Breakdown of Wij willen ooit een huis kopen.
het huis
the house
wij
we
kopen
to buy
willen
to want
ooit
ever, someday
Questions & Answers about Wij willen ooit een huis kopen.
Why is ooit placed right after the verb willen?
In Dutch main clauses, adverbs of time or frequency (like ooit, vaak, or soms) usually come right after the first conjugated verb. Here, it immediately follows the verb willen (want).
I thought ooit meant "ever", but here it translates to "someday". Can it mean both?
Yes! In questions, ooit usually translates to "ever" (for example: Heb je dat ooit gedaan? - Have you ever done that?). But in a statement about the future like this one, it means "someday" or "at some point in time".
Why is the verb kopen (to buy) at the very end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the modal verb willen (to want). When you have a modal verb combined with another verb, the modal verb takes the normal second position in the sentence, and the main action verb (kopen) gets pushed all the way to the end in its full infinitive form.
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