Aan die een kant: nou; maar aan die ander kant: later.

Yes. It is the standard contrastive pattern used to present two sides of something.

• aan die een kant = on the one hand
• aan die ander kant = on the other hand

So the sentence is setting up a contrast between nou and later.

A learner should notice that this is a paired expression: if you use aan die een kant, you often expect some kind of contrasting second part after it.

Kant literally means side.

So:

• die een kant = the one side
• die ander kant = the other side

In this expression, kant works much like hand in the English idiom on the one hand / on the other hand, even though the literal image in Afrikaans is side.

Because this is a fixed prepositional phrase.

• aan is a preposition that often means at, to, or on, depending on context.
• die is the definite article, meaning the.

So aan die een kant is literally something like at/on the one side.

As a learner, it is best to treat aan die een kant and aan die ander kant as chunks rather than trying to build them word by word every time.

Because ander already means other, so die ander kant naturally means the other side.

If you added een there, it would no longer sound like the usual matching pair with die een kant. The established contrast is:

• die een kant = the one side
• die ander kant = the other side

This is similar to English: we say one side / the other side, not usually one side / one other side.

Maar means but, and it marks the contrast between the two parts.

So the structure is:

• Aan die een kant: nou
• maar aan die ander kant: later

In many contexts, maar is very natural because it makes the opposition explicit. Without it, the sentence could still be understandable, but maar makes the contrast clearer and more idiomatic.

Because this is an elliptical or compressed expression. Afrikaans, like English, can leave out words when the structure is obvious from context.

This sentence is not a full, ordinary clause with a subject and verb. It is more like a contrastive note, heading, or rhetorical fragment:

• on one side: now
• but on the other side: later

In full prose, you would usually expect a more complete sentence around it. But short fragments like this are common in speech, notes, slogans, headings, and stylized writing.

Yes, in a shortened contrastive structure like this they can.

Both are time adverbs:

• nou = now
• later = later

Here they function almost like labels or summary points. The sentence is not trying to give a full grammatical statement; it is contrasting two time options in a compact way.

In a fuller sentence, they might appear with verbs, for example:

• Ons doen dit nou.
• Ons doen dit later.

But in your sentence, the verbs are simply omitted because the contrast is the main point.

It is understandable, but it is quite stylistic.

The punctuation here makes the sentence feel like a neatly arranged contrast:

• first side: nou
• second side: later

A more ordinary version might use commas instead, or be written as a full sentence. For example, a writer might choose different punctuation depending on tone and context.

So the punctuation is not the core grammar here; it is mainly a formatting choice to highlight the contrast.

The pattern aan die een kant ... aan die ander kant is definitely normal Afrikaans. What is slightly special here is how compressed the whole sentence is.

In everyday speech, people often use fuller wording, depending on what they want to say. This exact sentence sounds a bit like:

• a note,
• a slogan,
• a summary,
• or a rhetorical contrast.

So the expression itself is normal, but the very short, fragment-like style is more marked than plain everyday conversation.

Yes. A common alternative is:

• enersyds ... andersyds

This is a more compact, slightly more formal way to say on the one hand ... on the other hand.

Compared with that:

• aan die een kant ... aan die ander kant feels very transparent and easy for learners
• enersyds ... andersyds is shorter and often used in more formal or polished writing

Both are correct; the version in your sentence is perfectly good and very understandable.

Both, in a way.

Historically and literally, een is the number one. In this phrase, though, it functions as part of a contrast pair:

• die een = the one
• die ander = the other

So for learning purposes, it is best to understand it as part of the fixed pairing rather than focusing too much on the number meaning. The important thing is the contrast between the two sides.