Breakdown of Ik heb het potlood, maar waarmee meng ik de verf?
ik
I
maar
but
hebben
to have
mengen
to mix
waarmee
with what
het potlood
the pencil
de verf
the paint
Questions & Answers about Ik heb het potlood, maar waarmee meng ik de verf?
Why does this sentence use waarmee instead of just translating "with what" word-for-word?
In Dutch, when you ask a question about a thing using a preposition (like "with", "on", or "in"), you generally cannot say "preposition + wat". Instead, you combine waar + the preposition. So, "with what" becomes waarmee (literally "where-with").
If the Dutch word for "with" is met, why is the word waarmee instead of waarmet?
The preposition met (with) changes its shape when it combines with pointing words like waar (where), hier (here), or daar (there). It always changes into mee. Therefore, waar + met becomes waarmee.
Is it possible to split waarmee into two words here?
Yes! In everyday spoken Dutch, it is very common to split these combination words. You could perfectly say "...maar waar meng ik de verf mee?" The word waar stays at the start of the question, and mee gets pushed to the end of the sentence.
Why does the verb come before the subject (meng ik) in the second half of the sentence?
The word maar (but) connects two sentences and doesn't affect word order itself. However, the second clause is a question that starts with the question word waarmee. Whenever you start a clause with a question word, the verb (meng) must jump in front of the subject (ik).
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