Vi kan se skibet fra kysten.

In a normal Danish main clause, the finite verb usually comes in position 2. This is often called the V2 rule.

So in:

Vi kan se skibet fra kysten.

• Vi = subject
• kan = finite verb
• se skibet fra kysten = the rest of the sentence

This is very common in Danish:

• Jeg bor i Aarhus. = I live in Aarhus.
• Hun kommer i morgen. = She is coming tomorrow.

English does not have this same rule in the same way, so it is something learners often need to get used to.

After a modal verb like kan, Danish uses the bare infinitive, without at.

So:

• kan se = can see
• vil gå = want to go / will go
• skal arbejde = must work / will work
• må komme = may come / must come

You do not say:

• kan at se ✘

This is similar to English, where we say can see, not can to see.

Kan is the present tense of kunne and often means can or be able to.

In this sentence, it means:

• Vi kan se skibet = We can see the ship

Depending on context, kan can express:

• ability: Jeg kan svømme. = I can swim.
• possibility: Det kan være rigtigt. = That may be true.

Here, it most naturally expresses ability/possibility of seeing.

Skib means ship.

Danish often puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• et skib = a ship
• skibet = the ship

This ending -et is the definite ending for many neuter nouns.

So:

• skib is a neuter noun
• et skib = a ship
• skibet = the ship

This is one of the biggest structural differences from English.

For a simple definite noun, Danish normally uses the attached definite ending.

So:

• en kyst = a coast
• kysten = the coast

You usually would not say den kyst unless you mean something more like that coast or you are using an adjective or special emphasis.

Compare:

• kysten = the coast
• den lange kyst = the long coast
• den kyst = that coast / that particular coast

So in this sentence, fra kysten simply means from the coast.

In this sentence, fra kysten most naturally tells us the viewpoint/location of the people seeing the ship:

• Vi kan se skibet fra kysten.
• We can see the ship from the coast.

So the usual meaning is: We are at/on the coast, and from there we can see the ship.

Grammatically, a phrase like fra kysten can sometimes create ambiguity, because it could in theory be understood with different parts of the sentence. But in normal usage here, the natural interpretation is the location from which the seeing happens.

If you wanted to make other meanings clearer, context or rewording would help.

Danish word order is often a bit more flexible than English, but here the sentence is actually very natural and close to English:

• Vi = We
• kan se = can see
• skibet = the ship
• fra kysten = from the coast

The prepositional phrase fra kysten comes after the object skibet, which is very normal in Danish.

Danish often places location phrases after the main object:

• Jeg læser bogen i haven. = I read the book in the garden.
• Vi så fuglene fra stranden. = We saw the birds from the beach.

Se often corresponds to English see, but it can also cover meanings that English sometimes expresses with look at, depending on context.

In this sentence:

• se skibet = see the ship

That means the ship is visible to us.

But Danish se på is often used more specifically for look at:

• Se på mig. = Look at me.

So a helpful rough guide is:

• se = see
• se på = look at

That said, real usage can overlap.

The past tense of kan is kunne.

So:

• Vi kan se skibet fra kysten. = We can see the ship from the coast.
• Vi kunne se skibet fra kysten. = We could see the ship from the coast.

Notice that se stays in the infinitive after the modal verb:

• kan se
• kunne se

A careful approximation is:

vee kan see SKEE-bid fra KUS-den

A few notes:

• Vi sounds roughly like vee
• kan is pronounced somewhat like kan, but often with a softer, shorter vowel than English learners expect
• skibet is roughly SKEE-bid
• kysten is roughly KUS-den, though the Danish y is not exactly like English u
• The t in definite endings like -et is often weak or softened in natural speech

As always, the exact sounds are best learned by listening to native audio, because Danish pronunciation is often less phonetic than spelling suggests.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Vi kan se skibet fra kysten. = We can see the ship from the coast.
• Vi ser skibet fra kysten. = We see the ship from the coast / We are seeing the ship from the coast.

Using kan emphasizes that the ship is visible or that it is possible for us to see it. In Danish, this is often very natural where English might also simply say We can see...

Without kan, the sentence is still grammatical, but it may sound a bit more like a straightforward statement of perception rather than emphasis on visibility.