Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk.

In this sentence, ons means we and is the subject of the verb: Ons gebruik ... = We use ...

A useful thing to know is that ons can also mean us in Afrikaans, so the same word is used for both subject and object.

• Ons gebruik koue melk. = We use cold milk.
• Hulle help ons. = They help us.

So you have to tell from the sentence structure whether ons means we or us.

Gebruik means use.

One nice feature of Afrikaans is that 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

So gebruik stays the same. That is much simpler than English, where you have I use but he uses.

Hoofsaaklik means mainly, primarily, or chiefly.

It comes from hoofsaak, which has the sense of main thing or main matter, plus -lik, which often makes an adverb or adjective.

So:

• Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk. = We mainly use cold milk.

It tells you that cold milk is the usual or primary kind being used.

In a normal main clause, Afrikaans usually follows a straightforward pattern like:

Subject + verb + adverb + object

So here:

• Ons = subject
• gebruik = verb
• hoofsaaklik = adverb
• koue melk = object

That makes Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk very natural.

You may sometimes see adverbs in other positions for emphasis, but this placement is standard and easy to understand.

This is one of the most common learner questions.

Koud is the basic form meaning cold when used after a verb:

• Die melk is koud. = The milk is cold.

But when the adjective comes before the noun, Afrikaans often uses an -e form:

• koue melk = cold milk

So:

• koud = predicative form, after a verb
• koue = attributive form, before a noun

That is why the sentence has koue melk, not koud melk.

Afrikaans often leaves out an article when speaking about a substance or material in a general sense, just as English sometimes does.

So koue melk here means cold milk in a general, uncountable sense.

Compare:

• Ons gebruik koue melk. = We use cold milk.
• Ons gebruik die koue melk. = We use the cold milk.
  This would refer to a specific cold milk already known in context.

Because melk is being talked about as a substance, no article is needed.

Here melk is a mass noun, like milk in English, so it is treated as singular in form but uncountable in meaning.

You normally would not pluralize it unless you were talking about kinds or types in a special context.

So in this sentence, melk simply means milk as a substance.

You probably could in some contexts, but it sounds less neutral and more marked. The most natural version is:

Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk.

Putting hoofsaaklik later can sound as if you are adding emphasis afterward or contrasting with something else.

For a learner, the safest and most natural order is the original one.

A very common past construction in Afrikaans uses het plus the past participle, often with ge-.

So:

• Present: Ons gebruik hoofsaaklik koue melk.
• Past: Ons het hoofsaaklik koue melk gebruik.

Notice the word order:

• het goes in second position
• the main verb gebruik goes to the end

This is a very common Afrikaans pattern.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

Ons → like ons with a short vowel
gebruik → roughly khuh-BRAYK or guh-BRAYK, depending on accent
hoofsaaklik → roughly HOAF-saak-lik
koue → roughly KOH-uh
melk → like melk, with a short e

A few pronunciation notes:

• The g in Afrikaans is usually harsher than in English, often a throaty sound.
• ou in koue is not like English cow exactly, but learners often use something similar at first.
• oe in Afrikaans is usually like oo in food.

A natural rhythm would be:

Ons geBRUIK hoofSAAKlik KOUe melk.

The basic structure is:

Subject + verb + adverb + object

So:

• Ons = subject
• gebruik = verb
• hoofsaaklik = adverb
• koue melk = object noun phrase

This is a very useful model for building your own Afrikaans sentences, for example:

• Ons drink gewoonlik warm koffie. = We usually drink hot coffee.
• Hulle eet dikwels vars brood. = They often eat fresh bread.

So this sentence is a good example of a very common Afrikaans pattern.