"Er könne nicht bei ihr essen."
Translation:He could not eat at her place.
March 27, 2013
6 Comments
I thought "he could not eat at her place" would be: "he konnte nicht bei ihr essen"?
and present tense is "er kann nicht ....."
I thought past tense of "können" is "konnte"
so where does "könne" fit in ??
April 7, 2013
'could' can express past tense or the subjunctive. It's the latter meaning that's used here. But 'er konnte nicht' is also correct.
April 8, 2013
