Ons gebruik die handvormtegniek.

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

So you get:

• ek gebruik = I use
• jy gebruik = you use
• ons gebruik = we use
• hulle gebruik = they use

This is one reason Afrikaans grammar often feels simpler than English grammar. In this sentence, gebruik stays the same even though the subject is ons.

Here, ons means we.

A useful thing to know is that ons can also mean us, depending on the sentence:

• Ons gebruik die handvormtegniek. = We use the hand-shape technique.
• Hulle sien ons. = They see us.

So Afrikaans often uses the same form for both we and us, and the sentence structure tells you which meaning is intended.

Die here means the.

Afrikaans has one very convenient feature: die is the definite article for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So unlike languages that have different words for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns, Afrikaans just uses die.

Examples:

• die tegniek = the technique
• die hande = the hands
• die kind = the child
• die kinders = the children

Yes, it is one word, and that is very normal in Afrikaans.

Afrikaans often forms compound nouns by writing the parts together into a single word.
Here:

• hand = hand
• vorm = shape/form
• tegniek = technique

Together, handvormtegniek means something like hand-shape technique or hand-form technique.

This is similar to how English sometimes has compounds too, but Afrikaans usually writes them as one word more consistently.

In Afrikaans compounds, the last part is usually the main word.

So in handvormtegniek, the head word is tegniek. That means the whole word is a kind of technique, specifically a hand-shape technique.

This is a very useful pattern:

• tafelblad = tabletop → a kind of blad
• skoolbus = school bus → a kind of bus
• handvormtegniek = hand-shape technique → a kind of tegniek

So when reading a long compound, it often helps to start from the end.

Yes. This is a normal main-clause word order:

• Ons = subject
• gebruik = verb
• die handvormtegniek = object

So it follows the common pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object

That makes this sentence very close to English word order:

• We use the hand-shape technique.

Afrikaans word order becomes more different from English in some other structures, especially subordinate clauses, but this sentence is straightforward.

Usually, die is included if you mean the hand-shape technique as a specific technique.

If you leave it out, the sentence can sound less natural unless you are speaking in a more general, technical, or note-like style. In ordinary full sentences, die is usually expected when referring to a specific known thing.

Compare:

• Ons gebruik die handvormtegniek. = We use the hand-shape technique.
• Ons gebruik 'n handvormtegniek. = We use a hand-shape technique.

So die helps show that this is a specific technique already known in the context.

Because Afrikaans strongly prefers compound nouns to be written together when they form one concept.

If the three parts together name one specific type of technique, they are combined into one noun:

• handvormtegniek

Writing them separately would usually look wrong or at least nonstandard in normal Afrikaans spelling.

This is something English speakers often need to get used to, because English is less consistent about whether compounds are written as one word, two words, or with a hyphen.

A rough pronunciation is something like khe-BRUYK or ghe-BRUYK, depending on accent and how you represent Afrikaans sounds in English.

A few pronunciation points:

• ge- begins with the guttural Afrikaans g sound, not an English hard g
• bruik rhymes roughly with break only very approximately, but with a different vowel quality
• the stress is usually on the second part: geBRUIK

If you are learning pronunciation, the most important thing is to notice that the first sound is the Afrikaans guttural g/ch sound, not the English g in go.

No, not in the way languages like German or Dutch do.

Afrikaans nouns do not normally require you to learn masculine, feminine, or neuter forms for articles. That is why die is so useful: it works broadly as the without gender changes.

So with die handvormtegniek, you do not need to worry about noun gender at all.

In this sentence, gebruik is definitely a verb meaning use.

Afrikaans does also have noun uses related to the same idea, depending on context, where gebruik can mean use, usage, or even custom/habit in some expressions.

But here the structure makes it clearly verbal:

• Ons = subject
• gebruik = verb
• die handvormtegniek = object

So the sentence is simply saying that we use something.