Die polisiebeampte ondervra hom en teken die saaknommer aan.

Polisiebeampte means police officer.

Afrikaans often forms compound nouns by joining words together into one word. So:

• polisie = police
• beampte = official / officer

Together, polisiebeampte literally means police officer. This is very normal in Afrikaans, and English speakers often need time to get used to these long compound words.

Die is the Afrikaans definite article, meaning the.

In this sentence, it appears before two different nouns:

• Die polisiebeampte = The police officer
• die saaknommer = the case number

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not change the definite article for gender or case. It is simply die for all of these.

Because hom is the object form of he/him.

Compare:

• hy = he
• hom = him

In this sentence, the police officer is doing the action, and hom is receiving the action:

• Die polisiebeampte ondervra hom
  = The police officer questions him

So hom is correct because it is the direct object.

Ondervra means to question, to interrogate, or sometimes to interview, depending on context.

It is more formal and specific than just vra (to ask).
So:

• vra = ask
• ondervra = question/interrogate

In a police context, ondervra often suggests formal questioning.

This is because teken ... aan comes from the separable verb aanteken.

Aanteken means to write down, to note, or to record.

In a main clause, separable verbs split:

• Hy teken die saaknommer aan.
• literally: He writes the case number down.

So in your sentence:

• teken is the verb part in normal verb position
• aan moves to the end

This is a very common Afrikaans pattern.

Saaknommer means case number.

It is another compound noun:

• saak = case
• nommer = number

So saaknommer is literally case number.

Afrikaans uses compound nouns very freely, so seeing words like this joined together is completely normal.

Afrikaans main clauses usually follow a verb-second pattern. That means the finite verb normally comes early in the clause, usually in second position.

Here you have two coordinated clauses joined by en:

1. Die polisiebeampte ondervra hom
2. (Die polisiebeampte) teken die saaknommer aan

In the second clause, the subject is understood from the first clause, so it is not repeated.

Also note:

• ondervra stays together because it is not separable
• aanteken splits into teken ... aan

So the word order is normal Afrikaans word order.

Yes. Both verbs are in the present tense:

• ondervra = questions / is questioning
• teken ... aan = writes down / is writing down

Afrikaans present tense is often used where English might use either the simple present or the present continuous, depending on context.

So this sentence could be understood as:

• The police officer questions him and writes down the case number
• or The police officer is questioning him and writing down the case number

Yes. In context, teken ... aan can often be translated as:

• write down
• note down
• record
• make a note of

So teken die saaknommer aan could be understood as writes down the case number or records the case number.

The best English choice depends on context, but the Afrikaans wording is very natural.

Yes. When it appears as an infinitive or in places where the verb is not split, it is written as aanteken.

For example:

• Hy wil die saaknommer aanteken.
  = He wants to write down the case number.

But in a normal main clause, it splits:

• Hy teken die saaknommer aan.

This is one of the key things English speakers need to learn with Afrikaans separable verbs.

Not usually as the best translation in this context.

Asks is too broad and usually corresponds to vra.
Ondervra suggests more formal or systematic questioning.

So better translations would be:

• questions
• interrogates
• interviews

In a police sentence, questions or interrogates is usually more accurate than asks.