Breakdown of Ik zoek de hamer, want ik wil ermee werken.
ik
I
werken
to work
zoeken
to look for
willen
to want
want
because
de hamer
the hammer
ermee
with it
Questions & Answers about Ik zoek de hamer, want ik wil ermee werken.
Why do we use ermee to say 'with it' instead of translating it literally as 'met het'?
In Dutch, you usually cannot put a preposition right before het when referring to an inanimate object like de hamer. Instead, you form a single word by combining er (there) with the preposition. So, 'with it' becomes ermee (literally 'therewith').
The normal Dutch word for 'with' is met. Why does it change to mee in ermee?
Whenever the preposition met is attached to pronoun words like er, hier, or daar, it changes its spelling to mee. This is a special exception you just have to memorize. You will also see this exact same change in words like hiermee (with this) and daarmee (with that).
Why is there no Dutch word for 'for' right after zoek?
The Dutch verb zoeken means 'to look for' all by itself. You do not need to add a preposition to it. Adding voor would be a direct translation from English, but in Dutch it is incorrect to say 'Ik zoek voor de hamer'.
Since want means 'because', shouldn't it push the verb to the end of the sentence?
No, want is a type of connecting word that lets you keep the normal Subject-Verb word order. If you used the other common word for 'because', which is omdat, the verb would get pushed to the end of the clause like this: '... omdat ik ermee wil werken'.
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