/²kɵnːa/
OriginFrom Old Swedish kunna, from Old Norse kunna, from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-.
- "to can", to be able to
“att kunna göra något” — to be able to do something
“Jag kan göra det” — I can do it
“Hon kan spela dragspel” — She can play the accordion
- to know (have proficiency in or deeper knowledge of)
“Kan du tyska?” — Do you know German?
“Jag kan karate” — I know karate
“Jag kan svaret på fråga 3” — I know the answer to question 3 (can also be expressed with veta (“know”))
- to possibly be able to, can, could, might, may
“Det kan hända vem som helst” — It can happen to anyone
“Kan han vara den skyldige?” — Could he be the culprit?
“Ja, det kan vara han som gjorde det” — Yeah, it might/could be him who did it
- to be given permission to, "to can", "to may"
“Ni kan komma in nu” — You can/may come in now
“Du kan gå nu” — You may leave now (sounds more like an order in this example, like in English)
Formskan(present) · kunde(preterite) · kunnat(supine) · kunna(active, infinitive) · -(infinitive, passive) · kunnat(active, supine) · -(passive, supine) · -(active, imperative) · -(imperative, passive) · -(active, archaic, error-unrecognized-form) · -(archaic, error-unrecognized-form, passive) · kan(active, indicative, present) · kunde(active, indicative, past) · -(indicative, passive, present) · -(indicative, passive, past) · kunna(active, archaic, error-unrecognized-form, present) · kunde(active, archaic, error-unrecognized-form, past) · -(archaic, error-unrecognized-form, passive, present) · -(archaic, error-unrecognized-form, passive, past) · kunne(active, dated, present, subjunctive)