Met die verkyker vergelyk ons vlerkspanne en snawels.

Afrikaans main clauses follow a verb-second pattern. That means the finite verb usually comes in the second position of the sentence.

So when you begin with the prepositional phrase Met die verkyker (With the binoculars), the verb vergelyk has to come next:

• Met die verkyker vergelyk ons vlerkspanne en snawels.

If you start with the subject instead, that is also correct:

• Ons vergelyk met die verkyker vlerkspanne en snawels.
• More naturally: Ons vergelyk vlerkspanne en snawels met die verkyker.

So the original sentence is using normal Afrikaans word order after fronting a phrase for emphasis or style.

This is because of the same verb-second rule.

When something other than the subject comes first, the verb still has to stay in second position, so the subject moves after the verb:

• Met die verkyker = first element
• vergelyk = second element
• ons = subject, now placed after the verb

This is very common in Afrikaans:

• Vandag gaan ek winkel toe.
• In die tuin speel die kinders.

So vergelyk ons is not unusual here—it is exactly what Afrikaans grammar expects.

Here met means with, in the sense of using something as a tool or instrument.

So Met die verkyker means:

• With the binoculars
• Using the binoculars

In this sentence it tells you how the comparison is being made.

Yes. Die is the usual Afrikaans word for the.

One helpful thing for learners is that die is used for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns

So unlike some languages, Afrikaans does not change the definite article based on gender or number.

Examples:

• die verkyker = the binoculars / the binocular
• die snawel = the beak
• die snawels = the beaks

That is just a vocabulary difference between the two languages.

In Afrikaans, verkyker is commonly treated as a singular noun, even though English usually uses the plural binoculars. So the mapping is:

• die verkyker = the binoculars

This is something you simply learn as a lexical difference. English and Afrikaans do not always divide up objects in the same way.

Vergelyk is the verb, meaning compare.

In this sentence it is the finite verb in the present tense:

• ons vergelyk = we compare

A useful thing to know is that Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form for different subjects in the present tense.

So you get:

• ek vergelyk
• jy vergelyk
• ons vergelyk
• hulle vergelyk

That is much simpler than English, where you have forms like I compare but he compares.

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• we compare
• we are comparing

So ons vergelyk can often cover both ideas, depending on context.

If Afrikaans wants to be more explicitly progressive, it can use a construction like:

• Ons is besig om te vergelyk. = We are busy comparing / We are comparing.

But in many ordinary sentences, simple vergelyk is enough.

Because they are being used in a general, indefinite sense here.

The sentence is talking about comparing wingspans and beaks in general, not specifically the wingspans and the beaks of a previously identified set.

So Afrikaans, like English, can leave off the article in this kind of plural object:

• Ons vergelyk vlerkspanne en snawels.
• We compare wingspans and beaks.

If you wanted to refer to specific ones, you could say:

• Ons vergelyk die vlerkspanne en die snawels.

They use two different common Afrikaans plural patterns.

• vlerkspan → vlerkspanne
• snawel → snawels

Afrikaans plurals are often made with -e / -en / -s, depending on the word.

Here:

• vlerkspan takes -ne
• snawel takes -s

Unfortunately, plural formation is not completely predictable in every case, so it is best to learn the plural along with the singular noun.

• vlerkspanne = wingspans
• snawels = beaks

A helpful breakdown:

• vlerk = wing
• span = span
• vlerkspan = wingspan

And:

• snawel = beak
• snawels = beaks

Yes. Afrikaans allows some flexibility, especially with adverbials and prepositional phrases.

These are all possible, though some may sound more natural depending on context:

• Met die verkyker vergelyk ons vlerkspanne en snawels.
• Ons vergelyk vlerkspanne en snawels met die verkyker.
• Ons vergelyk met die verkyker vlerkspanne en snawels.

The original version gives a little extra emphasis to Met die verkyker by putting it first.

Yes, ons means we.

It can also mean us, depending on its role in the sentence.

Examples:

• Ons vergelyk... = We compare...
• Hulle sien ons. = They see us.

So Afrikaans uses the same form for both subject and object here, unlike English.

A very straightforward version would be:

• Ons vergelyk vlerkspanne en snawels met die verkyker.

That may feel easier to an English speaker because it starts with the subject ons.

The original sentence is still perfectly normal Afrikaans; it just uses fronting:

• Met die verkyker
  • verb + subject + object

That structure is worth getting used to, because it appears all the time in Afrikaans.