Breakdown of Wil je het erover hebben?
hebben
to have
willen
to want
het
it
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
erover
about it
Questions & Answers about Wil je het erover hebben?
Where does the het come from if erover already means 'about it'?
This sentence uses the fixed idiomatic expression het hebben over, which means 'to talk about'. The word het here is lexicalized, meaning it is a permanent, dummy pronoun built into the verb expression. It doesn't actually mean 'it' in the sense of the topic you are discussing.
Since the idiom het hebben over already includes the word over, why do we need erover?
While het hebben over means 'to talk about', you still need to state what you are discussing. If you were naming the topic, you would say het hebben over het probleem (to talk about the problem). Because you want to replace 'the problem' with 'it', you must combine over + het into the pronominal adverb erover.
Can I just say Wil je het hebben over het instead of combining it into erover?
No. In Dutch, you cannot place a preposition directly before the pronoun het when referring to an abstract concept or inanimate object. The combination of over + het must always transform into the pronominal adverb erover.
Why are het and erover placed right next to each other in the middle of the sentence?
Because this is a question using the modal verb wil, the main verb hebben is pushed to the very end of the clause. This leaves the middle field empty for our pronouns. The lexicalized het is placed immediately after the subject je, closely followed by the pronominal adverb erover.
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