Breakdown of Du kannst welche aus dem alten Vorrat nehmen, wenn du häkeln willst.
du
you (informal singular)
aus
from / out of (made of)
alt
old
nehmen
to take
können
can / to be able to
wollen
to want
wenn
if / when (conditional, not a question word)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
welcher
some / any (pronoun)
der Vorrat
the supply / the stock
häkeln
to crochet
Questions & Answers about Du kannst welche aus dem alten Vorrat nehmen, wenn du häkeln willst.
Why is welche used here instead of einige or etwas to mean 'some'?
In this lesson's context, welche acts as an indefinite pronoun replacing a previously mentioned noun. While einige usually refers to a countable plural (a few) and etwas refers to an uncountable amount (some), welche is a highly versatile conversational word that stands in perfectly for both plural nouns and uncountable mass nouns.
Since welche replaces a noun, what gender is it taking here?
It is in the accusative case as the direct object of nehmen. When used as a pronoun for mass nouns, its ending matches the gender of the noun it replaces. Because it is welche here, the unmentioned noun must be feminine (like die Wolle, the wool) or plural. If the crafters were talking about a masculine noun like der Faden (the thread), the pronoun would be welchen.
Why does the adjective have an -en ending in aus dem alten Vorrat?
The preposition aus always forces the dative case. Der Vorrat (the supply) is masculine, so its dative article is dem. Because the article dem already shows the strong case signal (the 'm'), the following adjective receives the weak ending -en.
Could I change the word order and put welche later in the sentence?
Yes, you could also say Du kannst aus dem alten Vorrat welche nehmen. Because welche is a pronoun, it naturally wants to sit close to the conjugated verb in the neutral word order shown in the original sentence, but placing it after the prepositional phrase is grammatically correct and just subtly shifts the emphasis.
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