Word
Ich kann mir diesen Namen nicht merken.
Meaning
I cannot remember this name.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ich kann mir diesen Namen nicht merken.
ich
I
nicht
not
der Name
the name
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
Questions & Answers about Ich kann mir diesen Namen nicht merken.
Why do we use mir here instead of mich?
The verb used here is sich etwas merken (to remember something). When a reflexive verb has a direct object—in this case, the thing you are remembering (diesen Namen)—the reflexive pronoun shifts to the dative case. For "I", the dative reflexive pronoun is mir.
Why is it diesen Namen? Is it plural?
No, it is singular here! Der Name is the direct object receiving the action, so it is in the accusative case. Because it is a masculine noun, "this" (dieser) changes to diesen. Furthermore, Name is a "weak noun" (n-declension), meaning it adds an extra -n to the end in every case except the subject (nominative). That is why we say diesen Namen for "this name".
Why is merken at the very end of the sentence?
This is because of the modal verb kann (can). In German, when you have a conjugated modal verb in the normal second position of the sentence, the main action verb (merken) gets pushed to the very end in its standard dictionary form (infinitive).
Why does nicht go right before merken instead of earlier in the sentence?