Breakdown of Der Großmeister sagt, er kann den Schachzug voraussehen.
er
he
sagen
to say
können
can / to be able to
der Großmeister
the grandmaster
der Schachzug
the chess move
voraussehen
to foresee
Questions & Answers about Der Großmeister sagt, er kann den Schachzug voraussehen.
Why is kann used here instead of the Konjunktiv I form könne for reported speech?
In spoken and informal German, it is very common to use the indicative (normal) mood for reported speech, especially when the reporting verb is sagen. While könne would be strictly correct in formal written German, kann sounds much more natural in everyday conversation.
Why is the word order in the second half er kann den Schachzug voraussehen instead of having the conjugated verb at the end?
This happens because the conjunction dass (that) has been left out. When you drop dass in reported speech, the subordinate clause takes on the word order of a regular main clause, so the conjugated verb kann stays in the second position. If you used dass, it would be: ... dass er den Schachzug voraussehen kann.
How does the separable prefix voraus- work when combined with a modal verb like kann?
Because the modal verb kann pushes the main verb to the very end of the clause in its full infinitive form, the separable verb voraussehen stays glued together. You only split a separable verb when it is the active, conjugated verb in the sentence (for example: Er sieht den Zug voraus).
How do we know the gender of the compound noun Schachzug?
In German compound nouns, the final word always determines the gender. Here, the final word is der Zug (the move, or the train), so the entire word becomes masculine. Since it is the direct object of the sentence, it takes the accusative masculine article den.
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