Sans tournevis, je ne peux pas finir ce petit travail de bricolage.

Without a screwdriver, I cannot finish this small DIY job.

Breakdown of Sans tournevis, je ne peux pas finir ce petit travail de bricolage.

• je: I
• petit: small
• ne ... pas: not
• ce: this

Questions & Answers about Sans tournevis, je ne peux pas finir ce petit travail de bricolage.

Why does the sentence start with Sans tournevis?

Sans tournevis means without a screwdriver. French often allows this kind of short prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence to set the situation first.

So:

• Sans tournevis, je ne peux pas finir... = Without a screwdriver, I can’t finish...

You could also place it later:

• Je ne peux pas finir ce petit travail de bricolage sans tournevis.

Starting with Sans tournevis gives it a little more emphasis.

Why is there no article in sans tournevis? Why not sans un tournevis?

After sans, French often uses no article when speaking in a general sense.

• sans tournevis = without a screwdriver
• sans argent = without money
• sans voiture = without a car

Using sans un tournevis would sound unusual here, because the meaning is general: the speaker does not have a screwdriver available.

If you wanted to refer to a very specific screwdriver, French would usually phrase it differently, for example:

• sans le tournevis dont j’ai besoin = without the screwdriver I need

What exactly does tournevis mean, and why is it one word?