Word
Jeder kann sich einmal irren.
Meaning
Anyone can be mistaken once.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Jeder kann sich einmal irren.
können
can / to be able to
jeder
everyone / each
einmal
once, one time
sich irren
to be mistaken
Questions & Answers about Jeder kann sich einmal irren.
Why is there a sich in this sentence?
The verb for making a mistake or being wrong is sich irren. It is a reflexive verb in German, meaning the action reflects back onto the subject. Because the subject Jeder is third-person singular (treated like he, she, or it), the matching reflexive pronoun is sich.
Why is the verb irren at the very end of the sentence?
This sentence uses the modal verb kann (can). In German main clauses, a conjugated modal verb takes the second position, and it pushes the main action verb (irren) to the very end of the sentence in its infinitive (dictionary) form.
Since this lesson is about dass (that), how would this sentence look inside a dass clause?
If you started with a phrase like Ich weiß, dass... (I know that...), the conjugated verb kann would be pushed to the very end. The sentence would become: Ich weiß, dass sich jeder einmal irren kann.
Does einmal literally mean exactly one single time here?
Literally, it means once or one time. However, in phrases like this, einmal (often shortened to just mal in spoken German) is used to mean sometimes or at some point. It makes the statement sound more natural, meaning everyone makes a mistake at some point.
Why do we use Jeder here instead of Jemand?