Ons besoek my ouma en oupa elke jaar.

Yes, ons usually means we in Afrikaans.

In this sentence, Ons besoek my ouma en oupa elke jaar means We visit my grandma and grandpa every year.

A useful extra point: ons can also mean us in some contexts, depending on sentence structure. For example:

• Ons kom môre. = We are coming tomorrow.
• Hy sien ons. = He sees us.

So ons can function as both subject and object.

Because Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject the way English verbs sometimes do.

In English, you get forms like:

• I visit
• he visits
• we visit

In Afrikaans, the verb normally stays the same:

• Ek besoek = I visit
• Hy besoek = He visits
• Ons besoek = We visit

That makes Afrikaans verb conjugation much simpler than English.

Yes. In many cases, Afrikaans uses the same basic verb form where English might distinguish between visit and to visit.

So:

• Ons besoek... = We visit...
• Ek wil besoek = I want to visit

Afrikaans does not usually add a separate word like English to before the infinitive in the same way.

Both are possible, but my ouma en oupa is the more natural, compact way to say my grandma and grandpa.

The possessive my applies to both nouns together:

• my ouma en oupa = my grandma and grandpa

If you say my ouma en my oupa, it is still grammatical, but it sounds more emphatic or more explicitly separated.

• ouma = grandmother / grandma
• oupa = grandfather / grandpa

These are very common everyday Afrikaans family words.

Literally, they are related to old mother and old father, but learners should think of them simply as the normal words for grandma and grandpa.

In this sentence, it most naturally means my grandmother and grandfather, usually understood as one pair.

So the sentence suggests:

• We visit my grandma and grandpa every year.

If someone wanted to talk about grandparents more generally or multiple sets, they would normally phrase it differently.

Because family members are often referred to without an article when they are already clearly identified by a possessive word like my.

So:

• my ouma = my grandma
• my oupa = my grandpa

You do not need an extra article. English works the same way here: we say my grandma, not my the grandma.

Elke jaar means every year, and placing time expressions at the end of the sentence is very common in Afrikaans.

So this order is natural:

• Ons besoek my ouma en oupa elke jaar.

Afrikaans word order is often similar to English in simple main clauses:

• subject: Ons
• verb: besoek
• object: my ouma en oupa
• time expression: elke jaar

You could move time expressions in some contexts for emphasis, but the version given is the most neutral and natural.

Yes, elke jaar is a phrase meaning every year.

• elke = each / every
• jaar = year

So literally, it is something like each year or every year.

You will see elke in many similar expressions:

• elke dag = every day
• elke week = every week
• elke maand = every month

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• ouma ≈ OH-uh-ma or OW-ma, depending on accent
• oupa ≈ OH-uh-pa or OW-pa

A few helpful points:

• The ou sound in Afrikaans is not exactly like English oo.
• It is closer to the sound in go or sometimes ow, depending on how the speaker says it.
• The first syllable is stressed: OU-ma, OU-pa.

Pronunciation varies a bit by speaker, so do not worry if what you hear differs slightly.

Ouma and oupa are the standard and very common words.

However, some families use nicknames or more affectionate forms, just as English speakers might say Gran, Nana, or Grandad.

For learning purposes, ouma and oupa are the best words to know first.

Yes. The sentence is in the present tense, but in Afrikaans, as in English, the present tense can describe a habit or repeated action.

So:

• Ons besoek my ouma en oupa elke jaar.

means a regular habit: We visit my grandma and grandpa every year.

It does not mean only that the visit is happening right now. The phrase elke jaar makes it clear that this is something repeated regularly.