Sy maak haar skoenveters vas voordat sy skool toe gaan.

Because there are two clauses, and each clause needs its own subject.

• Sy maak haar skoenveters vas = She ties/fastens her shoelaces
• voordat sy skool toe gaan = before she goes to school

So the second sy is not extra; it is the subject of the second clause.

Maak ... vas is a very common Afrikaans expression meaning fasten, tie, secure, or do up.

In this sentence, it means to tie/fasten her shoelaces.

A useful thing to notice is that this is a kind of split verb expression:

• maak = make/do
• vas = fast/firm/tight

Together, vasmaak means to fasten.

In a main clause, the two parts are often separated:

• Sy maak haar skoenveters vas.

But in some other structures, they can appear together:

• Sy wil haar skoenveters vasmaak.

Because vasmaak is a separable verb in Afrikaans.

In a normal main clause, the finite verb comes early, and the separable part goes to the end:

• Sy maak ... vas

This is similar to verb-particle constructions in some other Germanic languages. So vas is not floating there randomly; it belongs with maak.

Here, haar means her in the possessive sense:

• haar skoenveters = her shoelaces

So it is like English her before a noun.

Be careful: haar can also refer to her in other contexts, but here it is simply a possessive determiner.

Yes. Afrikaans very often writes compound nouns as one word.

• skoen = shoe
• veters = laces

So:

• skoenveters = shoelaces

This is very normal in Afrikaans. English often writes similar ideas as two words or as a closed compound depending on the word, but Afrikaans strongly prefers combining them into one word.

Voordat means before as a conjunction, introducing a full clause:

• voordat sy skool toe gaan = before she goes to school

You use voordat when what follows has its own subject and verb.

By contrast, voor is often used more like a preposition:

• voor skool = before school
• voor die tyd = before the time

So here, because a whole clause follows, voordat is the natural choice.

Because voordat introduces a subordinate clause, and in Afrikaans subordinate clauses, the verb typically goes to the end.

So:

• Main clause: Sy maak haar skoenveters vas
• Subordinate clause: voordat sy skool toe gaan

This verb-final pattern is very important in Afrikaans grammar.

Toe here shows direction, so skool toe means to school or more literally school-wards.

Compare:

• by die skool = at the school
• skool toe = to school

So toe helps express movement toward a place.

This is a very common Afrikaans pattern:

• huis toe = home
• werk toe = to work
• skool toe = to school

Because skool toe is an idiomatic expression meaning to school in a general, routine sense, much like English go to school.

Afrikaans often omits the article in these familiar destination expressions:

• skool toe
• huis toe
• kerk toe

You can say na die skool in some contexts, but that usually sounds more specifically like to the school building rather than the general activity/institution of going to school.

So:

• sy gaan skool toe = she goes to school
• sy gaan na die skool = she goes to the school / toward the school

Yes, sometimes Afrikaans speakers may use bind in contexts involving tying, but maak ... vas is very natural and common for fastening or tying up something like shoelaces.

For shoelaces, maak haar skoenveters vas sounds very idiomatic.

So even if another wording might be possible, this one is excellent everyday Afrikaans.

In modern standard Afrikaans, haar is the usual possessive form meaning her before a noun:

• haar skoenveters = her shoelaces

Learners sometimes expect a form like hare, but haar is the standard form you should use here.

No. It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Afrikaans does not capitalize pronouns to show politeness or special respect in ordinary usage. So:

• Sy at the beginning of a sentence
• sy in the middle of a sentence

Same word, same meaning: she

The sentence has this structure:

• Main clause: Sy maak haar skoenveters vas
• Subordinate clause: voordat sy skool toe gaan

So the overall pattern is:

Subject + finite verb + object + separable particle + subordinate clause

More specifically:

• Sy = subject
• maak = finite verb
• haar skoenveters = object
• vas = separable particle
• voordat sy skool toe gaan = time clause

This is a very useful example because it shows both:

1. a separable verb in the main clause, and
2. verb-final word order in the subordinate clause.