Breakdown of De investering is groot, met andere woorden wij moeten kiezen.
kiezen
to choose
de investering
the investment
met andere woorden
in other words
Questions & Answers about De investering is groot, met andere woorden wij moeten kiezen.
Why is it wij moeten here, instead of moeten wij? I thought adverbial connectors triggered inversion!
Adverbs like bovendien or daarnaast take up the first position in a clause, which forces the verb into the second position (inversion). However, a phrase like met andere woorden often behaves as an independent introductory comment that sits outside the main clause. Because it doesn't count as the first position of the new clause, the following clause keeps the standard Subject-Verb order (wij moeten). You will even sometimes see a colon written after it to emphasize this separation.
Does met andere woorden literally translate to "in other words"?
Almost! It literally translates to "with other words" (met = with). Dutch uses met for this fixed expression where English uses "in", but the conversational meaning is exactly the same.
Why use the full pronoun wij here instead of the shorter we?
Using the stressed form wij instead of the unstressed we adds emphasis. In the context of this sentence, it highlights that because the investment is so large, we (specifically our group or company) are forced to make a hard choice.
Just as a refresher, why is kiezen pushed to the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard Dutch word order rule for modal verbs. The modal verb moeten (must) is the conjugated verb, so it takes the normal spot right after the subject. This pushes the main action verb in its infinitive form (kiezen) all the way to the end of the clause.
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