Die tuisspan het die vorige wedstryd gewen.

Tuisspan means home team.

It is one word because Afrikaans very often forms compounds by joining nouns together:

• tuis = home
• span = team

So tuisspan is literally home-team. This is very common in Afrikaans, and often more common than writing separate words the way English does.

Because both nouns are definite:

• Die tuisspan = the home team
• die vorige wedstryd = the previous match

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for the, and it does not change for gender. It is also used for both singular and plural in many contexts, so it is a very flexible word compared with English the.

Afrikaans usually expresses completed past actions with het + past participle.

So:

• het = has/have in form, but often marks past time in Afrikaans
• gewen = won

Together, het gewen means won or has won, depending on context. In normal everyday Afrikaans, this is the standard way to talk about a past event.

So even though English says won, Afrikaans normally says het gewen.

Gewen is the past participle of wen = to win.

A very common pattern in Afrikaans is:

• verb stem + ge- for the participle

So:

• wen → gewen

This is similar to many other verbs:

• maak → gemaak
• speel → gespeel
• werk → gewerk

This is normal Afrikaans word order.

In a main clause:

• the finite verb usually comes second
• the past participle often goes to the end

So the structure here is:

• Die tuisspan = subject
• het = finite verb in second position
• die vorige wedstryd = object
• gewen = participle at the end

That is why Afrikaans says:

• Die tuisspan het die vorige wedstryd gewen

rather than putting gewen right after het.

Vorige means previous or preceding.

So die vorige wedstryd means:

• the previous match
• sometimes naturally in English, the last match

Which English translation sounds best depends on context. If you are talking about a sequence of matches, previous match is very literal. In natural sports English, last match may sound more idiomatic.

Because vorige is the normal form used before a noun in this expression.

Afrikaans adjectives can change form when they come before nouns, often by taking an -e ending. With vorige, the form you normally learn and use before a noun is already vorige:

• die vorige wedstryd
• die vorige week
• die vorige keer

So for a learner, the safest thing is to remember vorige as the standard adjective meaning previous when it comes before a noun.

Wedstryd usually means match, game, or contest.

In this sentence, because of tuisspan, the sports meaning is the most likely one, so match or game is a good translation.

Depending on context, wedstryd can also refer more generally to a competition, not only a sports match.

Grammatically, het gewen can look similar to English has won, but in ordinary Afrikaans this form is very often just the normal way to express a finished past event.

So in most contexts, the best natural English translation is:

• The home team won the previous match
• or The home team won the last match

Using has won in English would usually suggest a connection to the present in a way that Afrikaans does not necessarily mean here.

It is singular.

• span = team
• tuisspan = home team

If you wanted the plural, it would be tuisspanne = home teams.

So this sentence talks about one home team, not several.