Kun jij de tang even aangeven? Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit.

Because Dutch yes/no questions usually invert the subject and the finite verb.

• Statement: Jij kunt de tang aangeven.
• Question: Kun jij de tang aangeven?

So kun comes first because this is a question.

Also, jij is the stressed form of je. That can add a slight emphasis, like can you pass the pliers? In everyday speech, Kun je... ? is also very common and a bit more neutral.

It is usually a request, not a literal question about ability.

Just like English Can you pass me the pliers?, Dutch often uses kunnen to make polite requests. So the speaker is not seriously asking whether the other person is physically capable of doing it.

A more direct version would be something like Geef me de tang. Using Kun jij... ? sounds softer and more polite.

Here even is a very common softening word in Dutch. It often does not literally mean for a moment in a strict time sense.

In requests, it works a bit like:

• just
• for a second
• a politeness softener with no strong translation

So Kun jij de tang even aangeven? sounds more natural and less abrupt than Kun jij de tang aangeven?

Dutch uses even this way all the time.

Tang is a de-word, so the article is de: de tang.

Also, Dutch normally uses the singular tang for the tool that English often calls pliers. So:

• Dutch: de tang
• English: the pliers

That is just a vocabulary difference between the two languages. If you mean several such tools, Dutch can use the plural tangen.

In this sentence, aangeven means something like:

• to hand
• to pass
• to pass over

So here it means passing the pliers to the speaker.

Be careful: aangeven has several meanings in Dutch depending on context, such as to indicate, to report, or to declare. In this sentence, though, the meaning is clearly pass/hand over.

Because kun is the finite verb, and Dutch main clauses normally put the finite verb in second position. The other verb, here the infinitive aangeven, goes to the end.

So the structure is:

• Kun = finite verb in second-position question structure
• jij = subject
• de tang even = other sentence material
• aangeven = infinitive at the end

This is very common in Dutch with modal verbs like:

• kunnen
• willen
• moeten
• mogen

For example:

• Ik kan dat doen.
• Wil je komen?
• Moet hij werken?

Yes, you absolutely can say Kun jij me de tang even aangeven? That is very natural.

The original sentence leaves out the indirect object because it is obvious from the situation: the pliers should be passed to the speaker.

So both are possible:

• Kun jij de tang even aangeven?
• Kun jij me de tang even aangeven?

The second one is a bit more explicit.

Use me here, not mij, because this is an unstressed object pronoun. Mij is the stressed form.

Literally, it is something like:

I get the nail not out of it.

That sounds strange in English, but it is a very normal Dutch structure.

The important point is that krijgen here often means to manage to get or to succeed in getting. So the sentence means that the speaker is unable to remove the nail.

It is a very idiomatic way to talk about successfully getting something out.

Because krijgen in this kind of sentence often expresses managing to achieve a result.

So:

• Ik kan de spijker er niet uit halen = I cannot remove the nail
• Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit = I can’t get the nail out / I’m not managing to get it out

The version with krijgen feels very natural when someone is struggling with a practical task. It focuses on the failed result, not just abstract ability.

This is a very important Dutch pattern.

Here, er ... uit means out of it. The er stands for the thing the nail is stuck in, such as:

• wood
• a wall
• a board
• something else understood from context

So instead of saying the full phrase, Dutch often uses er with a preposition:

• uit het hout → er ... uit
• uit de muur → er ... uit

That is called a pronominal adverb.

So:

• Ik krijg de spijker niet uit het hout.
• Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit.

Both are possible, but the second one is more natural when the object is already known from context.

Because in this sentence the parts are split by Dutch word order.

When er and uit are next to each other, they are often written together:

• eruit

But in this sentence, niet comes between them:

• er niet uit

So they cannot be written as one word here.

This pattern is very common:

• Ik krijg hem er niet uit.
• Ze kwam er niet in.
• We halen het er morgen wel uit.

So the split form is normal and correct.