Breakdown of Vi kan ikke parkere bilen her.
her
here
bilen
the car
vi
we
ikke
not
kunne
to be able to / can
parkere
to park
Questions & Answers about Vi kan ikke parkere bilen her.
Why does ikke go between kan and parkere?
In a standard Danish main sentence, the word ikke (not) comes right after the first verb (kan) and before the second verb (parkere). The first verb must be in the second position of the sentence, and short adverbs like ikke follow it immediately.
Could I say Vi ikke kan parkere bilen her?
No, that word order is incorrect here. The first verb (kan) must stay in the second position. If you put ikke before it, the verb gets pushed to the third position, which breaks the strict Danish verb-second rule.
Why doesn't the verb parkere end with an -r?
Because it comes after the modal verb kan (can). Just like in English, after a modal verb you use the base dictionary form of the next verb, which is called the infinitive. In Danish, the infinitive almost always ends in -e, so it is parkere rather than the present tense parkerer.
Where is the word for 'the' in bilen?
In Danish, 'the' is usually attached to the end of the noun as a suffix. The base word is en bil (a car). By adding -en to the end, you get bilen, which means 'the car'.
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