Ons moet die wet volg.

After a modal verb in Afrikaans, the next verb usually appears as a bare infinitive, with no word for to.

So:

• Ons moet volg = We must follow
• not Ons moet te volg

This is similar to English:

• We must follow
• not We must to follow

So in Ons moet die wet volg, moet is the modal verb, and volg stays in its basic form.

Moet usually means must, have to, or need to, depending on context.

In this sentence, it expresses obligation:

• Ons moet die wet volg = We must follow the law
• It can also feel like We have to follow the law

A useful thing to know is that moet does not change for person or number:

• Ek moet = I must
• Jy moet = you must
• Ons moet = we must
• Hulle moet = they must

So Afrikaans is simpler than English in that way.

This is because moet is the finite verb, and in a normal main clause Afrikaans puts that verb in the second position. The other verb, volg, goes to the end.

The structure is:

• Ons = subject
• moet = finite/modal verb
• die wet = object
• volg = main verb at the end

So the pattern is:

Subject + modal verb + object + main verb

Examples:

• Ek moet huis toe gaan = I must go home
• Sy kan Afrikaans praat = She can speak Afrikaans
• Ons moet die wet volg = We must follow the law

This word order is very normal in Afrikaans.

In this sentence, die means the.

So:

• die wet = the law

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for all nouns, regardless of gender. That makes it much simpler than languages like German or Dutch.

Examples:

• die man = the man
• die vrou = the woman
• die kind = the child
• die wette = the laws

Yes, die can sometimes also be a demonstrative in other contexts, but in die wet it is simply the ordinary definite article: the.

In this sentence, wet means law in the legal sense.

For example:

• die wet = the law
• die wette = the laws

English speakers sometimes wonder whether it is related to English wit or know, but here it is specifically the noun law.

Also note:

• wet is singular
• wette is plural

So if you wanted We must follow the laws, you would say:

• Ons moet die wette volg

Yes. Die wet volg literally means follow the law, and it is a normal, natural way to express the idea of obeying the law.

Afrikaans also has the verb gehoorsaam for obey, but die wet volg is very straightforward and idiomatic.

So:

• Ons moet die wet volg = We must follow the law
• understood naturally as We must obey the law

Yes, ons means we in this sentence.

It is the standard first-person plural pronoun:

• ons = we / us / our, depending on context

Examples:

• Ons gaan = We go / We are going
• Hy sien ons = He sees us
• Ons huis = Our house

So Afrikaans often uses the same form where English uses we, us, or our. The role is understood from the sentence.

In Ons moet die wet volg, ons is the subject, so it means we.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

ons moot dee vet folkh

A few notes:

• Ons sounds roughly like ons in British ons, though exact pronunciation varies by accent
• moet sounds like moot
• die sounds like dee
• wet sounds close to English vet, because Afrikaans w is usually pronounced like English v
• volg begins with that same v-like sound, and the final g is the throaty Afrikaans sound

So the two words:

• wet ≈ vet
• volg ≈ folkh with a throat sound at the end

No, ordinary nouns are not capitalized in Afrikaans.

So:

• die wet
• die man
• die regering

This is different from German, where all nouns are capitalized.

In Afrikaans, you only capitalize a noun if normal capitalization rules require it, such as at the beginning of a sentence or in a proper name.

So wet is lowercase simply because it is a common noun in the middle of the sentence.

Moet is usually fairly strong. It most often means:

• must
• have to
• need to

So in Ons moet die wet volg, the meaning is strong obligation.

If you want a softer idea like should, Afrikaans often uses behoort te:

• Ons behoort die wet te volg = We should follow the law

So the original sentence sounds stronger and more definite than a mere suggestion.