Die kind mors melk op die vloer, en ek droog dit met 'n handdoek af.

Here, die is the definite article, so die kind means the child.

Yes, die is the normal Afrikaans word for the for all nouns. Unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the article based on gender or number:

• die kind = the child
• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kinders = the children

So die is much more flexible than English learners sometimes expect.

Because melk is being used as an uncountable substance noun, like milk in English.

English often says:

• The child spills milk on the floor

not necessarily

• The child spills a milk on the floor

Afrikaans works the same way here. melk by itself is natural when you mean milk in a general sense.

If you wanted to refer to a specific amount or container, you could add something:

• 'n glas melk = a glass of milk
• die melk = the milk

But in this sentence, plain melk is exactly what you would expect.

mors means to spill, to make a mess with, or sometimes more generally to waste/mess up, depending on context.

In this sentence:

• Die kind mors melk = The child spills milk

It is a very common everyday verb when talking about food, drink, and messes.

Examples:

• Jy mors water. = You are spilling water.
• Moenie kos mors nie. = Don't waste food.

So here it clearly has the sense of accidentally spilling something.

Yes, in this sentence op means on:

• op die vloer = on the floor

That is a very direct match with English.
You will often see op with surfaces or positions:

• op die tafel = on the table
• op die bed = on the bed
• op die vloer = on the floor

So this part is fortunately straightforward for English speakers.

Because afdroog is a separable verb in Afrikaans.

The full verb is:

• afdroog = to dry off / wipe dry

But in a main clause, the verb is split:

• ek droog dit af

So:

• droog is the verb part that comes earlier
• af is the separable particle that moves to the end of the clause

This is very common in Afrikaans, just as in Dutch and similar to some English phrasal verbs.

Compare:

• Ek maak die deur oop. = I open the door.
• Sy tel die boek op. = She picks up the book.
• Ek droog dit af. = I dry it off.

Because that is where the separable particle normally goes in a main clause.

In droog ... af, the af belongs to the verb afdroog, but Afrikaans main-clause word order separates it:

• ek droog dit met 'n handdoek af

This is normal Afrikaans structure, not an optional stylistic choice.

If the verb were in the infinitive, you would usually see it joined again:

• om dit af te droog = to dry it off

So learners often need to remember:

• main clause: split it
• infinitive form: join it

dit means it, and here it refers to the spilled milk, or more practically the mess caused by the spilled milk.

So:

• ek droog dit ... af = I dry it off / wipe it up

Afrikaans often uses dit in the same kind of way English uses it for a situation, substance, or mess that has just been mentioned.

Also, Afrikaans does not use grammatical gender the way some European languages do, so dit is a very common neutral pronoun.

met means with, so:

• met 'n handdoek = with a towel

This tells you the means or instrument used to do the action.

Examples:

• Ek skryf met 'n pen. = I write with a pen.
• Sy sny dit met 'n mes. = She cuts it with a knife.
• Ek droog dit met 'n handdoek af. = I dry it off with a towel.

So this is a very standard use of met.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So:

• 'n handdoek = a towel

It is written with an apostrophe and a lowercase n. This is one of the most distinctive spelling features of Afrikaans.

A few useful things to know:

• It is always written 'n, not n by itself.
• It is not stressed strongly in speech.
• It corresponds to English a/an.

Examples:

• 'n kind = a child
• 'n boek = a book
• 'n handdoek = a towel

English speakers often find the spelling unusual at first, but it becomes very familiar.

Yes, droog can be an adjective meaning dry, but in this sentence it is a verb.

Compare:

• Die handdoek is droog. = The towel is dry.
  Here droog is an adjective.

• Ek droog dit af. = I dry it off.
  Here droog is a verb.

You can tell from the sentence structure:

• it comes after the subject ek
• it takes an object dit
• it is part of the separable verb afdroog

So in this sentence, droog definitely means dry / wipe dry as an action.

Because after en, the new clause follows normal Afrikaans main-clause word order.

The structure is:

• en = and
• ek = subject
• droog = finite verb
• dit = object
• met 'n handdoek = prepositional phrase
• af = separable particle

So the clause is built very normally for Afrikaans.
A useful way to think of it is:

1. put the subject early
2. put the main finite verb early
3. add object and other information
4. put the separable particle at the end

That is why af ends up where it does.

kind means child, and it does not specify gender.

So die kind could be:

• a boy
• a girl
• simply a child without focusing on gender

If Afrikaans wants to be specific, it can use:

• seun = boy/son
• dogter = girl/daughter

But kind is neutral and very common.

Yes. In natural translation, that is often exactly how an English speaker would say it.

Word-for-word, droog dit af is something like dry it off.
But in the situation of spilled milk on the floor, natural English often says:

• wipe it up

So the Afrikaans is perfectly normal even if the best English translation depends on context.

This is a good example of why literal word-for-word matching is not always the best way to understand meaning.