Hulle herwin die glas.

Here, hulle means they.

In Afrikaans, hulle is commonly used for:

• they as a subject
• them as an object

So in this sentence, Hulle is the subject: the people doing the action.

Afrikaans verbs usually do not change according to the subject in the present tense.

So you get:

• Ek herwin = I recycle
• Jy herwin = you recycle
• Hy/sy herwin = he/she recycles
• Hulle herwin = they recycle

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not add an extra -s for he/she/it in the present tense.

Yes. Her- often works like English re-, meaning again.

So herwin literally has the idea of regain / recover / win back, and in many contexts it is used for recycle.

That makes it a useful word to recognize:

• her- = again, re-
• win = gain, win, recover

In this sentence, it means recycle.

Die is the definite article in Afrikaans, so it usually means the.

A very important point for English speakers: Afrikaans uses die for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all genders

So Afrikaans does not have separate words like the for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

glas may refer to:

• glass as a material
• a glass as a drinking vessel

In a recycling context, learners will often understand die glas as the glass in the sense of glass material or glass items being recycled.

If you specifically mean multiple drinking glasses, the plural is usually glase.

This is the normal basic word order for a simple main clause in Afrikaans:

Subject + Verb + Object

So:

• Hulle = subject
• herwin = verb
• die glas = object

That is very similar to normal English word order:

• They recycle the glass

Afrikaans word order becomes more noticeably different in other sentence types, especially when another element comes first or in subordinate clauses.

You would normally say:

Hulle herwin nie die glas nie.

Afrikaans typically uses a double nie for negation:

• the first nie usually comes after the verb or early in the predicate
• the second nie comes at the end of the clause

This double negative structure is one of the most important grammar patterns in Afrikaans.

If you mean several drinking glasses, the plural is:

glase

So you could say:

• Hulle herwin die glase. = They recycle the glasses.

But if you mean glass as a material, Afrikaans often keeps glas without a plural ending, just like English often treats glass as an uncountable material noun.

In this sentence, no extra word is needed.

Herwin is the finite verb in the sentence, so Afrikaans simply uses:

• Hulle herwin ...

In dictionary-style or infinitive-style forms, you may see:

• herwin as the basic verb
• sometimes te herwin in certain structures
• or om te herwin when expressing to recycle

But in a normal present-tense main clause, you just use herwin directly.

Not in this sentence.

Here, die is just the article the.

Afrikaans also has a demonstrative use of daardie for that/those and hierdie for this/these. In some contexts die can point back to something already known, but for a beginner, the safest reading here is simply:

• die = the