Breakdown of Wat het ook is, zelfs roest of een scherf, men bewaart het.
zijn
to be
een
a/an
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
wat
what
Questions & Answers about Wat het ook is, zelfs roest of een scherf, men bewaart het.
How does wat het ook is translate to 'whatever it is'?
In Dutch, combining a question word like wat (what) with ook creates the meaning of 'whatever'. Because this forms a subordinate concessive clause, the verb is gets pushed to the end of that specific clause.
Why isn't there inversion in the main clause (men bewaart) after starting the sentence with a subordinate clause?
Normally, a starting clause occupies the first position and forces the main clause's verb into the second position. However, universal concessive clauses with ook often act as independent preambles that sit completely outside the main sentence structure. Because of this loose connection, the main clause can simply keep its standard subject-verb order.
Is men commonly used in daily speech to mean 'one'?
It is common in written or formal Dutch, but it sounds very stiff in everyday spoken Dutch. In casual conversation, a native speaker would almost always use a generic je (you) or ze (they) instead, such as bewaar je het.
Why does scherf get an article (een) while roest does not?
This works exactly like it does in English. Roest (rust) is an uncountable material noun, so it takes no indefinite article. Scherf (shard or fragment) is a countable object, so it requires een.