Breakdown of We wandelen er vaak.
vaak
often
wandelen
to walk (for pleasure)
er
there (in that place)
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
Questions & Answers about We wandelen er vaak.
Why does this sentence use er instead of daar for "there"?
Er is used as an unstressed way to say "there". You use it when the location is already known from context, but it isn't the main focus of the sentence. If you wanted to point at a specific place and emphasize "We walk there," you would use the stressed word daar.
Why does er come before vaak?
In Dutch, the little word er prefers to sit right after the verb in a simple sentence. Adverbs that describe time or frequency, like vaak (often), usually come after er.
Why is the verb wandelen in its full form here?
Because the subject is we (we), which is plural. In Dutch, plural subjects (wij/we, jullie, zij/ze) always take the full dictionary form of the verb, which almost always ends in -en.
Could I use wij instead of we in this sentence?
Yes, you could say Wij wandelen er vaak. Both mean "we", but we is the unstressed form and wij is the stressed form. Because er is also an unstressed word, a sentence like We wandelen er vaak flows very naturally in casual everyday speech.