Wij zullen misschien een nieuwe koelkast bestellen wanneer we meer geld hebben.

We will maybe order a new fridge when we have more money.

Breakdown of Wij zullen misschien een nieuwe koelkast bestellen wanneer we meer geld hebben.

• hebben: to have
• wij: we
• nieuw: new
• zullen: will
• misschien: maybe
• bestellen: to order
• de koelkast: the fridge
• wanneer: when
• meer: more
• het geld: the money

Questions & Answers about Wij zullen misschien een nieuwe koelkast bestellen wanneer we meer geld hebben.

Why does the sentence use wij instead of we?

In Dutch, wij and we both mean "we" in English. However, wij is used when you want to emphasize the subject more strongly or stress “we” in contrast to others. We is the more common, unstressed form. In many cases, you’ll hear we in everyday conversation, but wij is still perfectly correct and may add a bit of emphasis.

How does zullen work here, and why not just use gaan?

In Dutch, zullen is often used to indicate the future tense or an intention. It carries a sense of planning or a decision that is not necessarily immediate. On the other hand, gaan can also indicate the future but sometimes implies a more immediate or planned action. Here, zullen suggests a future possibility rather than an imminent or certain plan.

Why do we place misschien (meaning “maybe”) after zullen?

Dutch word order typically places small adverbs like misschien (maybe) right after the conjugated verb in simple sentences. You could sometimes see misschien in another position for emphasis (for example, Misschien zullen wij een nieuwe koelkast bestellen…), but the neutral word order is to have this adverb after the first verb. Placing it after zullen helps maintain a natural flow.

Why do we use the indefinite article een before nieuwe koelkast?

In Dutch, as in English, the indefinite article een is used when referring to something not specifically identified before in the conversation (a new fridge, not one we already know about). It’s simply the equivalent of “a” or “an” in English. If you had a specific fridge in mind that everyone already knew about, you would use the definite article de (as in de nieuwe koelkast).

What is wanneer doing at the end of the sentence, and can I also use als?

Wanneer means “when” and in this context introduces a time condition (i.e., “when we have more money…”). You could also use als in everyday speech to mean something similar, but wanneer sounds a bit more formal or specific to time. Also note that in subordinate clauses like this, the conjugated verb (hebben) moves to the end of the clause in Dutch.