Breakdown of Können Sie Ihren Namen buchstabieren?
Sie
you (formal)
der Name
the name
Ihren
your (formal, accusative masculine)
können
can / to be able to
buchstabieren
to spell (out loud)
Questions & Answers about Können Sie Ihren Namen buchstabieren?
Why is the word for "your" Ihren instead of just Ihr?
Ihren is the formal "your" that matches the formal you, Sie. It takes the -en ending here because it is describing a masculine noun (Name) that is the direct object of the sentence (the accusative case).
The dictionary says the word for "name" is Name. Why does it have an extra "n" at the end here?
Name belongs to a special group of masculine words (often called "weak nouns" or n-declension nouns). These nouns add an -n or -en to the end in every grammatical case except when they are the subject (nominative). Since the name is the direct object being spelled here, Name becomes Namen.
Why are both Sie and Ihren capitalized in the middle of the sentence?
Capitalization is how written German shows formal respect. Capitalized Sie means formal "you", and capitalized Ihren means formal "your". If they were lowercase, sie would mean "she" or "they", and ihren would mean "her" or "their".
Why does the verb buchstabieren go at the very end of the sentence?
This is the standard rule when using modal verbs like können (can/to be able to). The conjugated modal verb takes the first position to form a yes/no question (Können Sie...), which pushes the main action verb (buchstabieren) all the way to the end in its basic, dictionary form.
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