August kan være varm.

They are usually lowercase in Norwegian: januar, februar, mars, august.

Here, August is capitalized because it is the first word of the sentence. In Norwegian, the first word of a sentence is capitalized just like in English.

So in the middle of a sentence, you would normally write:

Jeg liker august.

In this sentence, it is understood as the month of August.

August can also be a male first name in Norwegian, but the context here points to the month, especially because varm means warm, which fits naturally with a month or time of year.

Norwegian normally does not use an article before month names.

So you say:

august er varm = August is warm
not something like den august

Month names behave more like proper names in this kind of sentence.

Kan være means can be, may be, or is sometimes depending on context.

In this sentence, kan does not mean ability. It expresses possibility:

August kan være varm = August can be warm / August may be warm

So the idea is that August is sometimes warm, or it is possible for August to be warm.

Because kan is a modal verb, and modal verbs are followed by the infinitive form of the next verb.

So:

• kan være = can be
• not kan er

This is the same pattern you get with other modal verbs:

• skal være = shall be / will be
• vil være = want to be / will be
• må være = must be

Also note that after modal verbs, Norwegian usually does not use å:

• kan være
• not kan å være

Because the adjective agrees with what it describes.

Here, august is treated as a singular common-gender noun, so the predicate adjective is varm.

Compare:

• August er varm
• En dag er varm

But with a neuter subject, you would use varmt:

• Været er varmt = The weather is warm
• Det er varmt = It is warm

So varm matches august, while varmt is used with neuter words like vær or det.

Yes, it is understandable and natural.

However, Norwegian also often uses a more impersonal weather expression:

I august kan det være varmt.
= In August it can be warm.

The difference is small:

• August kan være varm focuses on the month
• I august kan det være varmt focuses more on the weather during that time

Both are fine, but the second version is very common when talking about weather.

The word order is:

August — subject
kan — finite verb
være — infinitive
varm — adjective/complement

So the pattern is:

subject + modal verb + infinitive + complement

This is normal Norwegian main-clause word order.

You would move the finite verb kan before the subject:

Kan August være varm?
= Can August be warm?

This follows the normal Norwegian yes/no question pattern:

verb + subject + rest

Compare:

• August kan være varm.
• Kan August være varm?