Breakdown of Praten zij nergens over tijdens het debat?
zij
they
praten
to talk
over
about
nergens
nowhere / not anywhere
Questions & Answers about Praten zij nergens over tijdens het debat?
Why does the Dutch sentence use nergens over instead of translating "not about anything" literally?
In Dutch, when you combine a preposition like over (about) with niets (nothing), it transforms into a "pronominal adverb". Instead of saying over niets, Dutch changes it to nergens (nowhere) + over. So, nergens over means "about nothing" or "not about anything".
Are nergens and over ever written together as one word?
No. While combinations with er usually form a single word (like erover), combinations using ergens, nergens, or overal plus a preposition are always written as two separate words.
Where is the word for "not" in the Dutch sentence?
The negative meaning is already packed into the word nergens. Dutch doesn't use niet (not) when there is already a negative word in the sentence. Adding niet would create an unnatural double negative.
Why is Praten at the very beginning of the sentence?
Because this is a yes/no question. Just like in earlier lessons, to turn a statement like Zij praten (They talk) into a question, you swap the verb and the subject to get Praten zij? (Are they talking?).