Hebben jullie een probleem met elkaar te bespreken?

Questions & Answers about Hebben jullie een probleem met elkaar te bespreken?

How does the hebben ... te bespreken structure work in this sentence?
The structure hebben + te + infinitive shows that someone has a task or an obligation to complete. Here, Hebben jullie (Do you have) + een probleem (a problem) + te bespreken (to discuss) means you possess a specific active task: discussing the problem.
Why is te bespreken placed at the very end of the question?
Because this is a yes/no question, the main conjugated verb Hebben is placed at the beginning. The remaining verb part, te bespreken, is pushed to the very end of the sentence. All the extra details, like een probleem and met elkaar, get sandwiched in between them.
Could I add om and say om met elkaar te bespreken?
You could! Saying een probleem om met elkaar te bespreken is actually very common. Using just te without om focuses on the specific grammatical structure of having a task to do, which is the focus of this lesson. Both are perfectly fine and mean essentially the same thing here.
What exactly does met elkaar mean here?
The word elkaar means each other. Whenever an action is mutual between the people mentioned in the subject (in this case, jullie), you use elkaar. So met elkaar te bespreken means to discuss with each other.

Learn Hebben jullie een probleem met elkaar te bespreken and more in Dutch

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free