Breakdown of Der Verdächtige war nervös, weil die Polizei die Schuld beweisen kann.
sein
to be
können
can / to be able to
nervös
nervous
weil
because (subordinating)
Questions & Answers about Der Verdächtige war nervös, weil die Polizei die Schuld beweisen kann.
Why is it Der Verdächtige with an -e at the end?
Verdächtige is an adjectival noun, meaning it is an adjective (verdächtig, meaning suspicious) acting as a noun. It takes standard adjective endings. Because it follows the masculine definite article der in the nominative case, it gets the weak ending -e. A female suspect would be die Verdächtige.
Why does kann come at the very end of the sentence?
The word weil (because) is a subordinating conjunction. It introduces a dependent clause and forces the conjugated verb—in this case, the modal verb kann—to the very end of the sentence.
In the weil clause, why is the order beweisen kann instead of kann beweisen?
In a normal main clause, the modal verb is in the second position and the infinitive goes to the end (e.g., Die Polizei kann die Schuld beweisen). But in a subordinate clause starting with weil, the conjugated verb (kann) gets pushed to the very end, placing it immediately after the infinitive (beweisen).
This lesson is about using wollen to express a claim. How would you change the first part of this sentence to say "The suspect claims to have been nervous"?
You would use the subjective wollen (conjugated as will) along with the past infinitive of the verb "to be" (gewesen sein). The clause would become: Der Verdächtige will nervös gewesen sein. This reports his claim without confirming whether it is actually true.