Ons meet die wanddikte en droogkrimp.

This is a very common confusion for English speakers.

In Afrikaans, meet means to measure, not to meet someone.

• Ons meet ... = We measure ...
• Afrikaans ontmoet = to meet / encounter

So meet is a false friend here: it looks familiar, but it means something different from the most common English meaning.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form according to the subject in the present tense.

So you get:

• Ek meet
• Jy meet
• Hy/Sy meet
• Ons meet
• Julle meet
• Hulle meet

This is much simpler than English, where you get I measure but he measures.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

A useful point for learners: 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, neuter, or plural.

Because one definite article can cover both nouns when they are joined together as one coordinated noun phrase.

So:

• die wanddikte en droogkrimp

means that the applies to both items.

This is similar to English, where you can say:

• the wall thickness and drying shrinkage

without repeating the before the second noun.

Yes, it is correctly written as one word.

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, very often writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• wand = wall / side
• dikte = thickness
• wanddikte = wall thickness

English usually writes this as two words, but Afrikaans normally joins them.

It is a compound noun:

• wand = wall, side, inner wall, casing wall, etc. depending on context
• dikte = thickness

So wanddikte literally means wall-thickness.

In technical contexts, wand often refers not to a house wall, but to the wall of an object, container, pipe, molded piece, or similar structure.

Literally, it is built from:

• droog = dry
• krimp = shrink

So the idea is shrinkage caused by drying or drying shrinkage.

In technical language, Afrikaans often uses compact compounds like this where English might prefer a longer expression.

Here it is functioning as a noun/technical term, not as the main verb.

The sentence has only one finite verb:

• Ons meet = We measure

Then what follows is what is being measured:

• die wanddikte en droogkrimp

So both wanddikte and droogkrimp are the things being measured.

For an English speaker, this can feel unusual because droogkrimp looks verbal, but in this sentence it is being used as a technical noun-like term.

Because Afrikaans does not form technical terms in the same way English does.

English often says:

• drying shrinkage

Afrikaans often prefers a shorter compound form such as:

• droogkrimp

So you should not expect a direct word-for-word match with English morphology. Afrikaans frequently expresses the same idea with a compact compound.

The sentence follows normal main-clause word order:

• Ons = subject
• meet = finite verb
• die wanddikte en droogkrimp = object

So it is a straightforward Subject–Verb–Object pattern:

• Ons | meet | die wanddikte en droogkrimp

That makes this sentence structurally quite simple.

Yes.

The idea is:

• We measure the wall thickness
• and we measure the drying shrinkage

Afrikaans does not need to repeat the verb. One verb can govern both nouns.

So the sentence is efficiently saying that both properties are being measured.

It is in the present tense.

Depending on context, Afrikaans present tense can mean:

• something happening now
• a habitual action
• a general procedure
• an instruction or process description

In a technical or procedural context, Ons meet ... often means something like We measure ... as part of a standard process or method.

Yes, a few:

• ons: the o is short, not like English own
• meet: do not read it like English met; it has a long vowel
• wanddikte: note the compound stress pattern, usually with strong stress near the start
• droogkrimp: the g is the guttural Afrikaans sound, not an English g as in go

Also, Afrikaans w is not exactly like English w; it is closer to a soft v-like sound for many learners.

So even though several words look familiar, they may not sound the way an English speaker first expects.