Learn Hardcore Dutch: Wij willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen. - Next year we want to travel to the Netherlands again.

wij is the stressed form – you use it when you want to emphasize we (and not someone else), or in careful speech/writing.
- Wij willen volgend jaar... = We (as opposed to others) want to...
we is the unstressed, more neutral form and is very common in everyday speech:
- We willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.

So you could absolutely say We willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen. The meaning is the same; the difference is nuance and emphasis, not grammar.

Why is willen (to want) used instead of a future tense like zullen?

In this sentence you are expressing a desire/intention, not just a neutral future fact.

Wij willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.
= We want to travel to the Netherlands again next year.

If you used zullen, you’d be talking more about what will happen, not what you want:

We zullen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.
= We will travel to the Netherlands again next year. (sounds like a plan/decision, less about wanting)

Both are grammatically correct, but willen focuses on wanting, zullen focuses on future occurrence.

Why is reizen at the very end of the sentence?

Dutch main clauses normally have:

The conjugated verb in second position (willen here), and
Any infinitives (like reizen) at the end.

The structure is:

Wij (subject)
willen (conjugated verb: 2nd position)
volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland (other information)
reizen (infinitive at the end)

This is typical with modals:

Ik kan goed zwemmen. – I can swim well.
Zij moet morgen werken. – She has to work tomorrow.

So reizen must go at (or very near) the end in sentences like this.

Why is there no article before Nederland? Why not naar het Nederland?

In Dutch, most country names are used without an article:

naar Nederland – to the Netherlands
in Duitsland – in Germany
uit België – from Belgium

There are exceptions, mostly with plural or compound names:

de Verenigde Staten – the United States
de Filipijnen – the Philippines
het Verenigd Koninkrijk – the United Kingdom

But Nederland as a country name is used without an article:

naar Nederland reizen, not naar het Nederland reizen.

Why is it volgend jaar and not volgende jaar?

The form of the adjective in Dutch depends on gender, number, and whether there’s an article.

jaar is a het-word (het jaar).
When a het-word is singular and there is no article (no het or een), the adjective does not get -e:
- volgend jaar – next year
- komend weekend – coming weekend
- nieuw huis – new house

You add -e in e.g.:

het volgende jaar – the next year
een nieuw huis – a new house
de nieuwe auto – the new car

So volgend jaar is correct here because there is no article before jaar.

Can volgend jaar be put somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Time expressions are quite flexible. All of these are correct:

Volgend jaar willen we opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.
Wij willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.
Wij willen opnieuw volgend jaar naar Nederland reizen. (less usual, slightly awkward)
Wij willen opnieuw naar Nederland reizen volgend jaar. (spoken, more informal)

The most natural versions are usually:

Start with time: Volgend jaar willen we…
Or put time right after the verb: We willen volgend jaar…

Putting volgend jaar at the very end sounds like an extra afterthought.

What is the difference between opnieuw and weer? Could I say weer here?

Yes, you can say:

Wij willen volgend jaar weer naar Nederland reizen.

opnieuw and weer both often translate as again, but:

weer is more everyday and neutral. Very common in spoken Dutch.
opnieuw can sound a bit more deliberate or formal, often meaning once more, from the beginning.

In your sentence, both are correct.
Nuance:

weer: We want to go to the Netherlands again (we’ve done it before).
opnieuw: slightly more emphasis on repeating the action, can feel a bit more formal or intentional.

Why is the present tense (willen) used to talk about the future?

Dutch very often uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially when there is a future time expression:

volgend jaar (next year)
morgen (tomorrow)
straks (soon)

So:

Wij willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.
= We want to travel to the Netherlands again next year.

This is completely natural and very common. The time phrase volgend jaar makes the future meaning clear, so you don’t need a special future tense.

Could I say naar Nederland gaan instead of naar Nederland reizen?

Yes, you could say:

We willen volgend jaar weer naar Nederland gaan.

Differences:

reizen – to travel, slightly more focused on the journey; sounds a bit more formal or “trip-like”.
gaan – to go, very common, more general.

Both are correct. In everyday speech, gaan is extremely common:

We gaan volgend jaar weer naar Nederland. – We’re going to the Netherlands again next year.

Is the word order opnieuw naar Nederland fixed, or could it be naar Nederland opnieuw?

You can technically say naar Nederland opnieuw, but it is not natural in this sentence.

Typical and natural:

opnieuw naar Nederland reizen
weer naar Nederland reizen

In Dutch, you usually keep short adverbs like weer/opnieuw before the place phrase, not after it, in a sentence like this. So:

✅ We willen volgend jaar opnieuw naar Nederland reizen.
❌ We willen volgend jaar naar Nederland opnieuw reizen. (very odd)

How do you pronounce wij and how is it different from we?

Pronunciation:

wij: roughly like “vey” in English (one syllable). Dutch w is softer, between English v and w, and ij sounds like the vowel in “say” but a bit shorter and tenser.
we: roughly like “wuh” (very short vowel, almost like English “wuh”).

So:

wij = stressed, sounds like vey.
we = unstressed, sounds like a short, weak wuh.

Both mean we; the difference is stress and pronunciation.