German Grammar Explained /
Können: conjugation
Would you like to be able to tell your German-speaking friends what you can already do or say in German?
Yes! They keep asking me!
You need one important thing...
... the thing I can do or say?
Oh, yeah, that too. But you need to learn how to say those things. The verb, you need the verb!
Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen.
I can speak a little German.
Ich kann mein Büro beschreiben.
I can describe my office.
Kannst du Englisch sprechen?
Can you speak English?
Können Sie das verstehen?
Can you understand this?
Nice! It's similar to the verb in English, "can".
Yes! But it's a but different in its original form, können.
Oh, that's very different.
But remember what I said about modal verbs?
That two forms look alike?
Yes! Look at the conjugation:
ich | kann |
du | kannst |
er/sie/es | kann |
wir | können |
ihr | könnt |
Sie/sie | können |
And why does the ö disappear in the first three?
That is also very usual for most modal verbs: the vowel changes in the singular forms. You'll see more examples soon, now you should practice!