German Modal Verbs: All Six Conjugated as One Block

German has six modal verbs: the ones that sit in front of another verb and colour it, as in I can go, I must go, I want to go. All six are irregular in the same way, so learn them as one block. Then one word-order rule: the other verb goes to the end.

The six

The highlighter marks what changes: the vowel in the singular and the ending.

One warning first. will does not mean will: Ich will gehen is I want to go, not I shall go. German builds its future with werden: Ich werde gehen. - I will go.

They break in the same two places

A normal verb goes ich sage, du sagst, er sagt. The modals all do two things differently:

1. No ending in the ich and er forms. They are identical:

• Ich kann schwimmen. - I can swim.
• Er kann schwimmen. - He can swim.

2. The vowel changes in the singular, and the plural puts it back:

• Ich muss arbeiten. - I have to work.
• Wir müssen arbeiten. - We have to work.

Here are all six in the present. Read down a column: singular vowel, then the infinitive's vowel back in the plural.

sollen never changes its vowel, and wollen swaps o for i, which is where will comes from. There is no ß in muss: after a short vowel German writes ss.

The other verb goes to the end

The modal is conjugated and sits second, like any German verb. The other verb is an infinitive and goes to the very end of the clause, however much comes in between:

• Ich kann heute kommen. - I can come today.
• Er muss nach Hause gehen. - He has to go home.
• Wir wollen das Kind sehen. - We want to see the child.

The two verbs form a bracket around the middle. Three more positions to know:

In a question the modal goes first and the infinitive still waits at the end. After dass, the modal itself joins the end, after the infinitive (German conjunctions has the rule). And a modal may stand alone when the other verb is obvious: Ich kann Deutsch. - I can speak German.

Möchte and gern: the polite want and the everyday like

Two words do most of a beginner's wanting and liking, and neither is the verb you would guess:

möchte takes a full set of endings, because it is a subjunctive of mögen rather than a modal present:

12

1. 1Ich möchte ein Brot.
2. 2Was möchten Sie?

The polite want, on both sides of the counter: ich möchte for the customer, möchten Sie for the baker.

Ask with möchte in a shop or café. Ich will einen Kaffee is grammatical and sounds like a toddler at a till.

For liking to do something, German adds gern to the ordinary verb: Ich spiele gern. - I like playing. The opposite is nicht gern: Ich lese nicht gern. - I don't like reading.

Müssen against sollen, and dürfen against können

English blurs two distinctions that German keeps:

For asking permission, Kann ich ...? is everyday German, just as can I is in English: Kann ich das Fenster öffnen? - Can I open the window? Darf ich ...? is the more polite form, and the one for a stranger or an official: Darf ich hier sitzen? - May I sit here?

The negative trap: nicht müssen is not must not

This is the mistake that changes meaning:

English must not forbids, so English speakers translate it word for word as nicht müssen and tell someone the opposite of what they meant. To forbid, use nicht dürfen.

The past tense in one line

The simple past of the modals takes the infinitive's stem, drops any umlaut and adds -te. Germans use it even in speech:

mögen also turns its g into ch: mochte. The full set of persons is in the German simple past.

Mistakes English speakers make

Where to start

1. Learn kann, muss and will first: with an infinitive they carry most of what a beginner says.
2. Add möchte for every shop and café.
3. Then darf, soll and mag: new meanings for a shape you already know.