Questions & Answers about Kan du række mig de der bøger?
Why does the sentence start with Kan du instead of Du kan?
Because Danish yes/no questions normally use verb + subject order.
- Statement: Du kan række mig de der bøger.
- Question: Kan du række mig de der bøger?
This works a lot like English:
- You can pass me those books.
- Can you pass me those books?
Does kan du here mean real ability, or is it just a request?
It can be both, just like English Can you ...?
In this sentence, it is most naturally understood as a request, not as a serious question about ability. So Kan du række mig de der bøger? is a normal everyday way to say Can you pass me those books?
What does række mean here?
Here, række means something like pass, hand, or reach over.
So række mig de der bøger means pass me those books or hand me those books.
It is especially natural when:
- the other person can physically reach the item
- you want them to hand it to you
A close alternative is give, but række often sounds more specifically like hand over / pass across.