Kan vi gå in nu?

• kan = can / are able to / may
• vi = we
• gå = go / walk
• in = in / inside
• nu = now

So the whole sentence means Can we go in now?

Because this is a yes/no question.

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

• Vi kan gå in nu. = We can go in now.
• Kan vi gå in nu? = Can we go in now?

This is similar to English word order in questions, where can comes before we.

Swedish does not use a helper like do to make questions.

In English, you often need do:

• Do we go in now?

But with verbs like can, English also inverts directly:

• Can we go in now?

Swedish works more directly: move the verb to the front:

• Kan vi gå in nu?

So there is no extra word needed.

Because gå in means go in / go inside, while gå by itself just means go or walk.

Compare:

• Vi går. = We are leaving / We are walking / We are going.
• Vi går in. = We are going in.

So in is important here because it tells you the direction: inside.

It is often treated as a verb + particle combination, similar to English go in.

The particle in adds meaning to gå. In many contexts, Swedish learners think of gå in as a unit meaning go in / enter.

That is why the sentence naturally uses:

• gå in

rather than translating word by word too mechanically.

Because kan is a modal verb, and after modal verbs in Swedish, the next verb usually stays in the infinitive form.

So:

• kan gå = can go

Not:

• kan går

Compare:

• Vi går in nu. = We are going in now.
• Vi kan gå in nu. = We can go in now.

After kan, you use gå, not the present tense går.

Because after modal verbs like kan, Swedish normally uses the infinitive without att.

So you say:

• kan gå
• vill gå
• måste gå

Not:

• kan att gå

This is similar to English:

• can go not
• can to go

It can suggest either one, depending on context.

Kan vi gå in nu? can mean:

• Are we able to go in now?
• May we go in now?
• Is it OK for us to go in now?

In real life, it often sounds like a question about permission or whether the time is right.

If you want to focus even more clearly on permission, Swedish often uses:

• Får vi gå in nu? = May we go in now? / Are we allowed to go in now?

So kan is possible, but får can sound more specifically about permission.

Sometimes, yes, depending on the situation.

Swedish chooses between gå in and komma in based on perspective:

• gå in = go in
• komma in = come in

If the speaker thinks of movement from where they are toward the inside, gå in is natural.
If the speaker is thinking from the point of view of the person inside, English might prefer come in.

So in some contexts, English might say Can we come in now?, even if Swedish says Kan vi gå in nu?

Nu means now. It tells you the time.

In this sentence, it comes at the end:

• Kan vi gå in nu?

That is a very natural position in Swedish.

You can move nu in some sentences for emphasis, but the basic version here is completely normal.

Compare:

• Vi kan gå in nu. = We can go in now.
• Nu kan vi gå in. = Now we can go in.

Both are correct, but the emphasis is slightly different.

The statement form is:

Vi kan gå in nu. = We can go in now.

The only main difference is word order:

• statement: Vi kan ...
• question: Kan vi ...?

gå is pronounced roughly like go in English, but with a Swedish vowel sound written å.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• gå ≈ goh

A few pronunciation notes:

• g is a hard g here
• å is a long vowel, somewhat like the vowel in British law, but not exactly the same

So the whole sentence is roughly:

• Kan vi goh in ny?

That is only an approximation, but it can help at first.

It is neutral and natural in everyday Swedish.

It is not especially formal, but it is not rude either. You could use it in many normal situations, such as waiting outside a room, a classroom, or a building.

If you wanted to sound especially polite, context and tone matter more than changing the grammar. But as mentioned earlier, if you specifically mean Are we allowed to go in now?, many speakers would also say:

• Får vi gå in nu?

That can sound a bit more clearly like a polite request for permission.