Op Saterdag braai my oom gewoonlik vleis, maar op Sondag eet hy liewer sop.

In Afrikaans, op is commonly used with days of the week to mean on.

• Op Saterdag = On Saturday
• op Sondag = on Sunday

So this works much like English on Saturday and on Sunday.

This is a very common Afrikaans word-order pattern.

When a sentence begins with something other than the subject, such as a time phrase like Op Saterdag, the finite verb usually comes next, before the subject.

So:

• Op Saterdag braai my oom gewoonlik vleis literally follows the pattern
  On Saturday grills my uncle usually meat

And:

• op Sondag eet hy liewer sop follows
  on Sunday eats he rather soup

This is similar to the verb-second pattern found in Dutch and German. The fronted element takes the first position, and the verb moves into the second position.

Yes. That is also correct.

Both are natural, but the emphasis changes slightly:

• Op Saterdag braai my oom gewoonlik vleis puts the day first, so it highlights Saturday
• My oom braai gewoonlik vleis op Saterdag starts with the subject, so it feels more neutral

The same applies to the second part:

• Op Sondag eet hy liewer sop
• Hy eet liewer sop op Sondag

Both are possible.

Braai can be a verb meaning to grill / barbecue, especially in the South African sense.

So:

• braai vleis = grill meat / have a barbecue

In South African usage, braai is a very cultural word. It often suggests cooking meat over open coals, not just any kind of grilling.

It can also be a noun:

• ’n braai = a barbecue / braai event

Literally, oom means uncle.

But in Afrikaans, it can also be used more broadly as a respectful way to refer to an older man, a bit like uncle in some varieties of English or other languages.

In this sentence, though, the most straightforward meaning is simply my uncle.

Gewoonlik means usually.

In this sentence:

• Op Saterdag braai my oom gewoonlik vleis

it comes after the subject. That is a very normal position.

Afrikaans adverbs like gewoonlik can move around somewhat, but the most natural position often depends on what is being emphasized. For learners, this sentence gives you a very good standard pattern.

Afrikaans often leaves out the article when speaking about food or substances in a general sense.

So:

• braai vleis = grill meat
• eet sop = eat soup / have soup

This is similar to English, where we also often say:

• eat soup
• cook meat

without needing a, the, or some.

If you wanted to be more specific, you could add an article or determiner, depending on the meaning.

Maar means but.

It connects the two clauses and shows contrast:

• On Saturday my uncle usually grills meat, but on Sunday he would rather eat soup.

So the contrast is between:

• Saturday: meat / braai
• Sunday: soup

Liewer means rather or preferably.

In this sentence:

• op Sondag eet hy liewer sop

it means that on Sunday, he prefers soup instead.

So liewer often expresses preference between alternatives.

Examples:

• Ek drink liewer tee. = I’d rather drink tea.
• Sy bly liewer tuis. = She prefers to stay home.

Here liewer modifies the idea of what he prefers to eat, so it naturally appears before sop:

• eet hy liewer sop = he would rather eat soup

This is a common Afrikaans position for liewer.

If you are an English speaker, it may help to think of it as sitting close to the part it affects: the preferred option, soup.

Because once my oom has already been introduced, Afrikaans can naturally use the pronoun hy = he in the next clause.

So:

• my oom = my uncle
• hy = he

This avoids unnecessary repetition, just as in English:

• My uncle usually grills meat, but on Sunday he prefers soup.

Yes, the names of the days of the week are capitalized in Afrikaans:

• Maandag
• Dinsdag
• Woensdag
• Donderdag
• Vrydag
• Saterdag
• Sondag

So the capitalization in this sentence is normal.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• braai: sounds a bit like bry or brigh, with the ai like the vowel in my
• gewoonlik: roughly khuh-VOAN-lik or khuh-WOAN-lik, with the first sound being a guttural sound that English does not really have
• liewer: roughly LEE-vuh or LEE-fur, depending on accent

These are only approximations. Afrikaans pronunciation varies a little by speaker and region, but these rough guides will help you recognize the words.

Yes. It is in the present tense:

• braai = grills / grills regularly
• eet = eats

Because of gewoonlik, the first clause has a habitual meaning:

• my oom gewoonlik braai vleis = my uncle usually grills meat

So although it is present tense grammatically, it describes a repeated habit.

Usually vleis just means meat.

In the context of braai, it often strongly suggests barbecue meat such as beef, lamb, chicken, or boerewors, but the word itself is general.

So unless the context is more specific, meat is the best translation.