Word
Han bruger alt værktøjet til at reparere sin bil.
Meaning
He uses all the tools to repair his car.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Han bruger alt værktøjet til at reparere sin bil.
han
he
bilen
the car
bruge
to use / to spend (money, time) / to need (together with the modal of obligation)
sin
his/her/its own (common)
Questions & Answers about Han bruger alt værktøjet til at reparere sin bil.
Why do we use til at reparere instead of just at reparere?
In Danish, when you express what something is used for (its function or purpose), you use til at before the infinitive verb. Because the sentence explains the specific purpose of the tools, we say bruger... til at reparere (uses... for repairing). Using just at reparere would be grammatically incorrect here.
Why does værktøjet have the definite -et ending when English just says "all the tools"?
In Danish, the words for "all" (al, alt, alle) must be followed by a noun in its definite form. Since værktøj is a neuter noun (et værktøj), we use alt and add the definite ending -et to get alt værktøjet. Note that værktøj is often treated as an uncountable mass noun in Danish, similar to the English word "equipment".
Could I say hans bil instead of sin bil?
You could, but it would change the meaning! sin is a reflexive pronoun that points back to the subject of the sentence (Han). If you say Han bruger alt værktøjet til at reparere sin bil, he is fixing his own car. If you said hans bil, it would mean he is fixing another man's car.