Breakdown of Ik was de auto, want hij is erg vies.
ik
I
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
de auto
the car
Questions & Answers about Ik was de auto, want hij is erg vies.
How does the word want affect the word order in the second part of the sentence?
Want means "because", and it connects two normal sentences without changing their word order. After want, the phrase hij is erg vies keeps the standard Subject-Verb order, exactly as it would if it were standing alone as its own sentence.
I thought was meant "was" (past tense). Why is it translated as "am washing"?
Was can indeed be the past tense of the verb "to be", but here it is the present tense of wassen (to wash). Since "I used to be the car" makes no sense, context tells us it must mean "I am washing the car".
Why does the sentence use hij (he) for a car? Shouldn't it be "it"?
In Dutch, nouns that use the article de (like de auto) are almost always referred to with the pronoun hij (he). The pronoun het (it) is reserved for nouns that use the article het.
What is the difference between want and omdat? Don't they both mean "because"?
Yes, both mean "because", but the difference is the grammar that follows them! Want keeps the normal word order, which makes it very friendly for beginners. Omdat pushes the verb to the very end of the sentence. If we used omdat here, it would be: omdat hij erg vies is.