Almal kom saam, behalwe die meisie wat nog by die huis is.

Almal means everyone or all of them.

In this sentence, Almal kom saam means Everyone is coming along.

A useful point: almal is a pronoun, so it can stand on its own without another noun after it.

Examples:

• Almal is hier. — Everyone is here.
• Ek ken almal. — I know everyone.

Saam means together or along.

So:

• kom = come
• kom saam = come along / come together

In this sentence, Almal kom saam suggests that everyone is joining or going with the group.

Examples:

• Kom saam! — Come along!
• Ons gaan saam. — We are going together.

Behalwe means except.

So behalwe die meisie means except the girl.

It introduces the exception to what was just said:

• Almal kom saam — Everyone is coming along
• behalwe die meisie — except the girl

Example:

• Almal eet pizza, behalwe Jan. — Everyone eats pizza except Jan.

Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, meaning the.

Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns: die meisie — the girl
• plural nouns: die meisies — the girls

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the article for gender, and unlike some other languages, it does not have separate forms like the masculine, the feminine, etc.

So:

• die man — the man
• die vrou — the woman
• die kind — the child

Wat introduces a relative clause here. It means who, that, or which, depending on the context.

In die meisie wat nog by die huis is, it means:

• the girl who is still at home

Afrikaans often uses wat where English might use who or that.

Examples:

• Die man wat daar staan — The man who is standing there
• Die boek wat ek lees — The book that I am reading

This is because wat nog by die huis is is a subordinate clause.

In Afrikaans, subordinate clauses usually send the conjugated verb to the end.

Main clause:

• Die meisie is by die huis. — The girl is at home.

Relative/subordinate clause:

• die meisie wat by die huis is — the girl who is at home

So the sentence follows normal Afrikaans subordinate clause word order:

• wat nog by die huis is

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Afrikaans.

Here, nog means still.

So:

• nog by die huis = still at home

It shows that the girl has not left yet.

Examples:

• Hy slaap nog. — He is still sleeping.
• Is jy nog hier? — Are you still here?

Be careful: nog can have other meanings in different contexts, such as yet or another/more, but here it clearly means still.

By die huis is the normal Afrikaans expression for at home.

Even though huis literally means house, the phrase by die huis usually means someone is at home, not necessarily physically inside the building in a literal sense.

Compare:

• by die huis — at home
• in die huis — in the house

So in this sentence, nog by die huis is means is still at home, which is the natural expression.

Usually, Afrikaans keeps wat in this kind of relative clause.

So the normal form is:

• die meisie wat nog by die huis is

English can sometimes reduce relative clauses, but Afrikaans is generally less flexible here. For a learner, it is safest to include wat whenever you mean who/that/which in this structure.

Yes. Kom is present tense.

So Almal kom saam literally means Everyone comes along, but in natural English it is often translated as:

• Everyone is coming along
• Everyone is coming

Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English may prefer the present progressive.

Examples:

• Ek eet nou. — I am eating now.
• Sy werk vandag. — She is working today.

Afrikaans verbs do not change much for person or number in the present tense.

So you get:

• Ek kom — I come
• Jy kom — you come
• Hy kom — he comes
• Ons kom — we come
• Almal kom — everyone comes

Unlike English, there is no special comes form. The verb usually stays the same.

That is why almal kom is correct, not a different plural-looking form.

Yes, but the meaning or emphasis may shift slightly.

The original:

• Almal kom saam, behalwe die meisie wat nog by die huis is.

A possible variation:

• Behalwe die meisie wat nog by die huis is, kom almal saam.

This still means roughly the same thing:

• Except for the girl who is still at home, everyone is coming along.

In the second version, the exception is placed first for emphasis.

Because of the structure.

In behalwe die meisie wat nog by die huis is, the relative clause wat nog by die huis is comes directly after die meisie, so it naturally describes the girl.

It tells you which girl:

• not just any girl
• the girl who is still at home

If it referred to the whole earlier clause, the sentence would need a different structure or punctuation pattern. Here, the most natural reading is clearly that wat modifies die meisie.