Breakdown of Hij vroeg of het probleem meeviel.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
het probleem
the problem
vragen
to ask
of
if / whether
Questions & Answers about Hij vroeg of het probleem meeviel.
Why is the verb meeviel in the past tense here?
This is the sequence of tenses in reported speech. The original direct question was in the present tense: Valt het probleem mee? (Is the problem not too bad?). But because the main reporting clause is in the past (Hij vroeg - He asked), the verb in the reported subclause must also shift backward into the simple past (meeviel).
I know of means 'or', but here it is translated as 'if'. How do I know which one it is?
When of introduces a yes/no question in reported speech, it translates to 'if' or 'whether'. You can tell it is acting as a subordinating conjunction here because it pushes the verb (meeviel) to the very end of the sentence, which the word 'or' doesn't do.
What does the verb meevallen actually mean?
Meevallen is a very common, highly idiomatic Dutch verb. It literally translates to 'to fall with', but it is used to say that something turned out better than expected, or was 'not as bad as feared'. Its opposite is tegenvallen (to be disappointing or worse than expected).
Why isn't meeviel split into mee and viel?
Meevallen is a separable verb. In a normal main clause, the parts split (for example, Het viel mee). However, because of introduces a subclause, the verb is sent to the end of the sentence. When a separable verb is pushed to the end of a subclause like this, its parts are glued back together into a single word (meeviel).