Die krag was 'n dag gelede af.

Here, krag means power in the sense of electricity or electrical supply.

Afrikaans krag can also mean strength or force in other contexts, but with af in this sentence, the meaning is clearly that the power was off.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, the equivalent of English the.

A useful thing for English speakers is that Afrikaans does not change the article for gender. So:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die huis = the house

It is also used for plural nouns, so one form does a lot of work.

'n is the Afrikaans indefinite article, equivalent to English a or an.

So 'n dag means a day.

A couple of useful notes:

• It is usually pronounced as a very weak sound, like uh.
• It is normally not stressed.
• Even at the beginning of a sentence, it stays written as 'n, not 'N.

'n dag is the normal way to say a day.

Een dag means one day, with emphasis on the number one. So:

• 'n dag gelede = a day ago
• een dag gelede = one day ago, specifically one day, not two or three

In your sentence, 'n dag is the neutral, natural choice.

Because Afrikaans places gelede after the time expression.

So:

• 'n dag gelede = a day ago
• twee weke gelede = two weeks ago
• 'n jaar gelede = a year ago

This is different from English, where ago also comes after the time phrase, but learners sometimes expect the structure to behave differently when the whole sentence gets longer. In Afrikaans, gelede stays attached to the time phrase.

Af means off here, and it is part of the idea af wees, meaning to be off.

Afrikaans often puts the finite verb early in the sentence, and other parts of the predicate later. So:

• Die krag was af. = The power was off.
• Die krag was 'n dag gelede af. = The power was off a day ago.

A very literal word-for-word order would look something like:

• The power was a day ago off

That is not natural English, but it helps show the Afrikaans structure.

No, af is not the main verb by itself.

The main verb is was, the past tense of wees, meaning to be.
Af works like off in English in a sentence like The power was off.

So the important combination is:

• wees af = be off

Because the sentence is in the past.

• is = is
• was = was

So:

• Die krag is af. = The power is off.
• Die krag was af. = The power was off.

The phrase 'n dag gelede also points to a past time, so was fits naturally.

No. Afrikaans often allows some flexibility, especially with time expressions.

A very natural alternative is:

• 'n Dag gelede was die krag af.

That also means the same thing. The key point is that gelede stays with 'n dag.

So you can think of 'n dag gelede as one time phrase that can move around as a unit more easily than gelede by itself.

Yes, it is understandable and grammatical.

That said, many speakers might more naturally say:

• 'n Dag gelede was die krag af.

This is often a little more natural because the time phrase comes first. But the original sentence is still a good example of Afrikaans word order and is perfectly useful for learning.