My ouma mis my wanneer ek vir 'n week in die stad bly.

Because Afrikaans uses my for both:

• the possessive adjective: My ouma = my grandma
• the object pronoun: mis my = misses me

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the form here to something like me. So:

• my boek = my book
• hy sien my = he sees me

Ouma means grandma or grandmother. It is very common and natural in everyday Afrikaans.

It is made up historically from ou (old) + ma (mother/mom), but as a whole word it simply means grandmother.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change form depending on the subject in the present tense.

So:

• Ek mis = I miss
• Jy mis = you miss
• My ouma mis = my grandma misses

This is much simpler than English, where you have I miss but she misses.

Yes, in this sentence it works very similarly. Iemand mis means to miss someone in the emotional sense.

So:

• Ek mis jou = I miss you
• Sy mis haar kinders = She misses her children

It can also be used in other senses depending on context, but here it clearly means emotional missing.

Wanneer means when. In some contexts it can also feel like whenever, depending on the meaning.

In this sentence:

• wanneer ek vir 'n week in die stad bly
  = when I stay in the city for a week

It introduces a subordinate clause, which is why the word order changes.

Because wanneer ek vir 'n week in die stad bly is a subordinate clause. In Afrikaans, subordinate clauses usually send the finite verb to the end.

Compare:

• Main clause: Ek bly in die stad. = I stay/live in the city.
• Subordinate clause: wanneer ek in die stad bly = when I stay/live in the city

So the sentence structure is normal Afrikaans grammar.

Here vir means for, showing a duration of time.

So:

• vir 'n week = for a week
• vir twee dae = for two days

Afrikaans uses vir in several different ways, but in this sentence it is simply marking how long the staying lasts.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So:

• 'n week = a week
• 'n boek = a book

It is written with an apostrophe and a lowercase n: 'n. That is just the standard spelling.

A useful detail: even at the beginning of a sentence, the n usually stays lowercase, and the next word gets capitalized if needed.

Bly can mean both stay and live, depending on context.

In this sentence, because of vir 'n week, it most naturally means stay:

• ek bly vir 'n week in die stad = I stay in the city for a week

If there were no time expression, bly could also mean live:

• Ek bly in die stad = I live in the city

So context tells you which English translation fits best.

Because in die stad describes location: being/staying in the city.

• in die stad = in the city
• na die stad = to the city

If the sentence were about movement toward the city, you would expect something like na die stad. But here the focus is on where the speaker stays.

It can do both, depending on context.

• Literally, My ouma = my grandmother
• In tone, it can also feel warm and familiar, much like my grandma

So it sounds very natural and personal, not stiff or overly formal.

Sometimes yes, but not always with exactly the same feel.

• wanneer = when
• as can often mean when in everyday Afrikaans, especially in spoken language

So a version like My ouma mis my as ek vir 'n week in die stad bly may be heard and understood. But wanneer is very clear and standard here.

A helpful breakdown is:

• My ouma = My grandma
• mis my = misses me
• wanneer = when
• ek = I
• vir 'n week = for a week
• in die stad = in the city
• bly = stay

So the structure is:

My ouma + mis my + wanneer + ek vir 'n week in die stad bly

That makes it easier to see how the full sentence is built.