Breakdown of Han siger at han kan reparere bilen, men det kan jeg ikke garantere.
jeg
I
han
he
bilen
the car
det
it (neuter)
ikke
not
sige
to say
kunne
to be able to / can
men
but
at
that
reparere
to repair
garantere
to guarantee
Questions & Answers about Han siger at han kan reparere bilen, men det kan jeg ikke garantere.
What exactly does det stand for in this sentence?
det substitutes the entire claim from the first half of the sentence: at han kan reparere bilen (that he can repair the car). Instead of repeating the whole clause, Danish uses det to point back to it, similar to how we use 'that' or 'it' in English.
Why is the word order det kan jeg and not det jeg kan?
This happens because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. By putting the object det at the beginning of the clause to connect back to the first idea, the verb (kan) must come right after it to stay in the second position. The subject (jeg) is then pushed to the third spot.
Why is ikke placed after jeg in the second half?
In a main clause, an adverb like ikke normally comes after the conjugated verb and the subject. Since the V2 rule caused the verb and subject to swap places (kan jeg), ikke simply follows both of them.
Why isn't there an at before reparere?
kan (can) is a modal verb. Just like in English, Danish modal verbs are followed directly by the dictionary form (infinitive) of the main verb, without needing at (to) in between.
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