Sofie zoekt de schroevendraaier, want zonder dat gereedschap krijgt ze de schroef niet los.

In Dutch, zoeken usually takes a direct object, so de schroevendraaier can follow it directly.

• Ik zoek mijn sleutels = I’m looking for my keys.
• Zij zoekt een baan = She’s looking for a job.

You can also hear zoeken naar, but plain zoeken is the most neutral and common choice here.

It can mean either, depending on context. Dutch often uses the simple present where English uses either the simple present or the present continuous.

So Sofie zoekt de schroevendraaier can mean:

• Sofie looks for the screwdriver
• Sofie is looking for the screwdriver

In this context, English would usually translate it as is looking for.

It is a compound noun:

• schroef = screw
• draaier = turner/turning tool

So schroevendraaier literally means something like screw-turner, which is the Dutch word for screwdriver.

It takes the article de: de schroevendraaier. A useful rule is that Dutch compounds usually take the gender/article of the final part, and draaier is a de-word.

Want means because/for, but grammatically it is a coordinating conjunction, not a subordinating one.

That matters because after want, the clause keeps normal main-clause word order.

So:

• ..., want zonder dat gereedschap krijgt ze de schroef niet los.

But with omdat, the finite verb would go to the end:

• ..., omdat ze zonder dat gereedschap de schroef niet los krijgt.

So both can express a reason, but want does not trigger subordinate-clause word order.

This is because Dutch main clauses follow the verb-second rule.

The first position in the clause is taken by zonder dat gereedschap. Once that happens, the finite verb must come second:

• Zonder dat gereedschap krijgt ze ...

So the subject ze comes after the verb.

Compare:

• Ze krijgt de schroef niet los.
• Zonder dat gereedschap krijgt ze de schroef niet los.

This inversion is completely normal in Dutch.

No. In this sentence, zonder dat gereedschap is simply:

• zonder = without
• dat gereedschap = that tool / that piece of equipment

So it is a preposition plus a noun phrase.

This is different from the conjunction zonder dat, which introduces a clause, for example:

• Ze ging weg zonder dat ze iets zei.
• She left without saying anything / without the fact that she said anything.

So in your sentence, zonder dat gereedschap does not start a subordinate clause.

Because gereedschap is a het-word: het gereedschap.

For het-words, the demonstratives are:

• dit = this
• dat = that

For de-words, the demonstratives are:

• deze = this
• die = that

So:

• dat gereedschap = correct
• die gereedschap = incorrect

Dutch often avoids repeating the exact same noun if a more general word can refer back to it.

Here, gereedschap means tool / equipment, and it refers back to the screwdriver. So the sentence is basically saying:

• Sofie is looking for the screwdriver, because without that tool she can’t loosen the screw.

Using gereedschap highlights the screwdriver’s function as a tool and avoids repeating schroevendraaier.

This is a very common Dutch pattern: iets los krijgen.

It means:

• to get something loose
• to manage to loosen something

So de schroef niet los krijgen means not be able to get the screw loose.

You can think of it as the separable combination loskrijgen, which appears split in a main clause:

• Ze krijgt de schroef niet los.
• infinitive: de schroef niet loskrijgen

So krijgen here does not mean simply receive. In this construction, it means manage to get into a certain state.

Because niet is negating the whole idea of los krijgen: getting the screw loose.

So:

• de schroef los krijgen = get the screw loose
• de schroef niet los krijgen = not get the screw loose

In Dutch, result words like los, open, dicht, klaar, etc. often stay near the end in these kinds of constructions, and niet comes before that result element.

Ze is the normal unstressed form of the pronoun she/they.

• ze = unstressed, neutral
• zij = stressed or emphatic

So in an ordinary sentence, ze is the natural choice:

• ... krijgt ze de schroef niet los.

You would use zij if you wanted emphasis or contrast, for example:

• Zij krijgt de schroef niet los, maar ik wel.
• She can’t get the screw loose, but I can.

So ze here is just the everyday, non-emphatic form.