By die tandarts kon sy uiteindelik rustig wees, omdat daar min mense was.

By die tandarts means at the dentist or more literally at the dentist’s place.

Afrikaans often uses by for being at a person, business, or place of service:

• by die dokter = at the doctor
• by die skool = at the school
• by my vriend = at my friend’s place

So By die tandarts is a very natural way to say at the dentist.

This is because Afrikaans uses verb-second word order in main clauses.

When the sentence begins with something other than the subject, the finite verb must still come second:

• Sy kon uiteindelik rustig wees. = She could finally be calm.
• By die tandarts kon sy uiteindelik rustig wees.

Here, By die tandarts takes the first position, so the finite verb kon comes next, and the subject sy follows it.

Kon is the past tense of kan, meaning can / could.

So:

• kan = can
• kon = could

In this sentence, kon sy uiteindelik rustig wees means she could finally be calm or she was finally able to be calm.

Because kon is a modal verb, and in Afrikaans the main verb usually goes to the end of the clause in its infinitive form.

So:

• Sy kan rustig wees. = She can be calm.
• Sy kon rustig wees. = She could be calm.

Here the structure is:

• kon = finite/modal verb
• sy = subject
• uiteindelik rustig = rest of the clause
• wees = infinitive at the end

This is very similar to English could be, except Afrikaans puts wees later.

Uiteindelik means finally or eventually.

In this sentence it modifies the idea that she was at last able to relax. Its position is natural here:

• By die tandarts kon sy uiteindelik rustig wees.

You may also see adverbs like this in other positions, depending on emphasis, but this placement is very common and neutral.

Rustig wees means to be calm, to be relaxed, or to be at ease, depending on context.

• rustig = calm / quiet / relaxed
• wees = be

So rustig wees is literally be calm.

In this sentence, it suggests she was able to feel calm or settled.

Omdat means because.

It introduces a subordinate clause that gives the reason:

• ... omdat daar min mense was. = ... because there were few people.

So the full sentence says she could finally be calm because there were not many people.

Because omdat introduces a subordinate clause, and in Afrikaans subordinate clauses usually send the finite verb to the end.

Compare:

• Main clause: Daar was min mense.
• Subordinate clause: omdat daar min mense was

So the word order changes after omdat.

This is one of the most important patterns in Afrikaans grammar.

Here daar does not mean a physical there in the usual sense. It is an existential daar, like English there in there were few people.

So:

• Daar was min mense. = There were few people.

It is used to introduce the existence or presence of something.

Because min mense means few people, and indefinite plural nouns in Afrikaans usually appear without an article.

So:

• ’n mens = a person
• mense = people
• min mense = few people

You would not normally use die here, because the sentence is not talking about a specific known group of people like the few people.

In Afrikaans, the past tense of wees is was for all persons and numbers.

So you get:

• Ek was = I was
• Jy was = you were
• Hy / sy was = he / she was
• Ons was = we were
• Hulle was = they were

So daar min mense was is completely normal even though mense is plural.

Here sy means she.

Afrikaans sy can sometimes be confusing because:

• sy can mean she
• sy can also mean his in other contexts

But in this sentence, the grammar makes it clear:

• kon sy uiteindelik rustig wees

After the finite verb kon, sy is the subject pronoun, so it means she.

The comma separates the main clause from the subordinate clause:

• By die tandarts kon sy uiteindelik rustig wees,
• omdat daar min mense was.

Afrikaans often uses a comma before a subordinate clause introduced by words like omdat, especially in normal written style. It helps show the structure clearly.