Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het, het ons aangestap.

Because the sentence has two clauses, and both are in the usual Afrikaans past tense construction:

• Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het
• het ons aangestap

Afrikaans very often uses het + past participle to talk about past actions.

So here:

• bereik het = reached
• het aangestap = walked on / continued walking

Each clause needs its own verb structure, so you see het twice.

This is about word order.

1. After nadat, the clause is subordinate

A clause introduced by nadat is a subordinate clause, and in Afrikaans the finite verb usually goes to the end:

• Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het

So instead of het bereik, you get bereik het.

2. The second part is the main clause

In a main clause, Afrikaans normally puts the finite verb in the second position:

• het ons aangestap

So the difference comes from:

• subordinate clause → verb at the end
• main clause → finite verb in second position

Because bereik is one of the verbs that do not take ge- in the past participle.

In Afrikaans, many verbs with certain prefixes—especially be-, ge-, her-, er-, ver-, and ont-—normally do not add ge-.

So:

• bereik → bereik
• not gebereik

That is why you get:

• ons het die uitkykpunt bereik

Compare with a normal verb like stap:

• ons het gestap

But in aanstap, the aan- is a separable prefix, so the participle is:

• aangestap

Aanstap is a specific verb, not just stap with decoration.

• stap = to walk
• aanstap = to keep walking, continue on, stride on, walk onward

So het ons aangestap suggests something like:

• we continued walking
• we walked on

It gives a sense of movement continuing after reaching the viewpoint.

Its past participle is aangestap, because with separable verbs the ge- usually goes between the prefix and the stem:

• aan + ge + stap → aangestap

Nadat means after in the sense of after something had happened.

It introduces a time relationship:

• first: ons het die uitkykpunt bereik
• then: ons het aangestap

So nadat links the two events and shows that one happened after the other.

It is also a signal that the clause following it will be a subordinate clause, which affects the word order.

Uitkykpunt is a compound noun meaning something like:

• viewpoint
• lookout point
• scenic overlook

It is made up of:

• uitkyk = lookout / view / looking out
• punt = point

Afrikaans often forms new nouns by joining words together into one compound word, just like German and sometimes Dutch.

So instead of writing something like lookout point as two words, Afrikaans commonly writes:

• uitkykpunt

Die here is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• die uitkykpunt = the viewpoint

Afrikaans uses die for all definite nouns, whether singular or plural. It does not have separate words like English the vs. something else depending on gender, and unlike Dutch or German it does not mark grammatical gender this way.

So this is straightforward:

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

Because Afrikaans, like English, can put the time clause first.

So both of these are possible in principle:

• Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het, het ons aangestap.
• Ons het aangestap nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het.

Starting with Nadat... puts the time background first and makes the sequence of events very clear.

Also notice that when the subordinate clause comes first, the main clause still keeps normal Afrikaans main-clause order:

• ..., het ons aangestap

Often, yes in meaning, but Afrikaans does not always mark that difference as strictly as English does.

English may say:

• After we reached the viewpoint, we walked on
• After we had reached the viewpoint, we walked on

Afrikaans commonly uses the same het + participle pattern for both kinds of past reference, and the sequence is understood from context and from words like nadat.

So:

• Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het...

can naturally correspond to English:

• After we reached the viewpoint...
• or After we had reached the viewpoint...

depending on context.

The comma separates the subordinate clause from the main clause:

• Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het,
• het ons aangestap.

This is standard and helps show the structure clearly.

A good way to read it is in two chunks:

1. Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het
2. het ons aangestap

So the comma marks the transition from the time clause to the main statement.

Yes, absolutely. That would also be correct.

It means the same thing, but the emphasis is a little different:

• Nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het, het ons aangestap.
  Emphasizes the sequence first: after reaching the viewpoint...

• Ons het aangestap nadat ons die uitkykpunt bereik het.
  Starts with the main action: we walked on...

Both are natural. The first version is often a bit more formal or narrative in tone.

Yes. In this sentence, ons means we:

• ons ... bereik het = we had reached / we reached
• het ons aangestap = we walked on / continued walking

Afrikaans does not change the form here the way English changes we to us in object position. The same word ons can be used in more than one role, depending on the sentence.

In this sentence, though, it is simply the subject: we.