essentially the same, but the original sentence gives more emphasis to the contrast by putting ten spyte van die salarisafwyking first.

Not always.

Both relate to pay, but they are not always used in exactly the same way:

• salaris usually means salary
• loon usually means wages or pay, often in a broader or more wage-based sense

In this sentence, salaris is the natural word because it is specifically about salary.

Yes.

The verb betaal here is in the present tense:

• Ten spyte van die salarisafwyking betaal hulle die netto salaris.
• Despite the salary discrepancy, they pay the net salary.

Afrikaans present tense is usually very simple, since the verb form normally does not change with the subject.