Ek het vier appels.

• Ek = I
• het = have
• vier = four
• appels = apples

So the structure is very close to English: subject + verb + number + noun.

Yes. In Afrikaans, het is the normal form for have/has.

So:

• Ek het = I have
• Hy het = He has
• Ons het = We have

This can feel strange to English speakers, because het does not look like English have. But in Afrikaans, this is completely normal present-tense usage.

Usually, no. One of the nice things about Afrikaans is that verbs change very little.

With het, you get:

• Ek het = I have
• Jy het = you have
• Hy/Sy het = he/she has
• Ons het = we have
• Hulle het = they have

So unlike English, you do not need a special form like has for he/she/it.

Because numbers normally come before the noun they count, just as in English.

• vier appels = four apples
• twee honde = two dogs
• drie boeke = three books

So this part of the sentence works very much like English.

Yes. The singular is appel and the plural is appels.

• 'n appel = an apple
• vier appels = four apples

Many Afrikaans nouns form the plural with -e or -s, depending on the word. In this case, appel becomes appels.

Also, after a number greater than one, Afrikaans uses the plural noun, just like English:

• een appel = one apple
• vier appels = four apples

Because you do not normally use an article with a bare number phrase like this.

• vier appels = four apples

If you wanted the four apples, you would say:

• die vier appels

If you wanted an apple, you would say:

• 'n appel

So in Ek het vier appels, the sentence simply means I have four apples, with no extra article needed.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Ek ≈ eck
• het ≈ het
• vier ≈ feer or fee-uhr depending on accent
• appels ≈ AH-puls

A very rough full pronunciation guide could be:

• Eck het feer AH-puls

The exact sounds vary by accent, but that approximation is good enough for a beginner.

You would say:

Ek het nie vier appels nie.

Afrikaans usually uses a double negation pattern:

• one nie after the verb or main part of the sentence
• another nie at the end

So:

• Ek het vier appels. = I have four apples.
• Ek het nie vier appels nie. = I do not have four apples.

This is a very important Afrikaans pattern.

For a yes/no question, Afrikaans usually puts the verb first:

Het ek vier appels?

That means Do I have four apples?

So compare:

• Ek het vier appels. = I have four apples.
• Het ek vier appels? = Do I have four apples?

This verb-first pattern is very common in Afrikaans questions.

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Afrikaans does not capitalize the word for I in the middle of a sentence the way English does.

So:

• Ek het vier appels. = correct at the start of a sentence
• Hy sê ek het vier appels. = ek is lowercase in the middle

That is a common thing for English speakers to notice.