No puedo dormir.

Breakdown of No puedo dormir.

no
no / not
dormir
to sleep
poder
to be able to

Questions & Answers about No puedo dormir.

Where is the word for 'I' in this sentence?
In Spanish, the ending of the verb usually tells you who is doing the action. The verb puedo ends in -o, which signals 'I can'. Because of this, you don't need to use the word for 'I' (yo), though you could say yo no puedo dormir if you wanted to add emphasis.
The dictionary says the verb for 'can' or 'to be able to' is poder. Why does it change to puedo here?
Poder is what we call a stem-changing verb. When you conjugate it for 'I', the o in the middle changes to ue. That is why it becomes puedo instead of 'podo'.
Why doesn't the word for sleep (dormir) change to match the 'I' form?
When you use two verbs together like this, only the first one gets conjugated to match the person (in this case, puedo). The second verb always stays in its basic, unchanged dictionary form (the infinitive). So it is puedo dormir (I can sleep), not 'puedo duermo'.
Can I put the word no after the verb, like 'I can not'?
No, in Spanish, the negative word no must always go right before the main conjugated verb. You will never put it after the verb like we often do in English.

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