mee/toe

Mee and Toe

Level 3

When referring back to a thing, Dutch often uses a pronominal adverb such as ermee (with it). Inside these compounds, met becomes mee and tot becomes toe.

How It Works

Dutch commonly uses pronominal adverbs to refer back to a thing after a preposition. This is not a ban on noun phrases such as met het boek, where het is an article.

There are only two prepositions that always change their form when they become part of a pronominal adverb: met and tot. This change is mandatory in all contexts:

  • met → mee (e.g., daarmee, ermee, hiermee, waarmee)
  • tot → toe (e.g., ertoe, waartoe)

Other prepositions like naar and van only change their form to indicate direction or movement. For general use, 'naar' stays the same (e.g., ernaar kijken - to look at it). For movement toward a destination, a common form is naartoe (e.g., ernaartoe). Similarly, 'van' can become vandaan to indicate movement away from a place (e.g., ervandaan komen).

Note that these words can often be split in a sentence, with other words coming between the locative adverb (er/daar/hier) and the prepositional part (mee/toe).

Examples (6)

  1. Ik schrijf met een pen. Ik schrijf ermee.

    I write with a pen. I write with it.

    Word by Word: I write with a pen. I write there-with.

    Shows 'met' changing to 'mee' when referring back to the pen using 'er'.

  2. Wat doe je daarmee?

    What are you doing with that?

    Word by Word: What do you there-with?

    'Met' becomes 'mee' when attached to 'daar' (that).

  3. Het leidde ertoe dat we te laat waren.

    It led to the fact that we were late.

    Word by Word: It led there-to that we too late were.

    'Tot' becomes 'toe' when combined with 'er' to refer to a situation or result.

  4. Ik kijk naar de film. Ik kijk ernaar.

    I am watching the movie. I am watching it.

    Word by Word: I look to the movie. I look there-to.

    For non-directional verbs like 'kijken', 'naar' remains 'naar' in the pronominal form 'ernaar'.

  5. Ik ga naar de stad. Ik ga ernaartoe.

    I am going to the city. I am going to it.

    Word by Word: I go to the city. I go there-to-to.

    Here, movement toward the city is expressed with ernaartoe. Another directional form is erheen.

  6. Kom je van het strand? Ja, ik kom ervandaan.

    Are you coming from the beach? Yes, I am coming from there.

    Word by Word: Come you from the beach? Yes, I come there-from-from.

    Similar to 'naartoe', 'van' can become 'vandaan' when indicating movement away from a place.

Common Mistakes

  • Using met het with het as a standalone object pronoun.

    Ik ben klaar met het.
    Ik ben ermee klaar.

    In this example, use ermee to mean with it. This does not prohibit met het followed by a noun: met het boek is a normal noun phrase.

  • Using the prepositional form inside the compound.

    Wat doe je daarmet?
    Wat doe je daarmee?

    The form 'daarmet' does not exist; 'met' must always change to 'mee' in this position.

  • Using 'mee' as a standalone preposition before a noun.

    Ik ga mee mijn broer.
    Ik ga met mijn broer.

    Use 'met' when followed by a noun. 'Mee' is only for adverbs or separable verbs.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

mee/toeLevel 3Mee and Toe

Learn This First

To understand why 'met' and 'tot' change their form, you first need to be familiar with the original prepositions and the general concept of combining 'er' (or 'daar'/'hier') with prepositions to form pronominal adverbs.

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Words in This Pattern

meetoe