In combination, over describes excess, just as in English. So overbelast means overtaxed. And if you are swamped with work, then you are overbelast met werk. If something is overbodig, it is superfluous: so, overbodige uitgaven are needless expenses. And if something is obvious, you can begin: het is bijna overbodig te zeggen dat - it hardly needs saying that (which always begs the question why say it).

Other words express the physical idea of over. So man overboord! needs no translation, especially since the English surely comes from nautical Dutch, together with mast and ahoi. A neat word is overbuur: een buur is a neighbour so overbuur means the neighbour across the street, which English cannot express in one word.

Other physical words include overstappen - change or transfer ("step over"): van de trein naar metro overstappen - change from train to metro; oversteken is to cross the road or the sea: het Kanaal oversteken - to cross the Channel.

This idea of crossing is taken further in words that express some contravention of the rules. The word treden means to step, which gives us overtreden - break a rule: de spelregels overtreden - violate the rules of the game, and, if you are within the law, Dutch might express that negatively as u bent niet in overtreding. Some over words have more than one meaning. Take overgeven.

The idea of giving over is evident in its meaning of surrendering. This is also clear in the phrase zich aan de drank overgeven - to take to drinking. But what should you do if someone shouts: pas op, hij gaat overgeven! Well you should stand clear because you've been warned that he's about to vomit.

Now it gets a bit complicated because some over-verbs are pronounced differently depending on their meaning. Take overkomen, which can mean to happen to, to get over or to come across. In the phrase het kan de beste overkomen - it can happen to the best of us, the stress is on the third syllable.

But in ik wil niet overkomen als een idioot - I don't want to come across as an idiot, the stress is right at the beginning. Just writing this is stressing me out, and I have so many other things to do. In fact, ik ben tot over mijn oren in het werk - I am up to my ears in work. At least in English the work is not over my ears.