Learn Hardcore Afrikaans: In die verlede het ek min aandag gegee, maar nou luister ek oplettend. - In the past I paid little attention, but now I listen attentively.

In Afrikaans, when you express “in the past” as a general time frame, you normally include the definite article die, so it becomes in die verlede. You can say verlede week (“last week”) or verlede jaar (“last year”) without die, because those are fixed time expressions. But with verlede standing alone, you need die to mean “the past.”

Why do we have het and then gegee at the end of the clause?

Afrikaans forms the simple past (perfect) tense with the auxiliary het plus a past participle. The past participle of gee (“give”) is gegee. Word order in main clauses is V2 (verb-second), so after In die verlede (a fronted time phrase) the finite verb het comes next, the subject follows, and the past participle gegee goes to the end:
In die verlede □ het □ ek □ min aandag gegee.

What exactly does min aandag gegee mean?

Literally min means “little” and aandag means “attention.” So min aandag gegee = “gave little attention” or more naturally “paid little (or hardly any) attention.”

Why do we use aandag gegee to say “pay attention”? Could we say something like aandag betaal?

In Afrikaans the idiomatic way to say “to pay/give attention” is aandag gee. Literal “pay” is betaal, but you do aandag gee, not aandag betaal. So you always use gee with aandag.

What is oplettend, and how does it function here?

Oplettend is an adjective that can function adverbially (like “attentively” or “carefully”). It comes from the verb opletten (“to pay attention”). In the second clause you have the present tense verb luister (“listen”) and you describe HOW you listen with oplettend:
maar nou luister ek oplettend
(“but now I listen attentively”).

Why does the second clause say nou luister ek instead of ek luister nou?

Afrikaans main clauses follow V2 word order. If you front the time adverb nou (“now”), the finite verb luister must come in second position, and the subject ek follows it:
NOU □ luister □ ek □ oplettend.
If you leave the subject first (ek luister nou), that’s also correct but emphasizes the subject rather than the time.

Why is there a comma before maar in the sentence?

When you join two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction like maar (“but”), it’s standard in Afrikaans to separate them with a comma. That comma marks the boundary between the past-tense clause and the new present-tense clause.