Word
Kan du se det der skab derovre?
Meaning
Can you see that cabinet over there?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kan du se det der skab derovre?
du
you
se
to see / to look at
skabet
the cabinet
kunne
to be able to / can
Questions & Answers about Kan du se det der skab derovre?
Why do we use det der here instead of den der?
Skab (cabinet) is an et-word in Danish (et skab). Since it uses et, you must use the matching neuter demonstrative det der (that) instead of the common-gender den der.
Why is skab in its basic, indefinite form?
When you use colloquial demonstratives like det der (that) or den her (this), the noun always stays in its basic, indefinite form. So it is det der skab (literally "that there cabinet"), not det der skabet.
We already have der in det der. Why add derovre at the end?
Det der works as a single unit meaning "that". Derovre is a location word meaning "over there". Using both is very natural in spoken Danish to emphasize exactly which object you are pointing at: "that cabinet over there".
How do the two verbs Kan and se work together in this question?
Kan is a modal verb (can), and just like in English, it pushes the second verb into the infinitive (dictionary) form. That is why we use se (to see) instead of the present tense ser.