Breakdown of Han læser teksten uden at bruge ordbogen.
han
he
læse
to read
bruge
to use / to spend (money, time) / to need (together with the modal of obligation)
at
to
teksten
the text
uden
without
ordbogen
the dictionary
Questions & Answers about Han læser teksten uden at bruge ordbogen.
Why does the Danish sentence use at bruge (to use) when the English translation says "using"?
In English, prepositions like "without" are usually followed by an -ing word (a gerund). Danish does not use -ing forms this way. Instead, it uses a preposition plus at and the infinitive verb. So, "without using" translates to uden at bruge (literally "without to use").
Could I say uden bruger instead, since the main sentence is in the present tense?
No, you must use the infinitive form bruge. The phrase uden at (without) acts as a fixed structure that always requires an infinitive verb after it, regardless of what tense the main verb (læser) is in.
How is the word ordbogen formed?
It is a compound word made of ord (word) and bogen (the book). Because bog is an en word (common gender), its definite form (meaning "the book") ends in -en, which gives us ordbogen for "the dictionary".
If I start the sentence with Uden at bruge ordbogen, what happens to the rest of the words?
Moving that phrase to the front takes up the first position in the sentence. Because Danish strictly follows V2 (verb-second) word order, the main verb læser must come immediately after it, swapping places with the subject. The sentence becomes: Uden at bruge ordbogen læser han teksten.
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