Ek stel die instelling terug.

Because terugstel is a separable verb in Afrikaans.

In a normal main clause, the finite verb goes in second position, so stel stays near the front, while the particle terug moves to the end:

Ek stel die instelling terug.

This is very common in Afrikaans and is similar to Dutch and German word order.

It is basically one verb, but in some sentence patterns it gets split.

• In a main clause: Ek stel die instelling terug.
• After a modal verb: Ek wil die instelling terugstel.
• In a subordinate clause: ...dat ek die instelling terugstel.

So learners often need to think of terugstel as a single dictionary verb that may appear split in certain structures.

By itself, stel can mean things like set, place, put, or sometimes state, depending on context.

In combinations, it often takes on a more specific meaning. Here:

• stel = set
• terug = back

So terugstel means reset or set back.

Here, instelling means setting, especially in a technical or device/menu context.

It is related to the verb instel, which means to set, to adjust, or to configure. The ending -ing turns the verb into a noun, much like English set → setting.

So instelling is very close in structure to English setting.

Yes. Depending on context, instelling can also mean things like:

• institution
• attitude
• disposition
• setting/configuration

In your sentence, the context makes setting the natural meaning. But if you saw instelling somewhere else, you should not assume it always means a menu setting.

Die is the normal Afrikaans word for the.

Unlike languages such as German or Dutch, Afrikaans does not have different definite articles for grammatical gender. So you do not have to learn separate forms like masculine, feminine, or neuter articles.

Also, die can be used for both singular and plural nouns:

• die instelling = the setting
• die instellings = the settings

It is singular here: die instelling = the setting.

The plural would normally be:

die instellings = the settings

This can be confusing because the article die stays the same in both singular and plural.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject as much as English or many other European languages do.

So you get:

• ek stel
• jy stel
• hy stel
• ons stel
• hulle stel

That makes Afrikaans verb conjugation much simpler than in many languages.

A natural past-tense version is:

Ek het die instelling teruggestel.

Afrikaans usually forms the past tense with:

• het
  • past participle

Here the participle is teruggestel.

So:

• present: Ek stel die instelling terug.
• past: Ek het die instelling teruggestel.

In standard Afrikaans, negation usually uses double nie:

Ek stel nie die instelling terug nie.

This is one of the most noticeable features of Afrikaans. The first nie appears after the verb or after the part being negated, and the second nie closes the clause.

So a learner should get used to the pattern:

subject + verb + nie + rest + nie

When terugstel is not split by main-clause word order, it usually appears together:

• Ek wil die instelling terugstel. = I want to reset the setting.
• Omdat ek die instelling terugstel, ... = Because I reset the setting, ...

So the split form in your original sentence is not random; it is caused by normal Afrikaans sentence structure.