"Zij kan fietsen."
Translation:She can bike.
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Why is this "she" and not "they"? I think the fact that it's "fietsen" and not"fietst" threw me off.
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- Zij kan fietsen (she can ride a bike)
- Zij kunnen fietsen (they can ride a bike)
Same as here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5020220. The persoonsvorm (finite verb) is different depending on the subject.
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I see. Thank you for answering all my many questions. Very helpful.
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What's the meaning of Kan in this case? Being able to bike or having the skill as in english?
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I think what you mean to ask is, is this about having skill, or having permission?
The answer is that this is an isolated sentence in a language learning program. Absent any other clues, we should translate "kan" as "can".
Strictly speaking, that means you are asking about skill, not permission, which in English would be (strictly speaking) "May she ride a bike?"
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if biking is Fietsen as plural, why can we not use they instead of she?
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Look at kan, not fietsen. Kan is the first verb so that's the one that agree with the noun (just like in English - e.g. She wants to run only "wants" gets the "s"). The "plural" form of kan is kunnen.
"fietsen" is not actually the plural form of the verb here at all, it's the infinitive (like the "to" form in English). The infinitive and plural form of the verb is the same, just like in English.
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There should be an explaination here. https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5020220
- Kan - 1st or 3rd person singular or second person singular (informal)
- Kunt - 2nd person singular (formal)
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"I bicycle all over town" or "I bicycled across America." (which I did) are perfectly valid English expressions.
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I was born in England and live in Canada. Pretty common expressions in both places.
