Alvorens ons tandvleis ondersoek, neem die tandarts die X-straal.

Alvorens means before, but it is quite formal. You are much more likely to hear voordat in everyday Afrikaans.

So this sentence sounds a bit more written or formal than casual speech.

The person doing the examining is understood to be the dentist from the main clause.

This is a shortened, formal style. Afrikaans can sometimes leave out the repeated subject when it is obvious from context.

A fuller version would be:

Alvorens die tandarts ons tandvleis ondersoek, neem die tandarts die X-straal.

A more natural everyday version would be:

Voordat die tandarts ons tandvleis ondersoek, neem hy die X-straal.

Because alvorens is a subordinating conjunction. In Afrikaans, subordinate clauses normally send the finite verb to the end.

So the full pattern is:

alvorens + subject + object + verb

For example:

Alvorens hy ons tandvleis ondersoek ...

That final ondersoek is normal subordinate-clause word order.

Afrikaans main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

The first position is already occupied by the whole fronted clause:

Alvorens ons tandvleis ondersoek

So the finite verb of the main clause must come next:

neem

That is why you get:

Alvorens ..., neem die tandarts ...

and not:

Alvorens ..., die tandarts neem ...

Here ons means our.

Afrikaans uses ons both as:

• the subject pronoun we
• the possessive determiner our

So context tells you which meaning is intended.

In ons tandvleis, it clearly means our gums.

Afrikaans often keeps the same form where English changes it.

So:

• ons kom = we come
• ons tandvleis = our gums

You just learn from context whether ons is acting as a subject pronoun or a possessive word.

Tandvleis is the normal Afrikaans word for gum or gums.

It is literally made up of:

• tand = tooth
• vleis = flesh

So the literal image is tooth-flesh, but you should think of it simply as the standard word for gums.

Afrikaans often uses a singular or collective body-part noun where English prefers a plural.

So ons tandvleis can naturally refer to the gum tissue in general, even though English would often say our gums.

This is not unusual in Afrikaans.

Yes. Neem literally means take, and it is normal to use it for an x-ray:

neem die X-straal = take the x-ray

So this works much like English take an x-ray.

Die means the, so die X-straal refers to a specific x-ray in this situation.

If you were speaking less specifically, you could use ’n X-straal for an x-ray.

So the choice depends on whether the x-ray is being treated as a specific known one or just any x-ray.

No. Afrikaans does not have different definite articles for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.

It just uses die for the.

So:

• die tandarts = the dentist
• die X-straal = the x-ray

That is much simpler than languages like German or Dutch.

Because Afrikaans normally hyphenates compounds that begin with a letter name.

So X-straal is the standard spelling.

This is a spelling rule, not a grammar rule.

A more everyday version would be:

Voordat die tandarts ons tandvleis ondersoek, neem hy die X-straal.

That keeps the same meaning, but voordat sounds less formal than alvorens, and the subject is stated more clearly.