Jeg kan intet se.

• Jeg = I
• kan = can / am able to
• intet = nothing
• se = see

So the structure is:

• subject: Jeg
• finite verb: kan
• object: intet
• infinitive verb: se

A very literal gloss would be I can nothing see, but natural English is I can see nothing or, more commonly, I can’t see anything.

Because Danish main clauses normally follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb comes in the second position.

In this sentence, Jeg is the first element, so kan must come next:

Jeg | kan | intet se

If you start the sentence with something else, the verb still stays second:

• Nu kan jeg intet se = Now I can see nothing

This is a very important Danish word-order pattern.

Because intet itself already means nothing, so it carries the negative meaning.

Compare:

• ikke = not
• intet = nothing

So:

• Jeg kan ikke se = I cannot see
• Jeg kan intet se = I can see nothing

English often says I can’t see anything, but Danish can express the same idea with intet.

It is correct Danish, but it sounds a bit more formal, written, or literary than the most everyday version.

In normal spoken Danish, people more often say:

• Jeg kan ikke se noget = I can’t see anything

You may also hear:

• Jeg kan ingenting se = I can’t see anything / I can see nothing

So Jeg kan intet se is perfectly understandable and correct, but not the most colloquial version.

Because kan is a modal verb, and with modal verbs the main verb stays in the infinitive and comes later in the clause.

So the pattern is:

subject + modal verb + object/other elements + infinitive

That gives:

Jeg kan intet se

This kind of ordering is normal in Danish. The important point is that se is not the finite verb here; kan is.

Intet is an indefinite pronoun meaning nothing.

It is related to ingen:

• ingen = no / none, used with common-gender words or plurals
• intet = no / none, used with neuter words, and also as the standalone pronoun nothing

Examples:

• ingen bil = no car
• intet problem = no problem
• Intet er umuligt = Nothing is impossible

In Jeg kan intet se, it stands alone and functions as the direct object: nothing.

Yes. Jeg ser intet means I see nothing.

The difference is that:

• Jeg ser intet is a plain statement about what you see.
• Jeg kan intet se includes kan, so it means I am unable to see anything or I can’t see anything.

In many situations they are very close in meaning, but kan adds the idea of ability or possibility.

Yes, but the sentence changes form a little.

Common alternatives are:

• Jeg kan ingenting se = I can’t see anything
• Jeg kan ikke se noget = I can’t see anything

These are both very natural, especially in speech.

But in standard Danish you normally do not combine ikke and intet for this meaning:

• not standard for this context: Jeg kan ikke intet se

That would sound wrong to most learners of standard Danish, because intet is already negative.