Kunnen is the Dutch modal for ability and possibility — English "can" and "to be able to." Like all Dutch modals it normally pairs with a bare infinitive (ik kan zwemmen, "I can swim"), and like all of them it has an irregular present tense where the singular forms don't simply add endings to a stem. The form that trips English speakers most is the perfect: kunnen technically has a participle, gekund, but in real sentences the modal almost always triggers a double infinitive instead — Ik heb het niet kunnen doen, not Ik heb het niet gekund doen. This page lays out every form and flags exactly when gekund gives way to the double infinitive.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present (sg.) | Simple past (sg.) | Past participle | Perfect auxiliary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kunnen | kan | kon | gekund (rare) | hebben |
Classification: irregular (preterite-present modal). As a modal, kunnen has the telltale modal trait: no -t in the third-person singular (hij kan, never hij kant). Its past, kon/konden, shows a vowel change (a → o), and its participle gekund is a strong-looking but rarely used form.
Present tense
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | kan | I can |
| jij / je | kunt / kan | you can |
| u | kunt / kan | you can (formal) |
| hij / zij / het | kan | he / she / it can |
| wij / we | kunnen | we can |
| jullie | kunnen | you (pl.) can |
| zij / ze | kunnen | they can |
The skeleton: kan for ik and the third-person singular; kunt or kan for jij/u; kunnen for all plurals. The jij/u form has two accepted variants — kunt is a touch more formal, kan is fully standard and very common in speech (informal). After inversion jij drops any -t, and crucially the form becomes kun je / kun jij, never kunt je:
Kun je me even helpen?
Can you give me a hand? Inverted 'je' — the form is 'kun', NOT 'kunt je'.
Simple past: kon and konden
The past splits by number — singular kon, plural konden — with the characteristic a→o vowel change from kan.
| Person | Past form |
|---|---|
| ik / jij / u / hij / zij / het | kon |
| wij / jullie / zij (pl.) | konden |
Ik kon gisteren niet komen, sorry.
I couldn't come yesterday, sorry. Singular past 'kon' (= 'could').
The perfect — double infinitive, not gekund
Here is the form to get right. When kunnen governs another verb (the normal case), its perfect is built with hebben + the bare infinitive kunnen, not the participle gekund. This is the double infinitive (also called the Infinitivus Pro Participio, IPP): the modal that "should" be a participle surfaces as an infinitive instead.
| Person | Perfect (double infinitive) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ik | heb … kunnen doen | I have been able to do … |
| jij / u | hebt … kunnen doen | you have been able to do … |
| hij / zij / het | heeft … kunnen doen | he/she/it has been able to do … |
| wij / jullie / zij | hebben … kunnen doen | we/you/they have been able to do … |
Ik heb het niet kunnen afmaken.
I wasn't able to finish it. Double infinitive: 'heb … kunnen afmaken' — NOT 'gekund'.
The plain participle gekund appears only when kunnen stands alone, with no governed verb — and even then it sounds slightly heavy. It surfaces in answers where the other verb is understood from context:
Heb je het op tijd af gekregen? — Nee, dat heb ik niet gekund.
Did you get it done in time? — No, I wasn't able to. Here 'gekund' stands alone, the other verb being understood.
Imperative — none
Modals have no imperative; you cannot command "can." (Shared with zullen, mogen, moeten, willen.)
Three model sentences
These cover kunnen's main jobs: ability, possibility, and the double-infinitive perfect.
Mijn dochter kan al lezen.
My daughter can already read. Ability — 'kan' + infinitive 'lezen'.
Dat kan natuurlijk altijd nog veranderen.
That can of course still change. Possibility rather than skill — 'kan' = 'it's possible that'.
We hebben je helaas niet kunnen bereiken.
Unfortunately we weren't able to reach you. The double-infinitive perfect — 'hebben … kunnen bereiken'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Kunt je me horen?
Incorrect — after inversion the form is 'kun je', never 'kunt je'.
✅ Kun je me horen?
Can you hear me?
❌ Hij kant heel goed koken.
Incorrect — modals take no -t in the third-person singular: 'hij kan'.
✅ Hij kan heel goed koken.
He can cook very well.
❌ Ik heb het niet gekund doen.
Incorrect — with a governed verb, use the double infinitive: 'Ik heb het niet kunnen doen.'
✅ Ik heb het niet kunnen doen.
I wasn't able to do it.
❌ Wij kon niet komen.
Incorrect — the plural past is 'konden', not 'kon'.
✅ Wij konden niet komen.
We couldn't come.
❌ Kan jij dat? (intending 'may I')
Incorrect meaning — 'kunnen' is ability/possibility ('are you able to'); for permission use 'mogen' ('mag ik?').
✅ Mag ik dat? / Kun jij dat?
May I do that? / Are you able to do that?
Key Takeaways
- Present: ik/hij kan, jij/u kunt or kan, wij/jullie/zij kunnen — no -t on kan.
- Inversion: kun je / kun jij, never kunt je.
- Past: singular kon, plural konden (a→o vowel change).
- Perfect: almost always the double infinitive — Ik heb het niet kunnen doen — with gekund reserved for the rare case where kunnen stands alone.
- Kunnen = ability/possibility ("can/be able to"); for permission use mogen instead.
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Kunnen: Can, Be Able, MayA2 — How to use and conjugate kunnen — for ability, possibility, and informal permission — including the kan/kun/kunt variation and the inversion form kun je / kan je.
- Modal Verbs: OverviewA2 — A map of the six Dutch modals — kunnen, mogen, moeten, willen, zullen, hoeven — and the one pattern they share: modal + bare infinitive at the end of the clause.
- The Double Infinitive (Infinitivus pro Participio)B2 — Why modals and verbs like laten, zien, horen and helpen appear as a bare infinitive — not a participle — in the perfect, producing a double infinitive, and the unusual verb-cluster order it forces.
- Mogen (may/to be allowed to) — Full ConjugationA2 — The complete paradigm of mogen: the invariant singular mag (ik/jij/hij mag, no -t), past (mocht/mochten), participle gemogen, and the double-infinitive perfect — plus mogen's second life meaning 'to like'.
- Verb Reference: How to Use These TablesA2 — A guide to reading the verb-reference pages: what each conjugation table shows (present, simple past, perfect with its auxiliary, participle), how strong/weak/mixed verbs are labelled, why the auxiliary is flagged, and which verbs to master first.
- Strong and Irregular Verbs: Master Reference TableB2 — A single scannable reference table of the most common Dutch strong, irregular, and mixed verbs — infinitive, simple past (singular and plural), past participle, auxiliary, and English — grouped by ablaut pattern so the regularities behind the irregulars become visible.