Gee die rugbybal aan!

It is a command sentence, also called an imperative.

In Afrikaans, commands usually leave out the subject. So the understood subject is you, even though jy is not written.

So the structure is basically:

Gee + die rugbybal + aan
Give/Pass + the rugby ball + particle

English does the same thing:

Pass the ball!
not normally You pass the ball!

No. In Afrikaans, verbs usually do not change form the way they do in English.

The verb gee is the normal form, and that same form is also used in commands.

So:

• Ek gee = I give
• Jy gee = you give
• Gee! = give!

That is very normal in Afrikaans. There is no special ending here for the imperative.

Here, die simply means the.

So die rugbybal = the rugby ball.

A useful thing for learners is that Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for all nouns. You do not have to learn separate forms for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

Afrikaans very often writes compound nouns as one word.

So what English writes as rugby ball, Afrikaans writes as rugbybal.

This is extremely common in Afrikaans, so it is something worth getting used to early. English often prefers separate words where Afrikaans prefers a single compound noun.

Because aangee is a separable verb.

The full dictionary form is aangee, but in a main clause or command it often splits:

• Gee die rugbybal aan!

Here:

• gee is the verb part
• aan is the separable particle

This is similar to what happens with some verbs in Dutch and German.

A very helpful comparison is:

• Ek wil die rugbybal aangee.
  In an infinitive, it stays together.

• Gee die rugbybal aan!
  In a command, it splits.

Here, aan is not just the ordinary preposition on or to. It is part of the separable verb aangee.

In this sentence, aangee gives the idea of:

• pass
• hand over
• pass along

So you should learn gee ... aan here as one meaning unit, not translate aan too literally by itself.

Yes. That is very natural, especially if the context makes it obvious.

In a game, for example, everyone may already know who should get the ball, so just saying Gee die rugbybal aan! is enough.

If you want to add the receiver, you can do so. For example:

• Gee die rugbybal vir hom aan! = Pass the rugby ball to him!
• Gee die rugbybal vir Piet aan! = Pass the rugby ball to Piet!

So the short version without a receiver is perfectly normal when the situation is clear.

Not in this sentence.

Because this is a main-clause command, the separable verb is normally split:

• Gee die rugbybal aan!

If you wrote Gee die rugbybal aangee!, that would not sound right.

So the key rule is:

• main clause / command → usually split
• infinitive → usually together

It is normal for a command, especially in a fast situation like sport.

In English, Pass the rugby ball! can sound strong but not necessarily rude. Afrikaans works similarly.

If you want to make it more polite, you can add asseblief:

• Gee die rugbybal aan, asseblief!

But in a sports context, the short direct form is very natural.