In Brecht 1970 Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches, page 16, we have
DIE KÖCHIN Ich hole Ihnen noch ein Bier.
DER SA-MANN Ist nicht nötig. Runterspülen hab ich können.
Runterspülen means to wash down food with a drink. But what does the sentence mean?
"I have already had a chance to wash down my food with a drink"?
wiktionary---this link deals with "haben können" but it appears the Brecht passage is "können haben".
Ich hab(e) können is the perfect of können, with Ersatzinfinitiv können instead of the expected past participle gekonnt. Whether Ersatzinfinitiv occurs or not is subject to some variation; when another infinitive is present – runterspülen in this instance – it is expected. The sentence is regular Standard German (although elision of the accusative object of runterspülen is somewhat rare).
Ich habe (es) runterspülen können.
I was able to wash (it) down.
Putting runterspülen in first position makes it the topic.
Note that können + infinitive perfect is completely different: This would be the epistemic use of the modal.
Ich weiß nicht, ob der Kollege noch da ist. Er kann auch schon Feierabend gemacht haben.
I'm not sure whether my colleague is still here. I think it's possible that he went home already.
As opposed to:
Er hat heute früher Feierabend machen können.
He was able to go home early today.
The sentence translates to:
I was able to wash (it) down.
or, in closer analogy to the structure of the original sentence:
Washing (it) down, I have been able to do.
The structure of the latter translation explains the structure in the German original.
