Ons verdwaal soms.

Word by word:

• Ons = we
• verdwaal = get lost, lose one’s way
• soms = sometimes

So the whole sentence means We sometimes get lost.

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

Compare:

• Ek verdwaal = I get lost
• Jy verdwaal = you get lost
• Ons verdwaal = we get lost
• Hulle verdwaal = they get lost

So verdwaal stays the same.

It is in the simple present.

In Afrikaans, the simple present is often used for:

• habits
• repeated actions
• general facts

So Ons verdwaal soms means something like We sometimes get lost as a habit or recurring situation, not necessarily that it is happening right this second.

In this sentence, it most naturally means get lost or lose our way.

That is because verdwaal is an action verb. It describes the event of losing the way, not just the state of already being lost.

So Ons verdwaal soms is better understood as:

• We sometimes get lost
• We sometimes lose our way

Soms is an adverb of frequency. It tells you how often something happens: sometimes.

Its position here is very natural and neutral:

• Ons verdwaal soms.

This is a common Afrikaans pattern:

• subject + verb + adverb

So the sentence sounds straightforward and unmarked.

Yes. You can also say:

• Soms verdwaal ons.

That also means We sometimes get lost.

The difference is mostly one of style or emphasis. Starting with soms gives a little more focus to sometimes.

Notice the word order: when soms comes first, the verb still stays in the second position:

• Soms verdwaal ons
• not Soms ons verdwaal

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Ons ≈ ons with a short o
• verdwaal ≈ fer-DVAAL
• soms ≈ soms

A few helpful notes:

• Afrikaans v is often pronounced close to an English f
• aa in verdwaal is a long vowel, roughly like the a in father
• the r is usually lighter than a strong English r

So a rough full pronunciation is something like:

ons fer-DVAAL soms

You should learn it as one verb: verdwaal.

Historically, it is related to dwaal, which has the idea of wandering or straying, but in normal everyday Afrikaans verdwaal functions as a single word meaning to get lost.

So in this sentence, you do not split it up.

No. Ons can mean different things in Afrikaans depending on context.

It can be:

• we as a subject
• us as an object
• our as a possessive word

In Ons verdwaal soms, it clearly means we because it is the subject of the sentence.

Yes — it shows two very useful Afrikaans basics:

1. Verb forms are simple
   The verb verdwaal does not change for we.

2. Word order is quite straightforward in a main clause

   • Ons = subject
   • verdwaal = verb
   • soms = adverb

So this is a very good model sentence for learning simple Afrikaans word order:

subject + verb + adverb