Breakdown of We hebben elkaar veel te vertellen.
hebben
to have
veel
much / many / a lot of
vertellen
to tell
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
elkaar
each other
te
to (infinitive marker)
Questions & Answers about We hebben elkaar veel te vertellen.
How does the hebben ... te ... structure work in this sentence?
It expresses having a task or possessing something that requires action. Here, hebben combines with te vertellen to mean "have to tell". It works very similarly to English, indicating that we have something (news or stories) that we need to share.
Why is elkaar placed before veel?
In Dutch word order, the indirect object usually comes before the direct object. Here, elkaar (each other) is the indirect object receiving the action, and veel (a lot) acts as the direct object. So the literal order is "We have each other a lot to tell."
Could I use moeten here instead of hebben ... te?
Is elkaar the only word for "each other" in Dutch?
elkaar is the standard word you will use most of the time. You might also hear Dutch speakers say mekaar, which means exactly the same thing but is highly informal and mostly used in spoken language.
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