Kan du tilgi meg?

you

Breakdown of Kan du tilgi meg?

• meg: me
• kan: can
• tilgi: to forgive

Questions & Answers about Kan du tilgi meg?

Why isn’t there a Norwegian word for do in this question?

Norwegian does not use do-support the way English does.

In English, you say Can you forgive me? or Do you forgive me?
In Norwegian, you normally form a yes-no question by putting the finite verb first:

• Statement: Du kan tilgi meg
• Question: Kan du tilgi meg?

So kan moves to the front, and no extra verb like English do is needed.

Why is there no å before tilgi?

Because kan is a modal verb, and after modal verbs Norwegian uses the bare infinitive.

So:

• å tilgi = to forgive
• kan tilgi = can forgive

This is similar to English:

• to forgive
• can forgive

Other common modal verbs work the same way:

• vil tilgi = will / wants to forgive
• må tilgi = must forgive
• skal tilgi = shall / will forgive

Why is it meg and not jeg?