Die kind bly stil wanneer die onderwyser praat.

Because die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

In this sentence:

• die kind = the child
• die onderwyser = the teacher

Afrikaans uses die for singular and plural nouns, and it does not change for gender. That is much simpler than in languages that have different forms for the.

Bly means stay, remain, or keep being. So bly stil means stay quiet or remain quiet.

Compare:

• Die kind is stil. = The child is quiet.
• Die kind bly stil. = The child stays quiet / remains quiet.

So bly adds the idea of continuing in that state, not just describing it.

Stil is an adjective, meaning quiet or silent.

In bly stil, it describes the state the child remains in. English does something similar in sentences like:

• Stay calm
• Keep quiet

So even though stil is an adjective, it works naturally after bly.

Because wanneer introduces a subordinate clause, and Afrikaans typically sends the verb to the end of that clause.

Structure:

• wanneer = when
• die onderwyser = the teacher
• praat = speaks / is speaking

So the pattern is:

wanneer + subject + ... + verb

In this sentence there is nothing between the subject and the verb, so it may look almost normal. But if the clause were longer, the verb-final pattern would be easier to see.

For example:

• wanneer die onderwyser met die klas praat

  Here praat still comes at the end of the clause.

No. In Afrikaans, verbs usually do not change form for person or number in the present tense.

So you get:

• ek praat = I speak
• jy praat = you speak
• hy praat = he speaks
• ons praat = we speak

Unlike English, there is no special -s form like he speaks. Afrikaans keeps praat the same.

Both can sometimes relate to when, but they are not always interchangeable.

• wanneer usually means when in a time-related sense
• as often means if, and can also mean when in some contexts, especially repeated or habitual situations

In a learner sentence like this, wanneer is very clear and straightforward:

• Die kind bly stil wanneer die onderwyser praat.

It clearly means when the teacher speaks.

As a beginner, it is usually safest to read wanneer as the direct equivalent of when.

Yes, kind literally means child, but depending on context it can also correspond to kid in natural English.

So:

• die kind = the child
• in a more informal tone, it could be understood as the kid

But grammatically, kind is the standard neutral word.

Afrikaans often expresses simple present meaning without extra helper verbs like English sometimes uses.

English may say:

• when the teacher speaks
• when the teacher is speaking

Afrikaans can simply use:

• wanneer die onderwyser praat

The single verb praat covers that basic present-time meaning.

Yes. Afrikaans allows that.

You can say:

• Die kind bly stil wanneer die onderwyser praat.
• Wanneer die onderwyser praat, bly die kind stil.

Both are correct.

Notice something important in the second version: after the fronted clause, the verb in the main clause comes before the subject:

• Wanneer die onderwyser praat, bly die kind stil.

This is a normal Afrikaans word-order pattern.

Onderwyser means teacher. By itself, it does not have to mark gender in the way English sometimes distinguishes teacher from older words like schoolmaster or schoolmistress.

Afrikaans generally does not require grammatical gender for nouns the way some other languages do. So die onderwyser simply means the teacher.

If gender matters, context or a more specific word can make that clear, but in ordinary use onderwyser is often just teacher.

Depending on context, several English versions are natural:

• The child stays quiet when the teacher speaks.
• The child keeps quiet when the teacher speaks.
• The child remains quiet when the teacher is speaking.

So bly stil can often feel especially close to stays quiet or keeps quiet.

It has two parts:

1. Main clause: Die kind bly stil

   • Die kind = the child
   • bly = stays/remains
   • stil = quiet

2. Subordinate clause: wanneer die onderwyser praat

   • wanneer = when
   • die onderwyser = the teacher
   • praat = speaks

So the full structure is:

[Main clause] + [time clause]

That is a very common and useful Afrikaans sentence pattern.