Spraydåserne er tomme.

Because Danish, like English, often forms compound nouns by joining words together.

Here:

• spray = spray
• dåse = can, tin
• spraydåse = spray can

Then the ending -rne is added to make it definite plural:

• spraydåser = spray cans
• spraydåserne = the spray cans

So Danish prefers one combined word where English often uses two.

The ending -ne marks the definite plural, meaning the.

A useful pattern is:

• en spraydåse = a spray can
• spraydåsen = the spray can
• spraydåser = spray cans
• spraydåserne = the spray cans

So instead of using a separate word for the, Danish usually adds it to the end of the noun.

Because the noun first becomes plural, and then definite.

Step by step:

• singular indefinite: en spraydåse
• plural indefinite: spraydåser
• plural definite: spraydåserne

So the -r is the plural ending, and -ne is the definite ending.

This is very common in Danish:

• biler = cars
• bilerne = the cars

Er is the present tense of the verb at være, which means to be.

So:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• han/hun er = he/she is
• de er = they are

Danish does not change the present tense form depending on the subject the way English does. It is simply er for all persons.

Because the adjective agrees with a plural noun.

Here:

• tom = empty
• tomme = empty, used with plural nouns or certain other forms

Since spraydåserne is plural, the adjective must also be plural:

• Spraydåsen er tom. = The spray can is empty.
• Spraydåserne er tomme. = The spray cans are empty.

This -e ending is very common for adjectives used with plural nouns.

Yes, in standard Danish, Spraydåserne er tom would be grammatically incorrect.

Because spraydåserne is plural, the adjective should be plural too:

• singular: tom
• plural: tomme

So the correct sentence is:

• Spraydåserne er tomme.

The singular version is:

• Spraydåsen er tom. = The spray can is empty.

Compare the forms:

• spraydåsen = the spray can
• spraydåserne = the spray cans
• tom = empty, singular
• tomme = empty, plural

This is a useful pair to memorize:

• Spraydåsen er tom.
• Spraydåserne er tomme.

Because Danish usually expresses the by adding an ending to the noun.

Examples:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car
• biler = cars
• bilerne = the cars

So in spraydåserne, the idea of the is already included in the ending -ne.

No, this is normal Danish word order for a simple statement:

• Spraydåserne = subject
• er = verb
• tomme = complement/adjective

So it follows the basic pattern:

subject + verb + adjective

That is very similar to English:

• The spray cans are empty.

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

• spray sounds much like English spray
• dåse has a long å sound, somewhat like the vowel in British law
• -rne in -serne is softer and less clearly pronounced than an English speaker might expect

A rough approximation could be:

SPRAY-daw-ser-ne

But remember that real Danish pronunciation is usually softer and more compressed than this spelling-based guide suggests.

Spraydåse is a common gender noun, so in the singular indefinite it takes en:

• en spraydåse

That matters when you learn the singular forms:

• en spraydåse = a spray can
• spraydåsen = the spray can

But in the plural sentence Spraydåserne er tomme, gender is less visible, because plural forms do not use en or et.

Yes, if the context already makes it clear which cans you mean.

• Spraydåserne er tomme specifically means the spray cans are empty
• Dåserne er tomme means the cans are empty

So the longer compound is more specific, while the shorter noun can work when the situation is already understood.

The most useful things to notice are:

1. Compound noun

   • spray + dåse = spraydåse

2. Plural definite ending

   • spraydåserne = the spray cans

3. Present tense of to be

   • er

4. Plural adjective

   • tomme

So this one sentence is a good model for:

definite plural noun + er + plural adjective

For example:

• Bilerne er nye. = The cars are new.
• Flaskerne er kolde. = The bottles are cold.
• Spraydåserne er tomme. = The spray cans are empty.