Noudat ons betaal het, kan ons die bouplan inhandig.

Noudat is a conjunction meaning now that.

It is normally written as one word in standard Afrikaans when it introduces a clause:

• Noudat ons betaal het, ...

This is similar to how some English multi-word expressions become fixed connectors in another language. In Afrikaans, you should usually learn noudat as a single conjunction.

Because Noudat introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Afrikaans usually send the finite verb to the end.

Compare:

• Main clause: Ons het betaal.
• Subordinate clause: noudat ons betaal het

So the same perfect construction is there, but the word order changes because of the conjunction.

A useful pattern to remember:

• Main clause: subject + finite verb + rest
• Subordinate clause: conjunction + subject + rest + finite verb

Because betaal begins with the inseparable prefix be-, and verbs with prefixes like be-, ge-, her-, ont-, and ver- usually do not take ge- in the past participle.

So:

• betaal → betaal
• not gebetaal

That is why the perfect tense is:

• ons het betaal
• ons betaal het in a subordinate clause

This is because Afrikaans is a verb-second language in main clauses.

The whole first part, Noudat ons betaal het, counts as the first element of the sentence. That means the finite verb of the main clause must come next, in second position:

• Noudat ons betaal het, kan ons ...

If the sentence started directly with the subject, then you would get:

• Ons kan die bouplan inhandig.

So the change to kan ons is caused by the fronted subordinate clause.

Because there are two clauses, and each clause needs its own subject.

• Noudat ons betaal het = subordinate clause
• kan ons die bouplan inhandig = main clause

Both clauses have the subject ons, so it appears twice.

Also, in Afrikaans, ons can mean both we and us, depending on the sentence. Here it clearly means we, because it is the subject in both clauses.

A few useful things:

• die is the definite article, meaning the
• Afrikaans uses die for all grammatical genders
• bouplan is a compound noun

So bouplan is made from:

• bou = build / building
• plan = plan

Afrikaans, like Dutch and German, often joins compound nouns into one word. So bouplan is more natural than writing it as two separate words.

Because inhandig is a verb, and here it appears in the infinitive after the modal verb kan.

With modal verbs such as kan, moet, wil, and sal, the other verb usually goes to the end in its basic form:

• kan ... inhandig

So in this sentence, the verb stays together as inhandig.

Yes. Inhandig is a separable verb, so in some forms it splits.

For example:

• Ons handig die bouplan in.
  Here the finite part handig comes earlier, and in moves to the end.

But after a modal, it stays together:

• Ons kan die bouplan inhandig.

And in the perfect tense, it forms a participle:

• Ons het die bouplan ingehandig.

So this is a very useful verb to learn in three patterns:

• inhandig
• handig ... in
• ingehandig

Sometimes the two can be close in meaning, but they are not exactly the same.

• noudat = now that
• nadat = after

In this sentence, noudat emphasizes the current situation: payment has now been made, so submission is now possible.

If you used nadat, the focus would be more on the sequence of events rather than the idea of now that this condition has been met.

So noudat is a very natural choice here.

Yes, it is normally used here.

The comma separates the introductory subordinate clause from the main clause:

• Noudat ons betaal het, kan ons die bouplan inhandig.

This is similar to English punctuation with an opening clause. The comma helps the reader see where the first clause ends and the main clause begins.