Breakdown of Wir erfinden etwas Interessantes, womit man das Auto steuern kann.
etwas
something
das Auto
the car
wir
we
können
can / to be able to
man
one / you (impersonal)
womit
with what
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
erfinden
to invent
interessant
interesting
steuern
to control
Questions & Answers about Wir erfinden etwas Interessantes, womit man das Auto steuern kann.
Why is Interessantes capitalized and why does it end in -es?
After indefinite pronouns like etwas (something) or nichts (nothing), adjectives are turned into nouns (nominalized) to represent an abstract concept. Because it acts as a noun, Interessantes is capitalized. It gets the -es ending because nominalized adjectives after etwas are always neuter and take the strong adjective ending.
Why do we use womit here instead of a normal relative pronoun like mit dem?
When a relative clause refers back to an indefinite concept like etwas or a nominalized adjective like etwas Interessantes, we do not use normal relative pronouns like das or dem. Instead, if a preposition is involved (here, mit for 'with'), we combine it with wo- to create a compound. So 'with which' becomes womit.
Can I use mit was instead of womit?
In casual spoken German, you might actually hear people say mit was man das Auto steuern kann. However, in standard written German, whenever a preposition refers back to something indefinite, you must form a wo- compound like womit.
Why are the verbs at the end of the sentence ordered as steuern kann and not kann steuern?
The word womit introduces a relative clause, which is a type of subordinate clause. Subordinate clauses push the conjugated verb to the very end of the sentence. Here, kann is the conjugated modal verb, so it must come after the infinitive steuern.
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