In English, "can" does double duty — "I can swim" (ability) and "Can I sit here?" (permission) — and that overlap quietly teaches English speakers to blur the two. Danish keeps them apart. Kan is for ability ("can / be able to"), and må is for permission ("may / be allowed to"). Mixing them up is the single most common A2 error, and it has real consequences: Du må ikke doesn't mean "you can't" in the ability sense — it means "you're forbidden." This page sorts ability from permission, gives you natural model sentences for each, and a template to build your own.
kan (godt): ability — "can / be able to"
Kan (infinitive kunne) expresses ability — that you're physically or skillfully able to do something. It takes a bare infinitive, no at, exactly like English "can swim."
Jeg kan svømme.
I can swim.
Hun kan tale tre sprog.
She can speak three languages.
Kan du hjælpe mig med det her?
Can you help me with this?
Danish very often pairs kan with godt ("well/indeed") to make a plain, affirmative "can / am able to." Jeg kan godt svømme doesn't mean "I can swim well" — the godt is a softener/emphasizer that makes the statement sound natural and complete, roughly "I'm perfectly able to swim." Without context, a bare Jeg kan svømme can sound clipped; jeg kan godt is the everyday, confident version.
Jeg kan godt lide kaffe.
I like coffee. (lit. 'I can well suffer coffee')
Vi kan godt nå det, hvis vi skynder os.
We can make it if we hurry.
The past is kunne ("could / was able to"), and the question, as always, fronts the verb: Kan du...?.
må (gerne): permission — "may / be allowed to"
Må (infinitive måtte) expresses permission — that you're allowed to do something. Again, a bare infinitive follows. To give or ask permission warmly, Danish adds gerne ("gladly"): Du må gerne... = "You may (gladly) / Feel free to..."
Må jeg sidde her?
May I sit here?
Du må gerne låne min cykel.
You may borrow my bike. / Feel free to borrow my bike.
Børnene må se fjernsyn efter aftensmaden.
The children may watch TV after dinner.
The gerne matters socially: a bare Du må låne min cykel can sound grudging or merely factual ("you're permitted to"), whereas Du må gerne låne min cykel sounds friendly and inviting. When granting permission, Danes almost always include gerne. When asking, you usually leave it out: Må jeg...?.
Må jeg få et glas vand?
May I have a glass of water?
Ja, det må du gerne.
Yes, you may. / Yes, go ahead.
have lov til at: "be allowed to" (explicit permission)
When you want to spell out that something is permitted — often where rules or authority are involved — Danish uses have lov til at ("to have permission to / be allowed to"). Because lov til is a noun-plus-preposition phrase, it takes at before the infinitive (unlike the modal må).
Har jeg lov til at parkere her?
Am I allowed to park here?
Du har ikke lov til at gå derind.
You're not allowed to go in there.
Vi har lov til at tage en pause nu.
We're allowed to take a break now.
This phrase is more explicit and slightly more formal than må; it stresses that a permission has actually been granted (by a rule, a parent, a boss). Må jeg? is the light, conversational "may I?"; Har jeg lov til at...? asks more pointedly "am I actually permitted to...?".
Build your own: the substitution table
Decide first whether you mean ability (kan) or permission (må / have lov til at) — that choice drives everything. Then slot in your subject and verb.
| Subject | Pattern | What follows | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeg | kan (godt) | svømme (bare inf.) | am able to (ability) |
| Du | må (gerne) | låne (bare inf.) | may / feel free to (permission) |
| Vi | har lov til at | parkere (at + inf.) | are allowed to (explicit) |
| Hun | kunne | tale (past) | could / was able to |
| Børnene | må ikke | gå (bare inf.) | may not / are forbidden to |
For a question, front the verb: Kan *du svømme? / Må **jeg sidde her?*.
Common Mistakes
The most important warning on this page: må ikke is a prohibition — "must not / may not / not allowed to." It is not the negative of ability, and it is not "needn't." English speakers, trained by "can/can't," try to use kan ikke or misread må ikke — both go wrong.
✅ Du må ikke ryge her.
You may not / mustn't smoke here. (forbidden)
❌ Du kan ikke ryge her.
Wrong meaning — this says you're physically unable to smoke here, not that it's forbidden.
Kan ikke = "is unable to" (no ability or possibility); må ikke = "is not permitted" (forbidden). A no-smoking sign says Du må ikke ryge (it's forbidden), never Du kan ikke ryge (which would absurdly claim smoking is impossible here).
The second classic error is using kan to ask permission, transferring English "Can I...?". Danish wants må there.
❌ Kan jeg sidde her?
Wrong register/meaning — asks whether you're physically able to sit, not whether it's allowed.
✅ Må jeg sidde her?
May I sit here?
(In very casual speech you'll occasionally hear Kan jeg...? creeping in, mirroring English, but the correct and unambiguous form is Må jeg...?. Stick with må for permission.)
The third mistake is confusing må ikke ("mustn't") with behøver ikke ("needn't") — covered fully on Need and Obligation, but worth repeating because the consequences are large.
❌ Du må ikke betale — det er gratis.
Wrong — this forbids the person from paying; you mean they needn't.
✅ Du behøver ikke at betale — det er gratis.
You don't have to pay — it's free.
A fourth mistake is dropping at in have lov til at (it's not a modal) or adding at after må/kan (which are modals).
❌ Jeg har lov til gå nu.
Incorrect — have lov til requires at before the infinitive.
✅ Jeg har lov til at gå nu.
I'm allowed to go now.
❌ Du må gerne at låne den.
Incorrect — no at after the modal må.
✅ Du må gerne låne den.
You're welcome to borrow it.
Key Takeaways
- kan (godt) = ability ("can / be able to"), bare infinitive; kunne lide = "to like."
- må (gerne) = permission ("may / feel free to"); add gerne when granting, drop it when asking (Må jeg...?).
- have lov til at = explicit "be allowed to," with at.
- må ikke = forbidden ("mustn't"); kan ikke = unable ("can't"); behøver ikke = "needn't." Keep all three apart.
- Don't ask permission with kan — use må.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Kunne: Ability and PossibilityA2 — The modal kunne (kan/kunne/kunnet) — ability, possibility, the kan + language idiom for skills, permission, and the polite past kunne du...?
- Expressing Need and ObligationA2 — How to say must, have to, be forced to, and need in Danish — skal, være nødt til at, behøve, and have brug for — with graded model sentences, the needn't-vs-mustn't trap, and a substitution table.
- Modal Verbs: An OverviewA2 — The six core Danish modals — kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, burde, turde — their present and past forms, and the iron rule that they take a bare infinitive with no at.
- Building Danish Sentences: An OverviewA1 — How Danish clauses are assembled — SVO as the default, V2 reshuffling, the obligatory subject (including dummy det/der), and how the five clause types are variations on one schema.
- The V2 Rule: Verb SecondA1 — The core rule of Danish main clauses: the finite verb stands in second position, with exactly one constituent before it — and the subject inverts when anything else is fronted.