Ik ga de pan uitwassen.

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Breakdown of Ik ga de pan uitwassen.

• gaan: to go
• de pan: the pan
• uitwassen: to wash out

Questions & Answers about Ik ga de pan uitwassen.

What does uitwassen mean, and how does it differ from afwassen?

Uitwassen literally means “to wash out,” emphasizing rinsing or cleaning the inside of something thoroughly (e.g. getting all the residue out of a pan). Afwassen means “to wash dishes” or “to wash off” more generally. You’d use uitwassen when you want to highlight that you’re cleaning something inside-out, whereas afwassen covers all kinds of dish-washing tasks.

Why is the verb uitwassen not split up (with uit moving to the end) in this sentence?

In Dutch main clauses, separable verbs split only when they’re finite (conjugated). Here uitwassen is an infinitive following gaan, so the prefix stays attached. If you said “Ik was de pan uit,” was is finite and you’d split it.

What’s the function of the gaan + infinitive construction here, and could I use zal instead?

Gaan + infinitive expresses a near future action or intention—like English “I’m going to…”. You can replace it with zal to form a more distant future: “Ik zal de pan uitwassen.” That’s perfectly correct but sounds more formal or less immediate than “Ik ga de pan uitwassen.”

Why isn’t there a te before uitwassen?