Here I’m again!!! 😀

In the previous post we learned how the modal verb ,,können” can be used to mean “to know”, but it has many other uses. In this post we’ll take a closer look at the verb ,,können” and the other modal verbs in German.

Modal verbs in German are used in much the same way as they are in English.

Modal Verbs

KÖNNEN – KANN

Covers everything between “can” and “be able to” and it even extends into the realm of “having permission”.

Sample Idiomatic Expressions:

WOLLEN – WILL

Maybe the headline is going to make you think that ,,wollen” has something to do with the English “will”, but that is not the case. I mean the origins are the same but the meanings are certainly not. For example:

1. I will drink beer.
2. Ich will Bier trinken.

These 2 sentences just won the German-English-Look-alike award, but the English sentence is future while the German one expresses a desire in present. ,,Wollen” means “to want”… no more, no less…

Sample Idiomatic Expressions:

MÜSSEN – MUSS

Now in this case the familiarity is not misleading and ,,müssen” does indeed mean “must” , “to have to” and “to need to do something”.

This is pretty straight forward except for one exception:

I mustn’t  open the window.

This form of “must” doesn’t really mean “not to have to” and consequently it is NOT translated with ,,müssen“. So, if you say

Ich muss nicht das Fenster öffnen.

you are saying that you don’t need to open the window. For the English “must not”, use ,,nicht dürfen“.

Now, can ,,müssen” stand alone? Yes it can. Usually it comes along with ,,mal“. You might want to remember the following example. It is VERY handy for a long car ride.

Ich muss mal.

Everyone will understand it and the driver won’t miss the next chance to stop. Why? The missing part is “to go to the toilet”. 😉

Sample Idiomatic Expressions:

Note: The old spelling with ,,ß“, as in ,,ich muß” or ,,gemußt“, is no longer used for forms of ,,müssen“.

MÖGEN – MAG

This verb is very important and you will need it every day. Hmm… let’s say it again to give it some more attention from you… lets pretend I don’t know that you are all on Facebook while you’re reading this. “To like” in German is ,,mögen“.

Sample Idiomatic Expressions:

,,Mögen” is often used in its subjunctive (,,möchte“) “would like” form:

DÜRFEN – DARF

This word doesn’t really have a relative. It could be translated to “can” or “may”, but the core meaning is “to have the permission to do something”. Anyway, just to make sure…  ,,dürfen” is less formal than the English “may” and it doesn’t mean “may” in sense of “It may rain”. It really only means “to have the permission”.  German kids would ask for permission using ,,dürfen“.

In spoken German you can always use ,,können” instead, so ,,dürfen” is not that extraordinary useful but it is good to know.

Sample Idiomatic Expressions:

SOLLEN – SOLL

,,Sollen” means an obligation or constraint that is inflicted by a human being. It always includes that someone told you so. Thus it also includes the option of disobedience.

Something you ,,musst” do might be at times inevitable.

Something you ,,sollst” do, is always up to you in the end.

Note that ,,sollen” is the only one of the special ones that doesn’t change its vowel.

Sample Idiomatic Expressions:

NOTES!

1. The first difference in the conjugation are the endings you have to add to the stem. Only ,,ich” and ,,er” lose their endings and the forms end up being identical. The rest is as you already learned it. But please absorb the special endings as well, because you need those for the real past all the time.
2. Note that each modal verb (except for ,,sollen“) has two basic forms, a singular form and a plural form.

Howdy stranger!!! 🙂

In the last post I’ve talked about how to conjugate 99.999 % percent of all German verbs in present tense… and today we are going to deal with the remaining 0.001%. This post is divided in 2 parts:

Teil 2A – The 3 German Verbs for “to know”

Teil 2B – Modal Verbs

The 3 German Verbs for “to know”

Yes, there really are 3 German verbs that can be translated as “to know” in English!!! The two main German verbs that mean “to know” are ,,kennen” (“to know a person, be familiar with”) and ,,wissen” (“to know a fact, know when/how”). A third verb, ,,können“, is a modal verb that express the idea of knowing how to do something. Often such sentences can also be translated using “can” or “is able to”.

KENNEN

Knowing PEOPLE or being familiar with things.

Possible ‘thing’ objects of kennen:
Ich kenne… das Buch, den Film, das Lied, die Gruppe, den Schauspieler, die Stadt, usw.
I know (am familiar with)… the book, the movie, the song, the group, the actor, the city, etc.

Sample sentences:

Idioms/expressions:

WISSEN – WEISS

Knowing information, FACTS.

Although it is not a modal verb, the conjugation of the irregular verb wissen follows the same pattern as the modal verbs.

Often used with interrogatives: wann, wie, wo, warum, usw.

Sample sentences:

Idioms/expressions:

KÖNNEN – KANN

knowing HOW to do something.

Usually used with languages, implying someone “can” speak, read, write and understand it. Otherwise limited to “can” or “to be able.”

Sample sentences:

Idioms/expressions:

Next time, I will talk about Modal Verbs in German.
Till then take care. 😉