Breakdown of Anna kann perfekt Gitarre spielen.
spielen
to play
Anna
Anna
können
can / to be able to
die Gitarre
the guitar
Questions & Answers about Anna kann perfekt Gitarre spielen.
Why is the verb "spielen" at the very end of the sentence?
This is because of the sentence bracket rule. When you use a modal verb like kann, it takes the second position in the sentence, and pushes the main action verb (spielen) all the way to the end in its dictionary form (the infinitive).
Why is "können" conjugated as "kann" here?
Anna is "she" (third-person singular). Modal verbs are special: the "I" (ich) and "he/she/it" (er/sie/es) forms are exactly the same, and they often change their main vowel. So both "I can" and "Anna can" use the form kann.
In English we say "play THE guitar", but there is no "die" before "Gitarre" here. Why?
In German, when you talk about playing a musical instrument or a sport generally, you leave out the word for "the". You just say Gitarre spielen (to play guitar) or Fußball spielen (to play soccer).
Why doesn't the word "perfekt" have an ending like "perfekte"?
Here, perfekt is describing how Anna plays, so it acts as an adverb. In German, when adjectives describe an action instead of sitting right in front of a noun, they stay in their basic form and do not get any extra endings.