Breakdown of Wij staan op het punt om de gegevens op te slaan.
wij
we
op
on
staan
to stand
het punt
the point / the score
te
to (infinitive marker)
om
in order to
opslaan
to save (data, files)
de gegevens
the data
Questions & Answers about Wij staan op het punt om de gegevens op te slaan.
How exactly does the phrase staan op het punt translate to "are about to"?
Literally, it translates to "stand on the point". Just like in English you can say "We are on the point of doing something", Dutch uses op het punt staan followed by an om ... te clause to express that an action is about to happen right now.
Is om required in this sentence?
Yes, the word om is standard here. The pattern is op het punt staan om + [details] + te + [infinitive]. It acts as a bridge to introduce the specific action you are about to take.
Why is te written inside the verb op te slaan?
The verb for "to save" is opslaan, which is a separable verb (op + slaan). When an infinitive needs a te in front of it, separable verbs sandwich the te between the prefix and the core verb, writing it all as one single word: op te slaan.
Why does de gegevens (the data) come before the verb?
In an om ... te clause, the infinitive verb structure (op te slaan) must go at the very end of the sentence. The object of the action (de gegevens) goes in the middle, right after om.
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