Breakdown of Wij wilden ergens over praten, misschien over de politiek?
wij
we
praten
to talk
willen
to want
ergens
somewhere
Questions & Answers about Wij wilden ergens over praten, misschien over de politiek?
Why do we use ergens over to mean "about something"?
In Dutch, you generally cannot combine a preposition like over (about) directly with the word iets (something). Instead, iets changes into ergens, and the preposition goes after it. So "about something" becomes ergens over (literally "somewhere about").
Why is the word over repeated later in the sentence?
The first over pairs with ergens to mean "about something". The second half of the sentence offers a guess as to what that "something" might be. Because you are now naming a specific noun (de politiek), you go back to using the normal preposition over right in front of it.
Why is it de politiek instead of just politiek?
Dutch frequently uses definite articles (de or het) for abstract concepts, subjects of study, or general fields of society. So while English just says "politics", Dutch says de politiek.
Why does praten come at the end of the first clause, after ergens over?
This is because of the verb wilden (wanted). When you have a modal or helper verb in the second position of a sentence, it pushes the main infinitive verb—in this case, praten (to talk)—to the very end of that clause.