"Er könne nicht bei ihr essen."

Translation: He could not eat at her place.

[koyunlar]

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 ??

[wataya]

'could' can express past tense or the subjunctive. It's the latter meaning that's used here. But 'er konnte nicht' is also correct.

[koyunlar]

Danke schoen fur die Erklaerung wataya!

[knut150]

my head is spinning! So now this is Konjunktiv I ?

[Kefienzel]

"Bei" can't mean "with" in this case? As in "he could not eat with her."

[wataya]

No, that would be 'Er könne nicht mit ihr essen'