Ons vergelyk die vertrektyd met die aankomstyd.

Ons means we.

So Ons vergelyk ... = We compare ...

A useful point: ons can also mean us in other contexts, but here it is the subject of the sentence, so it means we.

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

So you get:

• Ek vergelyk = I compare
• Jy vergelyk = you compare
• Ons vergelyk = we compare

That makes Afrikaans verb conjugation much simpler than English.

Vergelyk means compare.

In this sentence, it is being used in the ordinary sense of checking two things against each other:

• Ons vergelyk die vertrektyd met die aankomstyd.
• We compare the departure time with the arrival time.

You may also meet the noun vergelyking, meaning comparison.

Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, meaning the.

So:

• die vertrektyd = the departure time
• die aankomstyd = the arrival time

It appears twice because both nouns are definite. Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike some other languages, you do not have to learn different forms of the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

Met means with.

Afrikaans commonly uses vergelyk ... met ... for compare ... with ...:

• vergelyk A met B = compare A with B

So:

• Ons vergelyk die vertrektyd met die aankomstyd
• We compare the departure time with the arrival time

English also sometimes says compare A to B, but in Afrikaans met is the normal choice here.

Afrikaans very often forms compound nouns by writing them as one word.

So:

• vertrek = departure
• tyd = time
• vertrektyd = departure time

And:

• aankoms = arrival
• tyd = time
• aankomstyd = arrival time

This is very common in Afrikaans and also in Dutch and German. Where English often uses two words, Afrikaans may prefer one compound word.

They are the noun parts that describe the kind of time:

• vertrektyd = the time of departure
• aankomstyd = the time of arrival

A helpful way to think about them is:

• vertrek = departure / leaving
• aankoms = arrival

So the full sentence is literally something like:

• We compare the departure-time with the arrival-time.

This sentence uses the normal main-clause word order in Afrikaans:

• Ons = subject
• vergelyk = verb
• die vertrektyd = object
• met die aankomstyd = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Object + Prepositional phrase

That is very similar to English here.

A useful extra note: in Afrikaans main clauses, the finite verb usually comes in the second position. Since Ons comes first, vergelyk follows immediately after it.

A very literal breakdown would be:

• Ons = we
• vergelyk = compare
• die vertrektyd = the departure time
• met = with
• die aankomstyd = the arrival time

So the literal translation is:

We compare the departure time with the arrival time.

In this case, the literal and natural English meanings are almost the same, which makes the sentence fairly straightforward for an English speaker.

A few parts may be difficult for English speakers:

• vergelyk: the g is the guttural Afrikaans g, not an English g sound.
• y in vergelyk sounds more like the Afrikaans vowel in lyk, not like English y.
• vertrektyd and aankomstyd are compound words, so it helps to pronounce them in parts:
  • vertrek + tyd
  • aankoms + tyd

If you are learning pronunciation, it is often easier to say the compounds slowly in their parts first, and then blend them together.