Sy skryf mooi in haar nuwe boek.

Here sy means she.

A useful thing to know is that sy can also mean his when it comes before a noun:

• Sy skryf. = She writes.
• sy boek = his book

So in this sentence, because sy is standing as the subject before the verb skryf, it means she, not his.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject in the present tense.

Compare:

• Ek skryf = I write
• Jy skryf = you write
• Sy skryf = she writes
• Ons skryf = we write

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add -s for he/she/it in the present tense. So skryf stays the same.

Here mooi means something like nicely, neatly, or beautifully, depending on context.

Although mooi often means pretty or beautiful, Afrikaans uses the same form for both adjective and adverb much more often than English does.

So:

• 'n mooi boek = a beautiful book
• Sy skryf mooi = She writes neatly / nicely

In this sentence, it describes how she writes.

Because haar means her here.

• haar boek = her book
• sy boek = his book

That is an important distinction in Afrikaans:

• sy can mean she as a subject
• sy before a noun can mean his
• haar can mean her

So haar nuwe boek correctly means her new book.

Because the adjective is placed before a noun.

The basic form is nuut = new, but when Afrikaans adjectives are used directly before a noun, they often take an attributive form, often with -e:

• Die boek is nuut. = The book is new.
• 'n nuwe boek = a new book

So nuwe is the form used before boek.

In a normal Afrikaans main clause, the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

So the basic pattern here is:

• Sy = subject
• skryf = verb
• mooi = manner
• in haar nuwe boek = prepositional phrase

That gives:

Sy skryf mooi in haar nuwe boek.

Putting mooi before skryf would not be normal in a simple statement like this.

Because mooi tells you how she writes, and in haar nuwe boek tells you where she writes.

In Afrikaans, it is very common for a short adverb of manner like mooi to come before a prepositional phrase like in haar nuwe boek.

So the order sounds natural:

• skryf mooi = writes neatly
• in haar nuwe boek = in her new book

Because she is writing inside the book or notebook.

Afrikaans uses in in the same kind of way English does in phrases like:

• write in a book
• write in a notebook

If you were talking about writing on a surface, Afrikaans might use op instead:

• op die bord = on the board
• op papier = on paper

So in haar nuwe boek is the natural choice here.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In everyday use, boek often means book, but in a sentence about writing in a new one, it can also be understood as a notebook, exercise book, or similar writing book.

So the exact English translation may depend on context, even though the Afrikaans word is just boek.

Yes, but the verb still has to stay in the second position in a main clause.

For example:

• In haar nuwe boek skryf sy mooi.

That is also grammatical, but now in haar nuwe boek is moved to the front for emphasis. Notice that skryf is still the second element.

So Afrikaans word order is somewhat flexible, but the verb-second rule is very important.