Questions & Answers about Kan du veksle penger?
What does each word in Kan du veksle penger? mean?
- Kan = can / are able to
- du = you
- veksle = exchange / change
- penger = money
So the sentence is literally Can you exchange money? or Can you change money?
Why does the sentence start with kan instead of du?
Because this is a yes/no question.
In Norwegian, a simple statement would be:
- Du kan veksle penger. = You can exchange money.
To turn that into a question, Norwegian usually switches the order so the verb comes first:
- Kan du veksle penger? = Can you exchange money?
This verb-first pattern is very common in Norwegian questions.
Why is it veksle and not å veksle?
Because kan is a modal verb. After modal verbs in Norwegian, the next verb normally appears in the infinitive without å.
So:
- å veksle = to exchange
- kan veksle = can exchange
The same thing happens with other modal verbs:
- Jeg kan svømme. = I can swim.
- Du må gå. = You must go.
Not kan å veksle.