Breakdown of Arkæologen kan have været her for mange år siden.
være
to be
her
here
have
to have
mange
many
året
the year
kunne
to be able to / can
for
for (preposition)
siden
ago
arkæologen
the archaeologist
Questions & Answers about Arkæologen kan have været her for mange år siden.
What does kan have været tell us about the speaker's certainty?
This structure is used for epistemic speculation, which is a formal way of saying 'guessing about the past'. By combining the present tense modal kan with the perfect infinitive have været, the speaker is saying it is possible the archaeologist was there, translating to 'may have been' or 'might have been'.
Why is the verb phrase have været rather than har været?
The modal verb kan always forces the verb immediately following it into the infinitive form. Therefore, the present tense har must become the infinitive have, giving us the perfect infinitive have været.
How exactly does the phrase for mange år siden translate to 'many years ago'?
In Danish, the concept of 'ago' is expressed by bracketing the time period between the words for and siden. You put the amount of time, which here is mange år (many years), right in the middle of that for ... siden frame.
How is kan have været likely to sound in normal spoken Danish?
In natural spoken Danish, the word have is often heavily reduced when used as a helping verb in this kind of structure. Instead of hearing a fully pronounced have, you will likely just hear a short vowel sound, making the phrase sound more like kan a været.
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