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Manden barberer sig ved spejlet.

Manden barberer sig ved spejlet.
The man shaves by the mirror.
From Lesson 87:The reflexive pronoun (sig)·Danish

Questions & Answers about Manden barberer sig ved spejlet.

Why is sig used here when the English translation is just 'shaves'?
In English, you can just say 'shaves' and people assume he is doing it to himself. In Danish, the verb barberer needs an object to receive the action. If the man is shaving himself, you must use the reflexive pronoun sig. Without it, the Danish sentence feels incomplete.
What would it mean if I used ham instead of sig?
If you say Manden barberer ham, it means the man is shaving a different male person, like a customer in a barber shop. You use sig whenever a third-person subject is performing an action on themselves.
Why do we use ved for 'by' in this sentence?
The preposition ved is frequently used for physical locations to mean 'at', 'by', or 'next to'. Saying ved spejlet tells us the man is positioned right in front of or at the mirror while he shaves.
How does the word spejlet show that it means 'the mirror' and not just 'a mirror'?
In Danish, the definite article (the word for 'the') is attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word in front. Because spejl (mirror) is an et-word, it takes the -et ending to become spejlet.

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