Breakdown of Gezichtsmaskers verkopen we vandaag veel.
veel
much / many / a lot of
vandaag
today
verkopen
to sell
we
we (unstressed form of wij)
Questions & Answers about Gezichtsmaskers verkopen we vandaag veel.
Why is gezichtsmaskers at the start of the sentence while veel is at the very end?
This is an example of split topicalization. Instead of keeping the phrase veel gezichtsmaskers (many face masks) together, we break it apart to put heavy emphasis on the topic (gezichtsmaskers). The bare noun moves to the front, and its quantifier (veel) is left behind later in the sentence.
Shouldn't there be the word er before veel, since face masks are countable?
Strictly speaking, yes. When splitting a countable plural noun from its quantity, the quantitative er is normally required (making it Gezichtsmaskers verkopen we er vandaag veel). However, native speakers sometimes drop it in casual speech, or when veel is felt as an adverb describing the verb itself (meaning 'we are doing a lot of selling' rather than 'we are selling many of them').
If I didn't want to split the noun phrase, what would the normal word order be?
If you keep the noun and its quantifier together, the neutral sentence would be We verkopen vandaag veel gezichtsmaskers. You could also front the entire intact phrase for emphasis, which gives you Veel gezichtsmaskers verkopen we vandaag.
Why does the verb verkopen come before the subject we?