Conjunation

können — German conjugation

to be able to

Frequency#4Irregular

Indicative

Present (Präsens) Irregular

Präsens is the default present for facts, habits, and near-future plans. German has no continuous aspect in the same way as English, so a single form often covers both “I work” and “I am working” when you add a time adverb or context.

Ich arbeite heute im Homeoffice.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichkannI am able to
dukannstyou are able to
er/sie/eskannhe/she/it is able to
wirkönnenwe are able to
ihrkönntyou (pl.) are able to
sie/Siekönnenthey are able to

Simple past (Präteritum) Irregular

Präteritum is a narrative past, common in print and in northern speech, while southern speakers lean on the perfect in conversation. sein and haben keep their Präteritum even when you otherwise avoid the preterite.

Er war müde, aber er hatte keinen Kaffee mehr.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichkonnteI was able to
dukonntestyou were able to
er/sie/eskonntehe/she/it was able to
wirkonntenwe were able to
ihrkonntetyou (pl.) were able to
sie/Siekonntenthey were able to

Present perfect (Perfekt) Irregular

The Perfekt is the everyday past for finished events: auxiliary haben or sein plus participle, with sein for most motion, coming/going, and some change-of-state verbs.

Wir sind rechtzeitig angekommen und haben gefeiert.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhabe gekonntI have been able to
duhast gekonntyou have been able to
er/sie/eshat gekonnthe/she/it has been able to
wirhaben gekonntwe have been able to
ihrhabt gekonntyou (pl.) have been able to
sie/Siehaben gekonntthey have been able to

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Irregular

The Plusquamperfekt is the pluperfect: it marks what had already completed before a later past episode in the same narrative.

Sie war schon gegangen, bevor er ankam.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhatte gekonntI had been able to
duhattest gekonntyou had been able to
er/sie/eshatte gekonnthe/she/it had been able to
wirhatten gekonntwe had been able to
ihrhattet gekonntyou (pl.) had been able to
sie/Siehatten gekonntthey had been able to

Future I (Futur I) Irregular

Futur I is for predictions, firm promises, and also probability about the present in colloquial German. Everyday speech very often uses Präsens plus a time expression instead.

Morgen schneit es, sagt der Wetterbericht.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde könnenI will be able to
duwirst könnenyou will be able to
er/sie/eswird könnenhe/she/it will be able to
wirwerden könnenwe will be able to
ihrwerdet könnenyou (pl.) will be able to
sie/Siewerden könnenthey will be able to

Future II (Futur II) Irregular

Futur II (werden + participle + haben/sein) names an action that will be completed before a later time, and can also express a guess that something must already have happened.

Bis Freitag werde ich alles gepackt haben.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde gekonnt habenI will have been able to
duwirst gekonnt habenyou will have been able to
er/sie/eswird gekonnt habenhe/she/it will have been able to
wirwerden gekonnt habenwe will have been able to
ihrwerdet gekonnt habenyou (pl.) will have been able to
sie/Siewerden gekonnt habenthey will have been able to

Subjunctive

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Irregular

Konjunktiv II is the mood for politeness, contrary-to-fact if-clauses, and reported views. In speech, würde + infinitive often stands in for rarer preterit-based forms.

Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen?

PronounGerman
ichkönnte
dukönntest
er/sie/eskönnte
wirkönnten
ihrkönntet
sie/Siekönnten

Other forms

Imperative (Imperativ) Irregular

The imperative uses the du, ihr, and Sie forms of command; the informal du form drops the -st of the present for many strong verbs, and separable-prefix verbs place the prefix at the end.

Mach bitte schnell, der Zug fährt gleich ab.

PronounGerman
dukönne
ihrkönnt

Verbs near können

sein · haben · tun · werden · müssen · sagen · wollen · gehen · sollen