Breakdown of Ze kan het pakket vandaag sturen.
zij
she
vandaag
today
kunnen
can
sturen
to send
het pakket
the package
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
Questions & Answers about Ze kan het pakket vandaag sturen.
Why are kan and sturen separated by the rest of the sentence?
This is the famous Dutch verb bracket. When you have a modal verb like kan (can), it takes the second spot in the sentence. The main action verb, sturen (to send), gets pushed to the very end of the sentence, wrapping around the other words like a bracket.
Would I use kunt instead of kan here?
Could I say Ze kan sturen het pakket vandaag like in English?
No, that is incorrect in Dutch. Because of the verb bracket rule, the full infinitive verb (sturen) must wait until the absolute end of the sentence. The object (het pakket) and the time (vandaag) have to go inside the bracket, before the final verb.
Why is it het pakket and not de pakket?
Pakket is a neuter noun, so it takes the definite article het (the) instead of de. There is no strict rule to guess which words are neuter, so it is a great habit to memorize the article together with the noun as het pakket.
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