Word
De schat met wie ik op de bank knuffel, is erg lief.
Meaning
The darling I am cuddling with on the couch is very sweet.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about De schat met wie ik op de bank knuffel, is erg lief.
Why do we use met wie here instead of waarmee?
Because we are talking about a person (de schat). When a relative clause refers to a person and includes a preposition (like met, meaning "with"), Dutch uses the preposition plus wie. This translates perfectly to "with whom" in English. If you were talking about a thing rather than a person, you would use waarmee instead.
Why is the verb knuffel at the very end of the middle section?
The section met wie ik op de bank knuffel is a relative clause. In Dutch, relative clauses follow subordinate clause word order, which means the conjugated verb (knuffel) gets pushed all the way to the end of that clause.
Why is the verb is placed directly after the comma?
Because the entire first part of the sentence—De schat met wie ik op de bank knuffel—acts as one long subject. In a standard Dutch main clause, the verb always sits in the second position. So, as soon as the long subject is finished, the main verb (is) must immediately follow.
I thought schat meant "treasure". Why is it translated as "darling" here?
You are right! The literal translation of schat is indeed "treasure" (like a pirate's treasure). However, in everyday Dutch, it is one of the most common terms of endearment, used exactly like "sweetheart", "darling", or "honey".