Ons draai die skroef vas.

Because this sentence uses a separable verb: vasdraai.

• vasdraai = to tighten by turning
• In a main clause, the verb part draai goes into the normal verb position, and vas moves to the end.

So:

• Ons draai die skroef vas. = We tighten the screw.

Compare:

• Ons het die skroef vasgedraai. = We tightened the screw.
• ... dat ons die skroef vasdraai. = ... that we tighten the screw.

So draai ... vas and vasdraai are two forms of the same verb.

Vas usually means something like firm, tight, fast, secure, or sometimes stuck, depending on context.

In this sentence, it gives the idea of tightening something so that it is firmly in place.

That is why draai on its own means turn, but vasdraai means tighten by turning.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

So:

• die skroef = the screw

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So unlike some other languages, you do not have to learn different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

No. In Afrikaans, verbs usually do not change form for different persons in the present tense.

So you get:

• Ek draai = I turn
• Jy draai = you turn
• Hy draai = he turns
• Ons draai = we turn

This is much simpler than English, where you have I turn but he turns.

Here, ons means we.

You can tell because it comes before the verb:

• Ons draai ... = We turn / We tighten ...

Afrikaans ons can also mean our, but then it is used before a noun:

• ons skroef = our screw

So the structure tells you the meaning.

Very literally, it is something like:

• We turn the screw tight

That literal meaning helps explain why Afrikaans uses draai plus vas.

But in natural English, the usual translation is simply:

• We tighten the screw

So the Afrikaans wording is a bit more transparent than the English one.

Yes. Skroef is the normal Afrikaans word for screw.

Its plural is:

• skroewe = screws

So:

• die skroef = the screw
• die skroewe = the screws

Again, notice that die stays the same in both singular and plural.

You might hear similar expressions, but vasdraai is the most natural choice when you tighten something by turning it, especially a screw.

• vasdraai = tighten by turning
• vasmaak = fasten, attach, make secure

So for a screw, vasdraai is the precise verb.

The past tense is:

• Ons het die skroef vasgedraai. = We tightened the screw.

This shows a common Afrikaans pattern:

• het
  • past participle

And with separable verbs, the past participle is usually written as one word:

• vasgedraai

So you can think of it as:

• present: draai ... vas
• past participle: vasgedraai

In a subordinate clause, the separable verb is normally written together again:

• Ek sien dat ons die skroef vasdraai.
• I see that we are tightening the screw.

So compare:

• main clause: Ons draai die skroef vas.
• subordinate clause: ... dat ons die skroef vasdraai.

This is a very common pattern in Afrikaans and is worth getting used to early.

You can, but the meaning changes.

• Ons draai die skroef. = We turn the screw.
• Ons draai die skroef vas. = We tighten the screw.

Without vas, the sentence only says that the screw is being turned. It does not specifically say that it is being tightened.

So vas is important here because it adds the idea of tightening rather than just turning.