Breakdown of Ohne seine Brille kann der Student die kleine Schrift kaum lesen.
klein
small
lesen
to read
können
can
sein
his
Questions & Answers about Ohne seine Brille kann der Student die kleine Schrift kaum lesen.
Why is it seine Brille and not seiner Brille after ohne?
Because ohne is one of the German prepositions that always takes the accusative case. To form the accusative of a feminine noun with a possessive pronoun, you use the weak declension ending -e (the same as the nominative). If ohne took dative, you would need seiner Brille, but ohne never governs the dative.
Do you need another article before seine Brille, like die or eine?
No. A possessive pronoun (here seine) replaces any article. You wouldn’t say die seine Brille or eine seine Brille, because seine already functions as the determiner.
Why is the finite verb kann in second position even though the sentence begins with Ohne seine Brille?
German main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite verb must be the second “slot.” Here, the prepositional phrase Ohne seine Brille fills the first slot, so kann comes immediately after, in slot two.
Why is lesen at the very end of the clause?
Because when you use a modal verb like kann, the main verb (lesen) appears as an infinitive at the end of the clause. This is standard verb‐cluster word order in German.