Breakdown of Ich stricke mit dem Garn. Hast du Wolle? Ja, ich habe welche.
ich
I
du
you (informal singular)
ja
yes
haben
to have
Questions & Answers about Ich stricke mit dem Garn. Hast du Wolle? Ja, ich habe welche.
Why do we use welche at the end of the sentence instead of just saying Ja, ich habe?
In German, you cannot just drop the object to mean 'I have some.' When referring back to an uncountable mass noun like Wolle without repeating it, you use a form of welch- as an indefinite pronoun to stand in for the missing noun.
How do we know to use the ending -e on welche here?
The pronoun must match the gender and case of the noun it replaces. It replaces Wolle, which is feminine (die Wolle). Because it is the direct object of the verb habe, it takes the accusative case. The feminine accusative ending for this pronoun is -e, making it welche.
Could I use etwas instead of welche to say 'I have some'?
Yes, you could say Ja, ich habe etwas, which also works to mean 'some' with uncountable nouns. However, using welche as a standalone pronoun to refer directly back to a previously mentioned noun is highly natural and very common in everyday spoken German.
Why is it mit dem Garn instead of mit das Garn?