Ons het vertroue in die lugdiens.

Word by word:

• Ons = we
• het = have
• vertroue = trust or confidence
• in = in
• die = the
• lugdiens = airline / air service

So the structure is very close to English: We have confidence in the airline or We trust the airline.

Het is the Afrikaans verb to have.

So:

• Ek het = I have
• Jy het = you have
• Ons het = we have

A useful thing to notice is that Afrikaans verbs usually do not change much for different subjects. English has I have but he has; Afrikaans keeps het for all of them:

• Ek het
• Hy het
• Ons het

So in this sentence, Ons het simply means we have.

Yes, here it is present tense.

Afrikaans het can be:

1. a main verb meaning have
2. an auxiliary verb used to form the perfect tense

In this sentence, it is the main verb:

• Ons het vertroue in die lugdiens. = We have confidence in the airline.

Compare that with a real perfect-tense example:

• Ons het die lugdiens vertrou. = We trusted / have trusted the airline.

So you have to look at how the sentence is built. Here, het clearly means have.

Because vertroue is being used as an uncountable abstract noun, like trust or confidence in English.

Compare:

• We have trust in the airline
• We have confidence in the airline

In both English and Afrikaans, abstract nouns often appear without a/an.

So:

• vertroue = trust / confidence
• not usually ’n vertroue in this kind of sentence

If you did use ’n, it would usually mean a more specific or countable sense, which is not the natural meaning here.

Because vertroue in is the normal Afrikaans pattern for confidence/trust in someone or something.

So:

• vertroue in iemand hê = to have confidence in someone
• vertroue in iets hê = to have confidence in something

Examples:

• Ek het vertroue in jou. = I have confidence in you.
• Hulle het vertroue in die plan. = They have confidence in the plan.

This is something you should learn as a set phrase: vertroue in ... hê.

Here, die means the.

So:

• die lugdiens = the airline

A common point for English speakers: Afrikaans die is used for the with both singular and plural nouns.

Examples:

• die boek = the book
• die boeke = the books
• die lugdiens = the airline

Also, this die is not the English verb die. It is just the Afrikaans definite article.

Lugdiens is a compound noun:

• lug = air
• diens = service

So literally it is something like air service, but in normal English it is often best translated as:

• airline
• sometimes air service

Afrikaans forms many nouns by joining words together, just like English sometimes does with compounds.

For example:

• lughawe = airport
• lugredery = airline
• lugdiens = airline / air service

Depending on context, lugdiens may sound a little broader than just one airline, but in many learning contexts airline is the simplest translation.

Yes. That would also be correct, but it is slightly different in style.

• Ons het vertroue in die lugdiens = We have confidence in the airline.
• Ons vertrou die lugdiens = We trust the airline.

The second version is more direct because it uses the verb vertrou = to trust.

The original sentence uses a noun phrase:

• het vertroue = have confidence

Both are natural. The original may sound a little more formal or measured.

Yes. They are closely related:

• vertrou = to trust
• vertroue = trust / confidence

So Afrikaans often has:

• a verb: vertrou
• a related noun: vertroue

Examples:

• Ek vertrou haar. = I trust her.
• Ek het vertroue in haar. = I have confidence in her.

This is similar to English:

• to trust
• trust / confidence

Because this is a straightforward main clause in Afrikaans, and the normal word order is often quite close to English:

• Ons (subject)
• het (verb)
• vertroue (object/complement)
• in die lugdiens (prepositional phrase)

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + verb + rest

Afrikaans word order becomes more noticeably different in some other sentence types, especially:

• subordinate clauses
• questions
• sentences with more than one verb

But this sentence is simple and very English-like in structure.

A rough guide for English speakers is:

• vertroue ≈ fer-TROU-uh

The middle part trou sounds a bit like the trow in cow/now type vowel territory, not like English true.

Very roughly:

• ver- = soft fer
• trou = rhymes approximately with cow after tr-
• -e = a weak final vowel, like uh

As always, exact pronunciation is best learned by listening to native speakers, but that rough shape will help.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• lugdiens ≈ lukh-deens

Helpful notes:

• lug has a guttural g sound, not an English g
• diens sounds roughly like deens

So for an English speaker, the hardest part is usually the g in lug, which is the common Afrikaans throat sound.

Ons can mean both we and us, depending on the sentence.

Here it means we because it is the subject:

• Ons het vertroue in die lugdiens. = We have confidence in the airline.

But in another sentence:

• Hulle sien ons. = They see us.

So the role in the sentence tells you how to understand it.

Yes, it is natural and idiomatic.

vertroue in ... hê is a standard way to say:

• to have confidence in
• to trust

So this sentence sounds normal Afrikaans. Depending on context, a speaker might also choose:

• Ons vertrou die lugdiens.
• Ons het baie vertroue in die lugdiens. = We have a lot of confidence in the airline.

But the original sentence is perfectly good everyday Afrikaans.