In ordering food or requesting something to eat or drink, you will almost always use möchten, and when making plans with friends, möchten is also more common: Wollen is close in meaning to English “want”, but be aware that it can quickly sound demanding or impolite in German in certain settings, and möchten is usually preferred. When you are talking about what someone doesn’t have to do (but they may do it), you use müssen + nicht: When you are talking about what someone may not do or must not do, you use dürfen + nicht:

For example, “du musst nicht” does not have the same meaning as it does in English.

Ich kann Auto fahren, Tennis spielen und sehr gut kochen.Įnglish also has modal verbs (can, should, must, may, etc.), and the meanings are often similar in German, although there are a few differences you need to watch out for, especially when a ‘nicht’ is added to the sentence. Ich muss zum Deutschkurs gehen, aber dann darf ich nach Hause. Ich will meinen schwarzen Mantel nach Deutschland mitnehmen. Also notice the word order in the following examples: Sometimes the infinitive can be omitted, but only if the context makes it clear what the infinitive would be. When you use a modal verb, the main verb appears as an infinitive (unconjugated verb ending in -en) at the very end of the sentence. It follows the same usage rules (infinitive at end of sentence) as the other modals only its conjugation is different. But it’s extremely easy to use and it’s incredibly useful and common, so it’s best to learn it now as an irregular verb. Möchten, which we learned last week, has a different conjugation because technically speaking, it’s the subjunctive form of mögen (“would like”, not just “like”). You will need to memorize these forms, but really, once you get used to them, you’ll find them very easy to use and invaluable in helping you to say exactly what you mean in German. The ich and er/sie/es forms have NO ending. Note that all modals are irregular, but they all have a similar pattern: they have ‘regular’ plural forms, whereas the singular forms (ich, du, er/sie/es) are marked by a vowel change (except for sollen). The chart below summarizes the modal verbs in German and their conjugations. The same usage rules apply to können as to all the other modal verbs. This week we’ll be reviewing those and adding five other modal verbs. Last week we learned the modal verbs können (can) and möchten (would like). Their meaning tells us about the speaker’s attitude or feelings regarding the action of the verb: Do you want to read a book? Should you read the book? Do you have to read the book? Modal verbs are auxiliary (helping) verbs that combine with another main verb in one sentence or clause. Handout: Modalverben BACK TO GRAMMAR WORKSHEETS

Modal verb exercises with wollen