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What are German Modal Verbs? (Modalverben)
There are 6 modal verbs in German: „können“, „wollen“, „möchten“, „sollen“, „müssen“, „dürfen“.
Modal verbs express whether you can, want to, must, should, or are allowed to do something.
Modal verbs are usually combined with a second verb ("main verb") and must be conjugated.
German Modal Verbs follow the same concept like English Modal verbs, but not all German Modal verbs are modal verbs in English.
Examples:
- „Ich kann kein Englisch sprechen.“
- „Ich darf keinen Alkohol trinken.“
- „Ich muss heute nicht lernen.“
- „Ich will heute lernen.“
- „Wir sollen in die Schule gehen.“
Word Order German Modal Verbs
In main clauses, the modal verb goes in position 2 (unless it's a yes/no-question). The main verb goes at the end.
Special Features:
In spoken language, if the main verb is obvious (based on the context), the main verb is often left out.
- „Kannst du Englisch (sprechen)?“
- „Ich will ein Bier (trinken)!“
In the Perfect Tense, modal verbs don't take the Past Participle form. Instead, they remain in the infinitive form.
- „Er hat Englisch sprechen können.“
- „Sie haben auf dich warten müssen.“
Exception: When the modal verb is the main verb (this is very rare, since normally the simple past would be used).
- „Er hat Englisch gekonnt!“
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Conjugation of German Modal Verbs
The Modal Verbs always have the same form in the 1st and 3rd person singular. In the singular, they are all irregular. In the plural, however, they are 100% regular.
| können | müssen | sollen | dürfen | wollen | möchten* | mögen** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ich | kann | muss | soll | darf | will | möchte | mag |
du | kannst | musst | sollst | darfst | willst | möchtest | magst |
er/sie/es | kann | muss | soll | darf | will | möchte | mag |
wir | können | müssen | sollen | dürfen | wollen | möchten | mögen |
ihr | könnt | müsst | sollt | dürft | wollt | möchtet | mögt |
sie/Sie | können | müssen | sollen | dürfen | wollen | möchten | mögen |
*„möchten“ is actually the Subjunctive 2 of „mögen“, but is now used in the Present Tense as an independent modal verb. For the Past Tense (Perfekt, Präteritum, Plusquamperfekt) we use „wollen“.
** „mögen“ is now very rarely used as a Modal Verb and is only used as a full verb (without a 2nd verb).
- „Ich mag dich.“
The Meaning of German Modal Verbs
„müssen“
- Necessity
- Command / Task
- Assumption with very high probability
„können“
- Permission or prohibition
- Possible or Impossible
- Ability or Inability
- Suggestion or Polite request
- Conjecture with Low probability
„wollen / möchten“
- To wish, intend, or will
- To refuse (with Negation)
- „Möchten“ is the polite form of „wollen“
„dürfen“
- Permission
- Prohibition (with Negation)
- Presumption with high probability
„sollen“
- As an order to the subject
- As an indirect request
- As a recommendation or advice
- Conjecture with relatively high probability
Recommendation:
Examples detailed explanations of all German Modal Verbs
You can find more detailed information about the usage and meaning of each Modal Verb on the following pages:
Related Topics:
Entire lesson in German only: Modalverben
You can find more lessons on Verbs here:
- Was sind Verben? (What are Verbs?)
- Starke Verben (Srong Verbs)
- „sein“ und „haben“ ("sein" and "haben")
- Reflexive Verben (Reflexive Verbs)
- Trennbare & Untrennbare Verben (Separable & Inseparable Verbs)
- Partizip 1 (Present Participle)
- Partizip 2 (Past Participle)
- Das Verb „werden” (Verb "werden")
- Das Verb „lassen” (Verb "lassen")
- Imperativ (Imperative)
- Konjunktiv 1 (Subjunctive 1)
- Konjunktiv 2 (Subjunctive 2)
- Das Passiv (Passive Voice)
- Vorgangspassiv (Process Passive)
- Das Passiv in allen zeitformen (Process Passive in all tenses)
- Verben ohne Passiv (Verbs without Passive voice)
- Zustandpassiv (Status Passive)
- Das unpersönliche Passiv (Impersonal Passive)
- Verben mit Ergänzungen (Verbs with Complements)
- Verben mit Nominativ (Verbs with Nominative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ (Verbs with Accusative)
- Verben mit doppeltem Akkusativ (Verbs with double Accusative)
- Verben mit Dativ (Verbs with Dative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ & Dativ (Verbs with Accusative & Dative)
- Verben mit Genitiv (Verbs with Genitive)
- Verben mit Präpositionen (Verbs with Prepositions)
Lists on the topic of German verbs:
- Die 30 wichtigsten Verben mit Vokalwechsel (The 30 most important verbs with vowel change)
- Untrennbare Präfixe (Inseparable Prefixes)
- Wechselpräfixe (Two-case Prefixes)
- Unregelmäßige Partizip 2 Formen (Irregular Participle 2 forms)
- Nomen-Verb-Verbindungen (Noun-Verb compounds)
You can find an overview of all topics under German Grammar.
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