Kan du lära mig att dreja?

Kan du literally means can you.

In Swedish, yes/no questions are usually formed by putting the verb first:

• Du kan lära mig att dreja. = You can teach me to throw pottery.
• Kan du lära mig att dreja? = Can you teach me to throw pottery?

So the first position goes to the verb kan, and that signals a question.

It can be both, just like English Can you... ?

Depending on context, Kan du lära mig att dreja? can mean:

• Are you able to teach me pottery throwing?
• Could you teach me pottery throwing?

In real conversation, it often works as a polite request, not just a question about ability.

Here, lära means to teach.

That can be confusing for English speakers, because Swedish lära can be connected both with teach and learn, depending on the structure:

• lära någon = teach someone
• lära sig = learn

So in:

• lära mig att dreja

the speaker is saying teach me to throw pottery, not I learn.

Because mig is the object form of I.

Compare:

• jag = I
• mig = me

In this sentence, the person is receiving the teaching, so Swedish uses the object form:

• Kan du lära mig att dreja? = Can you teach me to throw pottery?

Using jag here would be wrong.

Att is the infinitive marker, like English to in to throw pottery.

So:

• att dreja = to throw pottery / to do wheel-throwing

After lära någon att + verb, Swedish normally uses att:

• lära mig att dreja
• lära henne att simma
• lära barnen att läsa

So att is there because dreja is an infinitive verb.

Dreja usually means to throw clay on a pottery wheel.

It is more specific than a general verb like make pottery. It refers to shaping clay by turning it, typically on a wheel.

So if someone says:

• Jag vill lära mig att dreja

they usually mean they want to learn wheel-thrown ceramics, not every kind of pottery technique.

Yes, du means you, but in modern Swedish that is normal for almost everyone. Swedish does not use formal and informal you in the same way many other European languages do.

So Kan du lära mig att dreja? is perfectly normal and polite in many situations.

If you want to sound softer or more polite, you could say:

• Skulle du kunna lära mig att dreja? = Could you teach me to throw pottery?
• Kan du hjälpa mig att lära mig dreja? = Can you help me learn to throw pottery?

But the original sentence is already natural.

The full and most standard pattern is:

• lära någon att + infinitive

So:

• lära mig att dreja

is the clearest standard form.

You may sometimes hear lära mig dreja in speech, but lära mig att dreja is the safer choice for learners and in careful standard Swedish.

Then you use lära sig instead of lära någon:

• Jag vill lära mig att dreja. = I want to learn to throw pottery.
• Kan jag lära mig att dreja här? = Can I learn to throw pottery here?

This is an important contrast:

• lära mig att dreja = teach me to throw pottery
• lära mig att dreja can look ambiguous in English, but in Swedish the grammar tells you the meaning:
  • Kan du lära mig att dreja? = Can you teach me...?
  • Jag vill lära mig att dreja. = I want to learn...

The difference comes from who the subject is and whether lära means teach or appears in the reflexive pattern lära sig.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Kan du lära mig att dreja? = Can you teach me to throw pottery? / Could you teach me...?
• Vill du lära mig att dreja? = Do you want to teach me to throw pottery?

So:

• kan asks about ability or functions as a request
• vill asks about willingness

Both are natural, but they are not the same.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• dray-ya

More carefully, the j works like an English y sound.

So:

• dreja sounds roughly like DRAY-ya

The exact Swedish vowel quality is a bit different from English, but dray-ya is a useful starting point.

Yes, it sounds natural.

A Swedish speaker would understand it immediately, and it works well if you are asking a friend, teacher, or craft instructor.

Depending on the situation, native speakers might also say:

• Kan du visa mig hur man drejar? = Can you show me how to throw pottery?
• Kan du lära mig att dreja på drejskiva? = Can you teach me to throw on a pottery wheel?

But Kan du lära mig att dreja? is completely normal Swedish.