Breakdown of Ik vind het wat vervelend dat ik geen deodorant bij me heb.
ik
I
hebben
to have
geen
no / not any
het
it
bij
at / near / by
me
me (unstressed form of mij)
dat
that (conjunction)
vinden
to think / consider (hold an opinion)
vervelend
annoying
wat
something / some (a little)
de deodorant
the deodorant
Questions & Answers about Ik vind het wat vervelend dat ik geen deodorant bij me heb.
Why is it bij me and not bij mezelf?
When a preposition describes a physical location relative to the subject (like 'with me', 'next to him', 'behind us'), Dutch uses the short reflexive pronouns (me, je, zich, ons) without adding -zelf. Because the deodorant would physically be on your person, you use bij me.
What is the function of wat in this sentence? I thought it meant 'what'.
While wat is the question word for 'what', it is also very frequently used as an adverb meaning 'somewhat', 'some', or 'a bit'. Here, wat vervelend means 'somewhat annoying' or 'a bit annoying'.
Could I say niet deodorant instead of geen deodorant?
No, Dutch requires geen when negating a noun that has no article or an indefinite article ('een'). Because you are saying you do not have 'any' deodorant in general, you must use geen. You would only use niet if you were negating a specific deodorant, such as ik heb de deodorant niet bij me.
Why is the verb heb at the very end of the sentence?
The word dat ('that') introduces a subordinate clause. In Dutch subordinate clauses, all verbs are pushed to the end. That is why heb is placed after both the object (geen deodorant) and the prepositional phrase (bij me).
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