Breakdown of Где молоток, с которым ты обычно работаешь?
где
where / wherever
ты
you (singular)
работать
to work
обычно
usually
Questions & Answers about Где молоток, с которым ты обычно работаешь?
Why do we use которым instead of another form of который?
Который acts like an adjective, so it must match the gender and number of the noun it refers back to. Since молоток (hammer) is masculine and singular, we use the masculine singular form. The preposition с (meaning 'with') requires the Instrumental case, making it с которым.
I learned that tools take the Instrumental case without с (like писать ручкой). Why is there a с here?
Excellent memory! You are right that tools typically take the bare Instrumental case to show the means of an action (so, молоток, которым ты работаешь is perfectly correct). However, adding с (работать с молотком) is very common in spoken Russian. It subtly shifts the feel from 'working by means of a hammer' to 'interacting with the hammer', but in casual speech, native speakers often use them interchangeably.
Do I always need a comma before с которым in sentences like this?
Yes! Unlike English, where commas before 'which' or 'who' depend on whether the clause is defining or non-defining, Russian grammar strictly requires a comma before any relative clause (the part of the sentence starting with который, что, где, etc.).
Could I put обычно at the end of the sentence?