Voordat sy intrek, onderteken sy die huurkontrak.

Voordat means before and introduces a time clause.

So in Voordat sy intrek, onderteken sy die huurkontrak, the first part Voordat sy intrek means Before she moves in.

It works much like English before when it introduces a full clause:

• Voordat sy intrek = Before she moves in
• Voordat ek eet = Before I eat

Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause: Voordat sy intrek.

In Afrikaans, when something other than the subject comes first in the sentence, the finite verb usually comes next in the main clause. This is often called the verb-second pattern.

So the structure is:

• Voordat sy intrek, = introductory clause
• onderteken sy die huurkontrak = main clause

If you started with the subject instead, you would get:

• Sy onderteken die huurkontrak voordat sy intrek.

Both are correct. The original sentence just puts the before clause first, so the verb onderteken comes before sy in the main clause.

Yes. Intrek is the Afrikaans verb meaning move in.

It corresponds closely to English move in, especially when talking about moving into a house, flat, or rented place.

Examples:

• Sy trek môre in. = She moves in tomorrow.
• Voordat sy intrek... = Before she moves in...

Afrikaans often writes this as one verb in dictionary form: intrek. But in some sentence positions, it can appear separated:

• Sy trek in.
• Sy het ingetrek.

So learners often notice:

• dictionary form: intrek
• present in a main clause: trek ... in
• past participle: ingetrek

This happens because intrek is a separable verb.

In a subordinate clause, the verb usually stays together at the end:

• Voordat sy intrek
• ... omdat sy intrek

In a normal main clause, the verb often splits:

• Sy trek volgende week in.

So compare:

• Voordat sy intrek = subordinate clause, verb stays together
• Sy trek in = main clause, verb separates

This is very common in Afrikaans and is similar to what happens in Dutch and German.

In Afrikaans, sy can mean different things depending on context, but in this sentence it means she.

Here is why:

• In Voordat sy intrek, sy is the subject of intrek
• In onderteken sy die huurkontrak, sy is the subject of onderteken

So both times it clearly means she, not her.

Afrikaans relies a lot on word order and context to show meaning.

Onderteken means sign in the sense of signing a document. It is somewhat formal and very common in legal, official, or written contexts.

So:

• onderteken die huurkontrak = sign the lease agreement

In everyday speech, people may also use teken:

• Sy teken die kontrak. = She signs the contract.

But onderteken sounds especially suitable for formal documents such as:

• contracts
• agreements
• forms
• official papers

Die means the, while 'n means a/an.

Here, die huurkontrak means the lease agreement, referring to a specific contract. That makes sense in context, because it is probably the actual contract for the place she is moving into.

Compare:

• Sy onderteken die huurkontrak. = She signs the lease agreement.
• Sy onderteken 'n huurkontrak. = She signs a lease agreement.

The second version is more indefinite and less specific.

Afrikaans often forms compound nouns by writing them as a single word.

So:

• huur = rent / rental
• kontrak = contract
• huurkontrak = lease agreement / rental contract

This is very normal in Afrikaans. English often uses separate words where Afrikaans uses one compound word.

More examples:

• woonstelblok = apartment block
• huisdeur = front door / house door
• toegangscode = access code

So huurkontrak is not unusual at all; it is standard Afrikaans spelling.

The comma separates the introductory subordinate clause from the main clause.

So:

• Voordat sy intrek, = subordinate clause
• onderteken sy die huurkontrak. = main clause

This helps show the structure clearly. It is similar to English, where you often use a comma after an initial clause:

• Before she moves in, she signs the lease agreement.

If the order is reversed, the comma is often not needed:

• Sy onderteken die huurkontrak voordat sy intrek.

Grammatically, it is in the present tense, but it can refer to the future depending on context.

Afrikaans often uses the present tense for scheduled or expected future events, just like English does.

So this sentence can naturally mean something like:

• Before she moves in, she signs the lease agreement

Even though the actions may happen in the future, Afrikaans does not always need a separate future form here.

If you wanted to make the future more explicit, you could say:

• Voordat sy gaan intrek, onderteken sy die huurkontrak.

But the original sentence is already perfectly natural.

Yes, absolutely.

That version is also correct:

• Sy onderteken die huurkontrak voordat sy intrek.

The meaning stays the same. The main difference is emphasis and word order:

• Voordat sy intrek, onderteken sy die huurkontrak. emphasizes the before she moves in part first.
• Sy onderteken die huurkontrak voordat sy intrek. starts with the main action first.

Learners should notice that when the voordat clause comes first, the main clause changes word order:

• onderteken sy not
• sy onderteken

It is followed by subordinate-clause word order.

In the clause Voordat sy intrek:

• sy = subject
• intrek = verb at the end

This is typical after conjunctions like voordat, omdat, as, and wanneer when they introduce subordinate clauses.

Compare:

• Voordat sy intrek...
• Omdat sy moeg is...
• As hy kom...

So a learner should recognize voordat as a signal that the clause after it behaves like a subordinate clause.