Breakdown of No veo bien el renglón y no tengo con qué iluminar la mesa.
y
and
no
no, not
tener
to have
la mesa
the table
ver
to see / to look / appear
qué
what
con
with
bien
well
iluminar
to illuminate
el renglón
the line (of text)
Questions & Answers about No veo bien el renglón y no tengo con qué iluminar la mesa.
Why does the Spanish sentence use con qué instead of a word for 'nothing' like nada?
This is a special negative structure. To say you lack the means or tools to do something, Spanish uses no tener (or no haber) plus a preposition, plus qué, plus an infinitive. You literally say 'I do not have with what to illuminate', which naturally translates to 'I have nothing to light with'. You do not need to add nada to make this structure work.
Why does qué have an accent mark here if this isn't a question?
In these specific expressions, qué acts as an interrogative pronoun embedded inside the statement, representing the unknown or non-existent thing you are lacking. Because it still functions as a question word ('with what'), it keeps its written accent mark.
Why do we use the infinitive iluminar here instead of the subjunctive?
We use the infinitive because the subject is the same for both actions: the person who doesn't have the light is the same person who needs to illuminate the table. If a different person were doing the illuminating, you would use the subjunctive. For example, No tengo con qué ilumines la mesa means 'I have nothing for you to light the table with'.
Does renglón just mean any kind of line?
No, renglón specifically refers to a ruled line on a piece of paper or a line of written text. If you were talking about a line drawn on the ground or a geometric line, you would use línea. For a physical line of people waiting, you would use fila.
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