Objects With a Purpose
When carving pumpkins for a spooky night, you will need tools to work with and containers to put things in. In Dutch, you describe the purpose of an object using the following structure:
[Noun] + om + (Optional Direct Object) + [Preposition] + te + [Infinitive]
If you look closely, this is very similar to the English phrase "a pumpkin to make a lantern out of", except that in Dutch, the direct object is placed right after om. Most prepositions, like van (from/of) or in (in/into), look exactly the same as they normally do.
| We have a pumpkin to make a lantern out of. | Wij hebben een pompoen om een lantaarn van te maken. |
There is one important exception: when the preposition met (with) is used before the infinitive like this, it changes its form to mee.
| Do you have a knife to cut the pumpkin with? | Hebben jullie een mes om de pompoen mee te snijden? |
Separable Verbs
If the infinitive at the end of the sentence is a separable verb, te is placed between the separable prefix and the core verb (for example, uithollen becomes uit te hollen). The stranded preposition is simply placed in front of the whole verb.
| This is the best spoon to hollow the pumpkin out with. | Dit is de beste lepel om de pompoen mee uit te hollen. |
| I am looking for a wire to hang the lantern on. | Ik zoek een draad om de lantaarn aan op te hangen. |
In the last example above, notice how the stranded preposition aan (on) sits right before the separated verb op te hangen.
Something and Nothing
Instead of a specific noun, you can also attach this structure to indefinite pronouns like iets (something) or niets (nothing). The word order remains exactly the same.
| Despite the effort, she has nothing to decorate the lantern with. | Ondanks de moeite heeft zij niets om de lantaarn mee te versieren. |
| Do you have something to light the candle with? | Heb jij iets om de kaars mee aan te steken? |