Breakdown of Zij wilde liever thuisblijven en besloot de vergadering over te slaan.
zij
she
en
and
willen
to want
liever
rather (prefer)
de vergadering
the meeting
te
to (infinitive marker)
besluiten
to decide
overslaan
to skip
thuisblijven
to stay home
Questions & Answers about Zij wilde liever thuisblijven en besloot de vergadering over te slaan.
Why is "preferred" translated as wilde liever instead of using a specific verb for "to prefer"?
While Dutch does have verbs like prefereren or de voorkeur geven aan, they sound very formal. In everyday Dutch, preference is almost always expressed by combining a verb with liever (the comparative form of graag). So zij wilde liever literally means "she wanted rather" or "she more gladly wanted".
Why is the te placed right in the middle of over te slaan?
Overslaan (to skip) is a separable verb. When a separable verb is used in a te + infinitive construction, the te is always placed between the separable prefix (over) and the core verb (slaan). Notice that it splits into three separate words: over te slaan.
Why is thuisblijven written as one solid word here, while over te slaan is split?
Thuisblijven is also a separable verb (thuis + blijven). In the first clause, the conjugated modal verb wilde pushes the infinitive to the end. Because there is no te involved in this part of the sentence, the prefix and the verb stem reunite at the end of the clause and are written as a single word.
Why isn't there a subject after en?
Just like in English, when two main clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction like en and they share the exact same subject (zij), you can drop the subject in the second clause. It flows much more naturally than saying ...en zij besloot de vergadering over te slaan.
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