Breakdown of Jeg har assistenten til at printe dokumentet.
jeg
I
have
to have
dokumentet
the document
at
to
til
to (preposition) / for (purpose) / at (an event or occasion) / at (good at something)
printe
to print (from a computer)
assistenten
the assistant
Questions & Answers about Jeg har assistenten til at printe dokumentet.
How does the har ... til at structure work in this sentence?
This construction means you have assigned a task to someone else for your benefit. While it looks like the English "I have the assistant to print", Danish uses this pattern heavily for delegating tasks where English might typically say "I am having the assistant print".
Why do we need til at? Can I just say Jeg har assistenten printe like in English?
No, you cannot drop til at. In English, we drop the word "to" in these causative sentences ("I have him print it"). However, Danish strictly requires the preposition til followed by the infinitive marker at when assigning a task to an object using the verb have.
Could I use får instead of har here? What is the difference?
Yes, you can. Jeg har assistenten til at printe implies a steady state or arrangement, meaning the assistant is already set up or employed to do this. If you say Jeg får assistenten til at printe, it describes an active transition, meaning "I am getting or causing the assistant to print it" right now.
If I change this to the past tense ("I had the assistant print the document"), what changes?
Only the main verb changes. It becomes Jeg havde assistenten til at printe dokumentet. The til at printe part remains exactly the same because it is a fixed infinitive phrase.
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