Kan De række mig posen med bøgerne, så jeg kan tage den med til genbrugsbutikken?

De is the formal, polite form of you in Danish. It is capitalized to distinguish it from de, which means they.

A few important points:

• De can be singular or plural, just like polite you in some other languages.
• In modern Danish, De is much less common than it used to be.
• Most people now use du in everyday speech, even with strangers.

So this sentence sounds polite and somewhat formal. A more everyday version would usually be:

Kan du række mig posen med bøgerne, så jeg kan tage den med til genbrugsbutikken?

Because this is a yes/no question used as a polite request.

In Danish main clauses:

• statements usually have the finite verb in second position
• yes/no questions usually have the finite verb first

So:

• De kan række mig posen. = You can hand me the bag.
• Kan De række mig posen? = Can you hand me the bag?

In this sentence, the question form is being used to make a polite request, much like English Can you... ?

It is mainly a polite request, not a real question about whether the person is physically capable.

Just like English Can you pass me the bag?, Danish often uses kan in requests. Literally it means can, but in context it means something closer to:

• Could you hand me the bag?
• Would you hand me the bag?

So the function is polite and practical, not literal.

Because mig is the object form of the pronoun, while jeg is the subject form.

Compare:

• Jeg tager posen. = I take the bag.
• Kan De række mig posen? = Can you hand me the bag?

Here, mig is the person receiving the bag, so it must be the object form.

Here række means to hand, pass, or reach over something to someone.

So række mig posen means:

• hand me the bag
• pass me the bag

It often suggests a physical action where one person gives something directly to another person within reach.

It is more specific than a general verb like give (give = give), because række often has the sense of physically extending or passing something.

Because Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

So:

• en pose = a bag
• posen = the bag

And:

• bøger = books
• bøgerne = the books

In this sentence:

• posen = the bag
• bøgerne = the books

This tells you that both are definite: the speaker has a specific bag and specific books in mind.

Because the sentence refers to a specific, known bag and specific books.

• posen med bøgerne = the bag with the books
• en pose med bøger = a bag with books

The definite forms suggest that both speaker and listener know which bag is meant. That is very natural in context if the bag is already visible or already mentioned.

Den refers back to posen.

Danish nouns have grammatical gender:

• common gender nouns usually take den
• neuter nouns usually take det

Pose is a common gender noun:

• en pose
• posen
• therefore: den

So:

så jeg kan tage den med
= so I can take it with me / take it along

The pronoun is singular, so it refers to the bag, not the books.

Here så means so or so that.

It introduces the reason or purpose for the request:

• Kan De række mig posen med bøgerne, så jeg kan tage den med...
• Can you hand me the bag with the books, so that I can take it...

In natural English, we often just say so I can...

Because så introduces a subordinate clause here.

In Danish:

• main clauses normally follow the verb-second rule
• subordinate clauses usually have subject before the finite verb

So:

• Main clause: Jeg kan tage den med.
• After så: så jeg kan tage den med

That is why you get jeg kan, not kan jeg.

Not quite.

In posen med bøgerne, med means with in the sense of containing or accompanied by:

• the bag with the books

In tage den med, med is part of the expression tage ... med, which means:

• take ... along
• take ... with you

So the two uses are related, but they do different jobs:

• med bøgerne = with the books
• tage den med = take it along

As a whole, tage den med means take it along or take it with me.

The verb is really the combination:

• tage ... med

Examples:

• Jeg tager bogen med. = I’m taking the book along.
• Kan jeg tage den med? = Can I take it with me?

In your sentence, jeg is already the subject, so med implies with me even though mig is not repeated.

Because Danish forms compound nouns as one word.

genbrugsbutikken can be broken down like this:

• genbrug = reuse / recycling / second-hand use
• butik = shop
• genbrugsbutik = thrift shop / second-hand shop
• genbrugsbutikken = the thrift shop

The s in the middle is a common linking sound in Danish compounds.

So even though English often writes these as separate words, Danish usually joins them into one.

Because til marks movement to a destination.

So:

• tage den med til genbrugsbutikken = take it to the thrift shop

If you were talking about location instead of movement, you would use something else, for example:

• i genbrugsbutikken = in the thrift shop

So:

• til = motion toward
• i = location inside

Yes, but it sounds formal because of De.

Everything else is natural and normal. The main thing an English-speaking learner should notice is that many Danes today would prefer du instead of De in everyday conversation.

So the sentence is grammatically fine and understandable, but the choice of De gives it a polite, somewhat formal tone.