Breakdown of De minister klaagt overal over tijdens de campagne.
overal
everywhere
over
about
klagen
to complain
tijdens
during
Questions & Answers about De minister klaagt overal over tijdens de campagne.
Why does the sentence use overal over instead of over alles?
In Dutch, you usually don't combine a preposition (like over) directly with alles (everything). Instead, alles transforms into overal and steps in front of the preposition. This creates the pronominal adverb overal over (about everything).
Doesn't overal usually mean 'everywhere'?
Yes, on its own overal means 'everywhere'. But when you pair it with a preposition (like overal over, overal op, or overal mee), its meaning changes to 'everything'.
How do I know to use over as the preposition here?
It comes from the verb! 'To complain about' in Dutch is klagen over. Since the minister is complaining, you have to use over to connect the verb to the thing being complained about.
Can I split overal and over, putting words between them?
Yes, it is very common to split these words! You could easily say: De minister klaagt overal tijdens de campagne over. When you split them, the preposition (over) usually moves to the very end of the clause.