Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit, dus ik pak de tang.

Here, krijgen is part of a very common Dutch pattern: iets er niet uit krijgen.

It does not mean simply to receive here. It means to manage to get something out or to succeed in getting something out.

So:

Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit
= I can’t get the nail out / I’m not managing to get the nail out

Dutch often uses krijgen this way when talking about whether an action succeeds.

Er is standing for a place or source that is understood from the context.

In English, you might just say out, but Dutch often wants er ... uit, which is roughly like out of it or out of there.

So the sentence implies something like:

• out of the wall
• out of the wood
• out of wherever the nail is stuck

If you name that place explicitly, er usually disappears:

Ik krijg de spijker niet uit het hout.
= I can’t get the nail out of the wood.

They belong together in meaning, but in real sentences they are often split.

The combination is basically eruit, but Dutch word order often separates the two parts:

• er comes earlier in the clause
• uit stays later, often near the end

So:

Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit.

That is completely normal Dutch word order.

You will also see the unsplit form when nothing comes between them, for example:

Hij haalt de spijker eruit.

Because niet is negating the result phrase: getting the nail out.

In Dutch, niet often comes in the middle of the clause, before the final part such as uit, and after a definite object such as de spijker.

So this order is natural:

Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit.

If you move niet somewhere else, the sentence can sound unnatural or change the emphasis.

Yes, absolutely.

Ik kan de spijker er niet uit krijgen is correct and means almost the same thing.

The difference is mainly style and emphasis:

• Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit = very natural, idiomatic, immediate
• Ik kan de spijker er niet uit krijgen = a little more explicit about inability

In everyday speech, the version with just krijgen is very common.

In this sentence, dus is linking two main clauses, like English so:

Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit, dus ik pak de tang.

After this kind of dus, normal main-clause order is used: subject + verb.

So:

• dus ik pak de tang = normal here

You may also hear Dus pak ik de tang, especially when Dus starts a new sentence. That is also possible, but it is a different structure.

Because Dutch treats tang as a singular noun.

So:

• de tang = the pliers
• een tang = a pair of pliers

If you mean several separate tools, then Dutch uses the plural:

tangen

This is just one of those places where Dutch and English divide up objects differently.

You could use neem, but pak sounds especially natural here.

• pakken = to grab, pick up, take hold of
• nemen = to take

When someone reaches for a tool to use it, pakken is very common and very idiomatic:

Ik pak de tang.

It feels practical and physical, which fits the situation well.

Dutch uses the simple present in many situations where English prefers the present progressive.

So:

• Ik krijg de spijker er niet uit
• ik pak de tang

can both describe what is happening right now.

This is very normal. Dutch does have ways to stress that something is ongoing, but in everyday sentences the simple present is usually enough.

Usually not, unless you name the source in another way.

Dutch normally wants either:

• er ... uit
  or
• a specific phrase with uit

So these are natural:

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

But Ik krijg de spijker niet uit by itself usually sounds incomplete to many learners and speakers, because Dutch expects you to say what it is coming out of, either with er or with an explicit noun phrase.