Zodra ze niet meer misselijk was, hief Anna haar kin weer op en lachte ze.

Zodra means as soon as. It introduces a time clause that shows one thing happens immediately after another.

So here:

Zodra ze niet meer misselijk was
= As soon as she was no longer nauseous

Compared with similar words:

• zodra = as soon as
• als = when / if, often more general
• wanneer = when, often a bit more neutral or formal

So zodra emphasizes immediacy: the second action follows right after the first condition is true.

Because zodra introduces a subordinate clause, and in Dutch subordinate clauses the finite verb typically goes to the end.

Pattern:

• Main clause: subject + finite verb + ...
• Subordinate clause: conjunction + subject + ... + finite verb

So:

• Main-clause style would be: Ze was niet meer misselijk
• After zodra, it becomes: zodra ze niet meer misselijk was

This is one of the most important Dutch word-order rules to get used to.

Niet meer means no longer or not anymore.

So:

• misselijk = nauseous / sick
• niet meer misselijk = no longer nauseous

A useful contrast:

• nog misselijk = still nauseous
• niet meer misselijk = not nauseous anymore

So niet meer often marks the end of a previous state.

This comes from the separable verb opheffen, which can mean to raise / lift up.

In a main clause, separable verbs split:

• finite verb part goes in the normal verb position
• separable particle goes later in the clause

So:

• infinitive: opheffen
• past singular: hief ... op

That is why you get:

hief Anna haar kin weer op

not one single block like ophefte

Also, hief is the past tense of heffen, which is a strong verb:

• present: heft
• past: hief
• past participle: geheven

With the particle added:

• infinitive: opheffen
• past participle: opgeheven

Because the sentence starts with a subordinate clause:

Zodra ze niet meer misselijk was, ...

After an element like that comes first, Dutch main-clause word order follows the verb-second rule. The finite verb must come next, before the subject.

So:

• neutral main clause: Anna hief haar kin weer op
• after the opening clause: Zodra ..., hief Anna haar kin weer op

The same inversion continues in the coordinated part:

..., hief Anna haar kin weer op en lachte ze.

That is why you see:

• hief Anna
• lachte ze

rather than:

• Anna hief
• ze lachte

Ze is the unstressed form of zij.

Both can mean she or they, but:

• ze = normal, unstressed, very common in everyday Dutch
• zij = stressed or emphatic form

So in a neutral narrative sentence, ze is the natural choice.

You would use zij if you wanted emphasis or contrast, for example:

• Niet Anna, maar zij lachte.

In this sentence there is no special emphasis, so ze sounds normal.

Here weer means again.

So:

haar kin weer opheffen
= to raise her chin again

It suggests that Anna had her chin up before, then lowered it, and now raises it again.

A useful note: weer can sometimes mean again, and sometimes something closer to back depending on context. Here again is the natural idea.

Dutch can use either a possessive or a definite article with body parts depending on context, but haar kin is very natural here because it clearly identifies whose chin is being raised.

So:

• haar kin = her chin

It is explicit and easy to understand in a narrative sentence.

If you are an English speaker, this may feel completely normal, because English also strongly prefers her chin in this kind of sentence.

Yes, Dutch could use the perfect in some contexts, but the simple past is very common in storytelling and written narration.

Here:

• was
• hief
• lachte

all place the sentence in a narrative past.

Dutch often uses the simple past for a sequence of events in stories, novels, and descriptions of past scenes. The perfect tense is more common when speaking about past events from a present viewpoint, especially in conversation.

So this sentence sounds like normal written narrative Dutch.