सकना (saknaa)
verb
A grammatical auxiliary verb meaning 'to be able to, can' -- it attaches to the verb stem of another verb and carries no independent lexical meaning of its own.
Sense
1
:
ability/capability modal ('can, to be able to')
verb Attaches directly to the bare verb stem of the main verb: stem + सकना (saknaa), e.g. जा सकना (jaa saknaa, 'to be able to go'), कर सकना (kar saknaa, 'to be able to do'). It then conjugates fully for tense, aspect, and gender/number agreement just like any ordinary verb -- सकता हूँ (saktaa hoon), सकेगी (sakegii), सका (sakaa), etc.
Frequency: high
Cultural Note: सकना (saknaa) is how Hindi builds its everyday 'can' -- but unlike the fixed English modal, it is a real, fully conjugating verb, so you'll hear it shift shape constantly: कर सकता हूँ (kar saktaa hoon, 'I can do'), कर सकती थी (kar saktii thii, 'she could have done'), कर सकेंगे (kar sakenge, 'we will be able to'). Because it is purely grammatical, it never stands alone -- you'll never hear सकना (saknaa) by itself the way you might hear a standalone verb like जाना (jaanaa).
Common Mistakes: 1) Learners sometimes attach सकना (saknaa) to the infinitive instead of the bare stem -- जाना सकता हूँ (jaanaa saktaa hoon) is wrong; it must be जा सकता हूँ (jaa saktaa hoon). 2) For negation, नहीं (nahiin) goes before सकना's conjugated form, not before the main verb: नहीं जा सकता (nahiin jaa saktaa, 'cannot go'), not जा नहीं सकता (jaa nahiin saktaa) -- though the latter is also heard and not wrong, learners often place नहीं (nahiin) awkwardly elsewhere. 3) सकना (saknaa) expresses ability/possibility only; it is easy to confuse with चाहिए (chaahie) (should/ought) or पड़ना (padnaa) (have to, forced necessity), which express different flavors of modality entirely.
Sample Sentences:
वह कल पार्टी में नहीं आ सकी।
She was not able to come to the party yesterday.
(vah kal paartii men nahiin aa sakii।)
Listen: F85
अगर तुम मुझे पहले बताते तो मैं मदद कर सकता था।
If you had told me earlier, I could have helped.
(agar tum mujhe pahle bataate to main madad kar saktaa thaa।)
Listen: M85
हम अगले हफ्ते तक यह प्रोजेक्ट पूरा कर सकेंगे।
We will be able to finish this project by next week.
(ham agle haphte tak yah projekt pooraa kar sakenge।)
Listen: F85
बचपन में वह घंटों तक तैर सकती थी।
As a child, she used to be able to swim for hours.
(bachpan men vah ghanton tak tair saktii thii।)
Listen: F85
इतनी तेज़ आवाज़ में कोई सो नहीं सकता।
No one can sleep in such loud noise.
(itnii tez aavaaz men koii so nahiin saktaa।)
Listen: M85
यह समस्या आसानी से हल की जा सकती है।
This problem can easily be solved.
(yah samasyaa aasaanii se hal kii jaa saktii hai।)
Listen: F85
शायद वह इस बारे में कुछ बता सके।
Perhaps he might be able to tell something about this.
(shaayad vah is baare men kuchh bataa sake।)
Listen: M85
उम्मीद है कि हम समय पर पहुँच सकें।
Hopefully we will manage to arrive on time.
(ummiid hai ki ham samay par pahunch saken।)
Listen: F85
जितना हो सके, उतनी जल्दी आ जाओ।
Come as quickly as you possibly can.
(jitnaa ho sake, utnii jaldii aa jaao।)
Listen: M85
Morphology
Verb
infinitive:
सकना
(saknaa)
infinitive oblique:
सकने
(sakne)
habitual/simple (sg.m):
सकता
(saktaa)
habitual/simple (pl.m):
सकते
(sakte)
habitual/simple (sg.f):
सकती
(saktii)
habitual/simple (pl.f):
सकतीं
(saktiin)
continuous (sg.m):
सक रहा
(sak rahaa)
continuous (pl.m):
सक रहे
(sak rahe)
continuous (sg.f):
सक रही
(sak rahii)
continuous (pl.f):
सक रहीं
(sak rahiin)
perfective (sg.m):
सका
(sakaa)
perfective (pl.m):
सके
(sake)
perfective (sg.f):
सकी
(sakii)
perfective (pl.f):
सकीं
(sakiin)
imperative (informal):
सक
(sak)
imperative (neutral):
सको
(sako)
imperative (formal):
सकिए
(sakie)
future (1sg.m):
सकूँगा
(sakoongaa)
future (1sg.f):
सकूँगी
(sakoongii)
future (1pl.m):
सकेंगे
(sakenge)
future (1pl.f):
सकेंगी
(sakengii)
future (2sg.m):
सकेगा
(sakegaa)
future (2sg.f):
सकेगी
(sakegii)
future (2pl.m):
सकोगे
(sakoge)
future (2pl.f):
सकोगी
(sakogii)
future (3sg.m):
सकेगा
(sakegaa)
future (3sg.f):
सकेगी
(sakegii)
future (3pl.m):
सकेंगे
(sakenge)
future (3pl.f):
सकेंगी
(sakengii)
subjunctive (1sg):
सकूँ
(sakoon)
subjunctive (1pl):
सकें
(saken)
subjunctive (2sg):
सके
(sake)
subjunctive (2pl):
सको
(sako)
subjunctive (3sg):
सके
(sake)
subjunctive (3pl):
सकें
(saken)