kunna is the Swedish modal "can / to be able to," and like every modal it is followed by a bare infinitive — no att. Its present is the irregular kan, identical for every subject. The point an English speaker most needs is that kunna stretches further than English "can": besides ability and possibility, it also means "know" in the sense of a learned skill or a language — Jag kan svenska, "I know Swedish," with no verb after it at all. Get that, and a whole register of natural Swedish opens up.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kunna | kan | kunde | kunnat | (none) | modal, irregular |
The present kan is the same for jag, du, hon, vi, de — Swedish modals never agree for person. The past kunde ("could / was able to") and the supine kunnat ("been able to," after har/hade) round out the set. There is no imperative: you can't command someone to "can" something. After any of these forms comes the bare infinitive of the main verb, with no att between them.
Jag kan inte komma ikväll, jag är sjuk.
I can't come tonight, I'm ill. kan + komma — bare infinitive, no 'att'.
Förut kunde jag röra tårna utan att böja knäna.
I used to be able to touch my toes without bending my knees. kunde = past of kunna.
Han har aldrig kunnat sitta still.
He's never been able to sit still. kunnat = supine, after har.
Use 1: ability ("can do")
The core sense is physical or learned ability — being able to perform an action. Here kan lines up neatly with English "can."
Jag kan simma men jag kan inte dyka.
I can swim but I can't dive. Two abilities, one modal form: kan.
Kan du köra bil?
Can you drive (a car)? Asking about an ability — note the inversion Kan du…?
Use 2: possibility ("it can / it might")
kan also marks possibility — that something is capable of happening, not that anyone is able to do it. This is "can" in the sense of "could happen / might."
Det kan hända att tåget är försenat.
It may happen that the train is delayed. kan = possibility, not someone's ability.
Vädret kan ändra sig snabbt i fjällen.
The weather can change quickly in the mountains. A general possibility.
Use 3: knowing a skill or a language — with NO verb after it
This is the use that surprises English speakers. kunna means "know" when what you know is a skill or a language — and in that case it is followed by a noun (the skill/language), with no infinitive at all. Jag kan franska is literally "I can French" but means "I know French / I speak French."
Jag kan svenska, lite tyska och flytande engelska.
I know Swedish, a little German, and fluent English. kan + a language name = 'know/speak it' — no verb follows.
Kan du tyska?
Do you know German? / Do you speak German? kan + språk, with nothing after it. NOT 'can you German'.
Hon kan hela dikten utantill.
She knows the whole poem by heart. kan + a thing learned = 'knows it'.
This is not veta. Swedish splits "know" three ways: veta for knowing a fact (Jag vet att…), känna for knowing a person (Jag känner henne), and kunna for knowing a skill or language. So "I know French" is Jag *kan franska, never *Jag vet franska*.
Use 4: polite requests with kunde / skulle kunna
The past kunde and the conditional skulle kunna soften a request, exactly as English shifts "can you" to the gentler "could you." Skulle kunna is the more polite of the two.
Kunde du skicka saltet, tack?
Could you pass the salt, please? kunde — the softened past form for a polite ask.
Skulle du kunna hjälpa mig med det här?
Could you help me with this? skulle kunna = the standard polite request — a notch more courteous than 'kan du'.
Skulle ni kunna sänka volymen lite?
Could you turn the volume down a bit? skulle kunna to strangers — gracious and non-pushy.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag kan att simma.
Incorrect — modals take a bare infinitive. Delete 'att'.
✅ Jag kan simma.
I can swim.
❌ Jag vet franska.
Incorrect — for knowing a language/skill, use kunna, not veta. veta is for facts.
✅ Jag kan franska.
I know / speak French.
❌ Jag kan att tala svenska. (meaning 'I know Swedish')
Off — to say you know the language, name the language directly: kan + svenska, no verb.
✅ Jag kan svenska.
I know / speak Swedish.
❌ Han kanns inte komma. / De kanar inte komma.
Incorrect — modals are invariable: it's kan for every subject, with no -s and no -ar ending.
✅ Han kan inte komma. / De kan inte komma.
He can't come. / They can't come.
❌ Förut kande jag göra det.
Incorrect — the past of kunna is kunde, not *kande.
✅ Förut kunde jag göra det.
I used to be able to do it.
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- kunna (can, be able to, know how)A2 — kunna (kan / kunde / kunnat) is Swedish 'can' — but it stretches further than English 'can'. It covers ability (Jag kan simma), possibility (Det kan regna), and — the part English splits off as a different verb — learned knowledge and skills, including languages: Jag kan svenska means 'I know Swedish', with no following verb at all. This page maps all three senses and warns you off the classic veta/kunna confusion.
- Modal Verbs: OverviewA2 — The Swedish modal verbs — kan, vill, ska, måste, får, bör, lär, må — all share one liberating syntax: they take a BARE infinitive with NO att (Jag kan simma, not *Jag kan att simma), and like all Swedish verbs they never agree for person. Learn one present form and you can build every modal sentence. This page maps the whole set and warns you that several modals (få, ska, må) are heavily polysemous.
- kunna vs veta vs känna (to know)A2 — English 'know' does three jobs that Swedish splits across three verbs: veta = know a FACT (Jag vet att...), kunna = know a SKILL or have learned content, including languages (Jag kan svenska, 'I know Swedish'), and känna = be acquainted with a PERSON or recognise (Jag känner honom). The surprise for English speakers is that languages and skills take kunna, not veta. This page gives you a clean test and the errors to avoid.
- The Conditional with skulleB1 — skulle + infinitive is Swedish for 'would'. It builds hypotheticals (Jag skulle resa om jag hade pengar), past counterfactuals with ha + supine (Jag skulle ha stannat), and ultra-polite requests (Skulle du kunna…?). The twist: skulle is just the past tense of ska, doing double duty as both 'would' and 'was going to' — one form for two jobs English splits.