English Verb Origins?

Well, words like can, need, want, etc are called modals in german. They replace the regular verb in the sentence, and move that verd to the end in its infinitive form.

For example:
I study
Ich lerne

I need to study

Ich muss lernen

when you use an infinitive without a modal, you use zu, which means to.

Example:
He goes to the park to run.

Er gehe zu dem Park zu laufen.

As others have said, English is a germanic language so it has a lot more in common with German than the romantic languages.