Haar elmboog is nou beter, maar sy kan nog nie swaar bagasie dra nie.

Because they do two different jobs:

• haar = her / her ...
• sy = she

So:

• Haar elmboog = her elbow
• sy kan ... nie = she cannot ...

In this sentence, haar is possessive, showing that the elbow belongs to her.

Elmboog means elbow. Yes, it is the normal everyday word in Afrikaans.

You may also notice that it looks quite close to Dutch and a little different from English, so it is one of those body-part words that just has to be learned as vocabulary.

Because Afrikaans often uses a simple structure where English might also say something simple:

• Haar elmboog is nou beter = Her elbow is better now

This means her elbow has improved. You do not need to say becoming better unless you specifically want to stress the process of improvement.

So is nou beter is natural and idiomatic.

Nou means now.

In this sentence, it contrasts the present situation with an earlier one:

• earlier: her elbow was worse
• now: Haar elmboog is nou beter

So nou is simply marking a change in condition.

Nog nie ... nie means not yet.

So:

• sy kan nog nie ... nie = she cannot ... yet

This is a very common Afrikaans pattern.
The word nog here adds the idea of yet / still in a negative sentence.

Compare:

• Sy kan nie swaar bagasie dra nie = She cannot carry heavy luggage.
• Sy kan nog nie swaar bagasie dra nie = She cannot carry heavy luggage yet.

The second one suggests that maybe later she will be able to.

Afrikaans usually uses double negation.

That means a negative sentence often has:

• one nie after the verb or negative element
• another nie near the end of the clause

So:

• sy kan nog nie swaar bagasie dra nie

This is normal Afrikaans grammar, not emphasis.

English learners often want to use only one nie, but in standard Afrikaans you usually need both in sentences like this.

Because kan is a modal verb, and in Afrikaans the main verb often goes to the end of the clause after a modal.

So:

• sy kan ... dra nie

Literally the structure is like:

• she can ... carry not

This is similar to German and Dutch word order.

A useful pattern is:

• subject + modal verb + rest + main verb + nie

Example:

• Ek kan Afrikaans praat. = I can speak Afrikaans.
• Ek kan nie vandag kom nie. = I cannot come today.

No. Dra can mean several related things, especially:

• carry
• wear

Examples:

• Sy dra ’n tas. = She is carrying a bag.
• Sy dra ’n rok. = She is wearing a dress.

In your sentence, because the object is swaar bagasie, dra clearly means carry.

Because bagasie is usually treated like a mass noun, much like luggage in English.

So:

• bagasie = luggage
• swaar bagasie = heavy luggage

You normally would not pluralize it when speaking generally. If you want countable items, you would use other nouns, such as:

• tasse = bags
• koffers = suitcases

So the sentence is naturally talking about luggage in a general sense, not a number of separate pieces.

Because the sentence is talking about heavy luggage in general, not the heavy luggage or a heavy piece of luggage.

Afrikaans often leaves out the article in cases like this, just as English does:

• She can’t carry heavy luggage yet
• Sy kan nog nie swaar bagasie dra nie

If you wanted something more specific, you could add an article or another determiner, depending on the context.

Yes, in this sentence maar means but.

It links two contrasting ideas:

• Haar elmboog is nou beter
• maar sy kan nog nie swaar bagasie dra nie

So the contrast is:

• her elbow has improved
• but she still cannot do something demanding with it

Yes, sy can be tricky for learners.

Most importantly:

• sy = she
• Sy can also mean his in some contexts

But in this sentence, it is clearly the subject pronoun she because it comes before the verb kan:

• sy kan = she can

So context tells you which meaning is intended.

The most important information is usually:

• nou beter = better now
• nog nie = not yet
• swaar bagasie = heavy luggage

So the sentence naturally highlights the contrast between recovery and remaining limitation:

• Her elbow is better now,
• but she still cannot carry heavy luggage yet.

That makes maar and nog nie ... nie especially important for understanding the full sense.