Kan du peka på stationen på kartan?

Because this is a yes/no question in Swedish.

• Du kan peka på stationen på kartan. = You can point to the station on the map.
• Kan du peka på stationen på kartan? = Can you point to the station on the map?

In Swedish main clauses, the finite verb usually comes in the second position. In a yes/no question, the verb often comes first, so kan moves before du.

Kan is the present tense of kunna, which usually means can / be able to.

Here, Kan du ... ? is a very common way to make a request:

• Kan du hjälpa mig? = Can you help me?
• Kan du peka på stationen på kartan? = Can you point to the station on the map?

So it can express both ability and a polite request, just like English can.

They do two different jobs.

1. peka på
   This is the verb phrase to point at / point to.
   So here på belongs with peka.

2. på kartan
   This means on the map.
   Here på is a normal preposition showing location.

So:

• peka på stationen = point to the station
• på kartan = on the map

Even though the same word appears twice, the function is different each time.

Because stationen is the definite form, meaning the station.

Swedish usually puts definiteness on the noun itself:

• en station = a station
• stationen = the station

So in this sentence, we are talking about a specific station, not just any station.

The dictionary form is en station.

Its forms are:

• en station = a station
• stationen = the station
• stationer = stations
• stationerna = the stations

This is a common pattern for many en-words in Swedish.

Because in Swedish, things shown on a map are usually said to be on the map, not in it.

• på kartan = on the map

This is similar to English. A map is treated like a surface or display where something appears.

So if you point to a place shown there, på kartan is the natural choice.

No. Even though på often means on, the phrase peka på means point to or point at.

This is a good example of how you should learn some verbs together with their prepositions:

• peka på något = point to something
• titta på något = look at something
• lyssna på något = listen to something

So you should remember peka på as a unit.

Yes, it is normally polite and natural.

Kan du ... ? is a standard, everyday way to ask someone to do something. It uses du, which is the normal Swedish word for you in both casual and most polite everyday situations.

Modern Swedish does not usually use special polite pronouns the way some other languages do. So Kan du ... ? is perfectly normal in most situations.

If you want to sound slightly softer, you could also say:

• Kan du vara snäll och peka på stationen på kartan?
  = Could you please point to the station on the map?

Yes, grammatically that is possible, because kan can express ability.

But in most everyday contexts, Kan du ... ? is usually understood as a request, not a serious question about ability.

So depending on context, it can mean:

• Can you point to the station on the map?
• Could you point to the station on the map?

Usually the request meaning is the most natural one.

Because that is the natural place for this kind of extra information in Swedish.

The core part is:

• Kan du peka på stationen? = Can you point to the station?

Then på kartan adds where this pointing should happen:

• Kan du peka på stationen på kartan?

This word order is natural and common. The final phrase gives the setting: on the map.

In practice, the whole sentence is understood as point to the station on the map.

Structurally, Swedish can sometimes allow phrases that look slightly ambiguous, but here the meaning is usually clear from context:

• someone has a map
• they want another person to identify the station on it

So learners should understand this sentence as:

• Can you point to the station on the map?

not as something like the station that is located on the map.

Sometimes, yes, but the meaning changes a little.

• peka på = point to / point at
• visa = show

So:

• Kan du peka på stationen på kartan?
  = Can you point to the station on the map?

• Kan du visa stationen på kartan?
  = Can you show the station on the map?

Both can work, but peka på focuses more on the physical act of pointing.

The base word is en karta = a map.

The forms are:

• en karta = a map
• kartan = the map
• kartor = maps
• kartorna = the maps

So på kartan literally means on the map.

A careful pronunciation would be something like:

Kan du peka på stationen på kartan?

A few helpful notes:

• kan du is often said quite smoothly in normal speech
• peka has stress on the first syllable: PE-ka
• stationen has stress on -o-: sta-SHO-nen or approximately sta-TSYO-nen, depending on how detailed you want to describe it
• kartan has stress on the first syllable: KAR-tan

In everyday speech, the whole sentence flows together quite naturally, and some vowels may sound shorter or weaker than in very careful pronunciation.