Ek bly liewer by die huis wanneer dit reën.

Here bly means stay or remain.

That can be confusing, because bly is a very common Afrikaans word with more than one meaning:

• bly = stay / remain
• bly = live somewhere
• bly = happy / glad in some contexts, especially in bly wees

In Ek bly liewer by die huis wanneer dit reën, it clearly means I stay / I remain at home.

Compare:

• Ek bly in Kaapstad. = I live in Cape Town.
• Ek bly by die huis. = I stay at home.

Liewer means rather or preferably.

So Ek bly liewer by die huis is like saying:

• I would rather stay at home
• I prefer to stay at home

It usually goes near the verb or the part of the sentence it is modifying. In this sentence, it modifies bly:

• Ek bly liewer ... = I’d rather stay ...

A useful comparison:

• Ek gaan liewer nou. = I’d rather go now.
• Sy eet liewer brood as rys. = She prefers bread rather than rice.

Yes, literally by die huis looks like by the house, but idiomatically it means at home.

This is a very normal Afrikaans expression. English and Afrikaans do not always divide space in exactly the same way, so it is best to learn by die huis as a fixed, natural phrase meaning at home.

You may also see:

• tuis = at home / home

So these are both natural:

• Ek bly by die huis.
• Ek bly tuis.

The first is very common and straightforward.

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

So:

• main clause: Ek bly liewer by die huis
• subordinate clause: wanneer dit reën

This is a major pattern in Afrikaans:

• Ek weet dat hy kom. = I know that he is coming.
• Ons bly binne wanneer dit koud is. = We stay inside when it is cold.

In a direct question, you could have verb-first order:

• Reën dit? = Is it raining?

But after wanneer, you use normal subordinate-clause order:

• wanneer dit reën

Dit here is the same kind of it as in English it rains.

It does not refer to a specific thing. It is just the grammatical subject used for weather expressions.

So:

• Dit reën. = It rains / It is raining.
• Dit sneeu. = It snows / It is snowing.
• Dit hael. = It hails / It is hailing.

Just as English says it rains, Afrikaans says dit reën.

Afrikaans often expresses this idea without a direct equivalent of English would.

So:

• Ek bly liewer by die huis can naturally mean I’d rather stay at home or I prefer to stay at home

Afrikaans does have sou for would, but it is not always needed. If you want to make the sentence more explicitly conditional or hypothetical, you could say:

• Ek sou liewer by die huis bly ...

That sounds more like:

• I would rather stay at home ...

But the original sentence is perfectly natural and often sounds more direct, more like a general preference or habit.

Yes, you could also say as dit reën in many everyday situations.

Compare:

• wanneer dit reën = when it rains
• as dit reën = often also when it rains / if it rains, depending on context

In everyday Afrikaans, as is very common and flexible. But wanneer is a little clearer if you specifically want when rather than if.

So both can work:

• Ek bly liewer by die huis wanneer dit reën.
• Ek bly liewer by die huis as dit reën.

The first is slightly more explicitly when/whenever it rains.

By itself, it usually sounds like a general preference or habit:

• I prefer staying at home when it rains
• I usually stay at home when it rains

Afrikaans simple present often covers both simple present and present progressive meanings, depending on context.

So dit reën can mean:

• it rains
• it is raining

And the whole sentence can be understood either as a general statement or, in context, as something relevant now.

If you wanted to make it clearly habitual, context usually does the job. If you wanted to make it clearly about right now, you might add something like:

• Ek bly vandag liewer by die huis, want dit reën. = I’d rather stay home today, because it’s raining.

Normally, no. In standard Afrikaans, the natural phrase is by die huis.

So:

• by die huis = natural
• by huis = not standard in this meaning

This is one of those expressions that is best learned as a chunk:

• by die huis
• in die huis = in the house
• uit die huis = out of the house

Reën is pronounced as two syllables, roughly like ree-uhn.

The two dots, called a diaeresis, show that the vowels are pronounced separately rather than as one combined sound. So reën is not one smooth vowel sound; you pronounce both parts.

This marking is common in Afrikaans in words where two vowels must be kept separate.

So the spelling helps you avoid reading it as one syllable.

Sometimes learners confuse liewer and eerder, but they are not always interchangeable.

• liewer = rather / preferably
• eerder = earlier or sometimes rather/sooner, depending on context

For preference like this sentence, liewer is the best choice:

• Ek bly liewer by die huis. = natural

Eerder is more often used for time or for contrast in a different way:

• Ek kom eerder môre. = I’ll come earlier / rather tomorrow
• Dit is eerder blou as groen. = It is more blue than green

So for I’d rather stay at home, use liewer.

Yes, absolutely.

That version means:

• I prefer to stay at home when it rains

It is a bit more explicit because verkies directly means prefer.

Compare the two:

• Ek bly liewer by die huis wanneer dit reën. = more everyday, natural, conversational
• Ek verkies om by die huis te bly wanneer dit reën. = slightly more formal or explicit

Both are correct. The original sentence is very idiomatic and useful in normal speech.