Hvis et dæk ser dårligt ud, ser min far også på hjulet, før vi kører videre.

If a tire looks bad, my father also looks at the wheel before we continue driving.

Breakdown of Hvis et dæk ser dårligt ud, ser min far også på hjulet, før vi kører videre.

• et: a
• min: my
• vi: we
• se ud: to look

Questions & Answers about Hvis et dæk ser dårligt ud, ser min far også på hjulet, før vi kører videre.

Why does Danish use ser ... ud here?

Se ud is a very common Danish verb expression meaning to look / appear.

So:

• dækket ser dårligt ud = the tire looks bad
• literally, it is something like the tire sees out badly, but you should learn se ud as one unit

The ud is important. Without it, ser usually just means sees / looks at.

Compare:

• Dækket ser dårligt ud = The tire looks bad
• Min far ser på dækket = My father looks at the tire

So in this sentence, ser appears twice, but in two different expressions:

• ser ... ud = looks/appears
• ser på = looks at

Why is ser used twice with different meanings?

Because Danish, like English, often builds different meanings by combining a basic verb with small particles or prepositions.

Here the base verb is se:

• se ud = look / appear
• se på = look at

So:

• et dæk ser dårligt ud = a tire looks bad
• min far ser også på hjulet = my father also looks at the wheel

This is very similar to English:

• look bad
• look at the wheel

It is best to learn these as separate patterns, not as one single meaning of se.

Why is it dårligt and not dårlig?