Ons vermy geweld.

Here, ons means we.

So Ons vermy geweld means We avoid violence.

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans uses ons very often where English would use we, us, or our, depending on the sentence.

In modern Afrikaans, ons is the normal everyday word for we.

So:

• Ons gaan = We go
• Ons praat Afrikaans = We speak Afrikaans

This is just how Afrikaans developed. If you know Dutch, this may feel surprising at first, but in Afrikaans ons is completely normal as the subject.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change for different subjects in the present tense.

So you get:

• Ek vermy = I avoid
• Jy vermy = You avoid
• Ons vermy = We avoid
• Hulle vermy = They avoid

This is much simpler than English, where you have I avoid but he avoids.

It is in the present tense.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• We avoid violence
• We are avoiding violence
• We do avoid violence

Most naturally, though, it sounds like a general statement or habitual action: We avoid violence.

Geweld is the direct object of the verb vermy.

In this sentence, it refers to violence in general, so there is no article.

Compare:

• Ons vermy geweld = We avoid violence in general
• Ons vermy die geweld = We avoid the violence / that violence

Because geweld is being used in a general, uncountable sense, no die is needed.

The word order is the standard Afrikaans main-clause pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object

So:

• Ons = subject
• vermy = verb
• geweld = object

This is very similar to normal English word order:

• We avoid violence

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

ons fer-MAY khə-VELT

A few helpful notes:

• ons: the o is short, roughly like the vowel in off
• v in Afrikaans often sounds like an English f
• vermy is stressed on the second syllable
• g in geweld is the throaty Afrikaans/Dutch g, not the English g in go

If you want a rougher learner-friendly version, Ons fer-MAY ghe-VELT is good enough to start with.

You usually make it negative in Afrikaans with nie ... nie:

Ons vermy nie geweld nie.

This means We do not avoid violence.

Afrikaans commonly uses a double nie pattern:

• the first nie goes after the verb
• the second nie usually comes at the end of the clause

That double negative structure is very important in Afrikaans.

The difference is general versus specific meaning.

• geweld = violence in general
• die geweld = the violence, a particular violence, or violence already known from context

So:

• Ons vermy geweld = We avoid violence in general
• Ons vermy die geweld = We avoid the violence / that violence

English does the same kind of thing:

• I dislike noise
• I dislike the noise

Yes. Ons can mean:

• we
• us
• our

Examples:

• Ons kom nou. = We are coming now.
• Hy sien ons. = He sees us.
• Ons huis is groot. = Our house is big.

So in Afrikaans, ons does several jobs that English divides into different words.

Yes, it can, depending on context.

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• We avoid violence or
• We are avoiding violence

If you really want to emphasize an action happening right now, Afrikaans can use other structures, but the plain sentence Ons vermy geweld is perfectly normal and often enough on its own.