Learn Danish: Håndværkeren arbejder med varmt jern i dag. - The craftsman is working with hot iron today.

jern (iron) is an et word (neuter). Even though it is an uncountable mass noun here (meaning it is a substance rather than a countable object), attributive adjectives still must agree with the noun's gender. Therefore, we add a -t to the base adjective varm, giving us varmt jern.

Does Danish have a present continuous tense like "is working"?

No, Danish does not have a direct equivalent to the English "-ing" format for verbs. The simple present tense arbejder translates to both "works" and "is working". Context clues, such as the time phrase i dag (today), tell us that this is an ongoing action happening right now.

Is arbejder med the standard way to express working with a material?

Yes! Just like in English, the phrase at arbejde med translates directly to "to work with". You can use it for physical materials like jern, specific tools, or even abstract concepts and other people.

How can I remember the gender of håndværkeren?

The suffix -en shows that it is in the definite form ("the craftsman") and is a common gender (en) word. As a helpful rule of thumb, almost all nouns describing professions or people that end in -er (like håndværker, lærer, bager) are en words.