Questions & Answers about Ik hoest veel en mijn keel is wat droog.
Doesn't wat normally mean "what"? How is it used before droog?
While wat is the question word for "what", it also acts as an adverb of degree. Here, placed directly before the adjective droog, it means "somewhat" or "a little". It softens the adjective, making the dryness sound mild.
Could I use een beetje instead of wat in this sentence?
Yes! You could easily say mijn keel is een beetje droog. In this context, wat and een beetje mean the exact same thing. Wat is just a shorter, very common way to express it in everyday speech.
Is hoest a verb or a noun in this sentence?
It is a verb here. Ik hoest means "I cough" (from the infinitive hoesten). There is also a noun, de hoest (the cough), but because it immediately follows the subject ik, we know it is the conjugated verb working with the subject.
Why doesn't the word order change after en?
The word en (and) is a coordinating conjunction. This means it links two independent sentences without throwing the verb to the end in the second part. Therefore, mijn keel is wat droog keeps the standard subject-verb-adjective order.