Questions & Answers about Er is een probleem met de bus.
Why do we use er here instead of daar for 'there'?
In Dutch, er is used to say that something exists, just like 'there' in 'there is' or 'there are'. You only use daar when pointing to a specific physical location, like 'over there'.
Since er is at the start, is it the subject of the sentence?
The real subject is een probleem (a problem). However, because it is an undefined subject (using 'a' instead of 'the'), Dutch uses er as a dummy subject at the beginning to introduce it, which pushes the real subject after the verb is.
Is probleem a de or het word?
It is het probleem. But because we are saying 'a problem' rather than 'the problem', we use the indefinite article een, which is exactly the same for both de and het words.
Does met usually translate to 'with' in situations like this?
Yes, met means 'with'. Just like in English, you can use it to talk about having an issue with an object, like met de bus (with the bus).