Learn Dutch: Dat is een zware boormachine, maar ik werk ermee. - That is a heavy drill, but I work with it.

In Dutch, you cannot use a normal pronoun like het (it) directly after a preposition like met (with) when talking about inanimate objects. Instead, you use er and attach the preposition to the end of it. So 'with it' becomes ermee (literally 'there-with').

Why does the word met (with) change to mee in ermee?

When the preposition met connects to er, its form changes to mee. This is a special spelling rule you just have to memorize: you will never see ermet, it always becomes ermee.

If boormachine is a de-word, why does the sentence start with Dat is instead of Die is?

When you are identifying or pointing out what something is using the verb zijn (to be), you always use the generic dat (or dit), regardless of whether the noun is a de or het word. You only use die if it directly attaches to the noun, like 'That drill is heavy' (Die boormachine is zwaar).

Why does the adjective zwaar (heavy) become zware?