Breakdown of De minister gelooft nergens in tijdens de campagne.
in
in
geloven
to believe
nergens
nowhere / not anywhere
tijdens
during
de minister
the minister
de campagne
the campaign
Questions & Answers about De minister gelooft nergens in tijdens de campagne.
Doesn't nergens mean "nowhere"? Why does it mean "not in anything" here?
By itself, nergens means "nowhere". However, in Dutch you usually can't put a preposition (like in) right before niets (nothing). Instead, niets transforms into nergens and jumps in front of the preposition. So, "in nothing" becomes nergens in.
Can I put other words between nergens and in?
Yes, you can! While they are next to each other in this exact sentence, these combinations (called pronominal adverbs) are very often split. If you wanted to say the minister doesn't really believe in anything, you would place echt (really) between them: De minister gelooft nergens echt in tijdens de campagne.
Why is the preposition in used with gelooft?
It comes from the verb geloven (to believe). Just like in English, when you talk about having faith in a concept, plan, or person, Dutch uses the fixed combination geloven in.
What happens to the word order if I start the sentence with tijdens de campagne?
Because of the Dutch "verb second" rule, the verb (gelooft) must stay in the second position. If you move the time phrase to the front, the subject (de minister) has to swap places with the verb: Tijdens de campagne gelooft de minister nergens in.
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