Ek moes vandag die tandarts bel, want my tand het begin seer word.

Moes is the past form of moet.

• moet = must / have to
• moes = had to

So in this sentence, Ek moes ... bel means I had to call ...

Both are modal verbs, so they affect the word order of the main verb.

Because moes is a modal verb.

In Afrikaans main clauses, the finite verb usually comes early in the clause, and when that verb is a modal like moet / moes / kan / wil / sal, the other verb goes to the end in its infinitive form.

So:

• Ek moes ... bel
• literally: I had ... call

This is normal Afrikaans word order after a modal.

After a modal verb like moet or moes, Afrikaans uses a bare infinitive.

So you say:

• Ek moes die tandarts bel

not:

• Ek moes die tandarts te bel

This is similar to English:

• I had to call not
• I had to to call

Afrikaans does use te in other structures, but not after a modal verb like moes.

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

In this clause:

• Ek = first element
• moes = second element

After that, other parts such as time expressions, objects, and so on can follow:

• Ek moes vandag die tandarts bel

You could also move vandag to the front for emphasis:

• Vandag moes ek die tandarts bel

That is also correct.

Afrikaans often uses die when referring to a specific person or service in a general real-life situation, just like English often says the dentist, the doctor, the bank, and so on.

So:

• die tandarts = the dentist

If you said 'n tandarts, that would mean a dentist, which sounds less specific.

Tandarts is a compound noun:

• tand = tooth
• arts = doctor

So it literally means tooth doctor, i.e. dentist.

Compound words are very common in Afrikaans, and they are usually written as one word.

Because want is a coordinating conjunction, not a subordinating one.

That means the clause after want keeps normal main-clause word order:

• want my tand het begin seer word

Compare that with a subordinating conjunction like omdat, which changes the word order.

So a learner should remember:

• want = normal clause order
• omdat = subordinate clause order

That is a very common thing to notice in Afrikaans.

This is a very common Afrikaans pattern.

Break it up like this:

• het = auxiliary used for the past/perfect
• begin = begin / start
• seer word = become sore / start hurting

So my tand het begin seer word means my tooth started to become sore or more naturally my tooth started hurting.

Afrikaans often keeps both verbs together like this when one verb depends on another.

Because after het, when begin is followed by another infinitive, Afrikaans often uses a double infinitive pattern.

So you get:

• het begin seer word

rather than:

• het begin seer geword

A useful comparison is:

• My tand het seer geword = My tooth became sore
• My tand het begin seer word = My tooth started to become sore / started hurting

In the second sentence, begin introduces another verb phrase, so the infinitive pattern is used.

Seer means sore, painful, or hurting, depending on context.

In seer word, it works with word:

• word = become
• seer word = become sore / start hurting

So seer is not the main verb by itself here. It is the word describing the condition that the tooth is entering.

In Afrikaans, possessives go directly before the noun:

• my tand = my tooth
• jou tand = your tooth
• sy tand = his tooth

You normally do not add die before the noun when a possessive already makes it definite.

So:

• my tand = correct
• die my tand = incorrect

That works much like English.