All German Modal Verbs: The Complete Guide (only 6 😉)

that's true but we're not going to only do like the verb conjugation in present tense you will also learn about sentence structure for main clause subordinate clause you will learn about the preteritum the past form how to use them when talking about the past lots of example sentences and of course a bonus tip about möchten what do you think is möchten a modal verb or not? we will find out later on in the bonus tip so this is going to be a very detailed video in terms of grammar about modal verbs that's why it's also an A2 level labeled video because there's a lot of things which you should know at A1 of course but things you only learn at the A2 level in total six modal verbs now they also have some special features all of them are irregular verbs they don't stand alone meaning they always come in combination with a main verb or a full verb always is wrong you see this star here this red star here at the end because there are some exceptions more about this later on they change the meaning of the main verb you can say ich lerne deutsch i study i learn german you can say ich will deutsch lernen i want to study german or you can say ich muss deutsch lernen i have to study german so they change the meaning of the main verb and i hope it's not müssen for you i hope definitely it's wollen and they are fundamental for real world conversations they are all in the top 100 of the most commonly used german verbs and some of them even in the top 50 or even higher in terms of ranking you might wondering which one is the most frequently used one it's definitely number one können können is actually in the top five of most frequently in real life conversations now this mögen is actually often in terms of rankings is often at the last place because mögen is mainly used not like a modal verb so use it often as a main verb as a full verb but again more about this at the end but for me personally i use mögen definitely more often in real life than sollen for me personally sollen is the least frequently used ones now in terms of translation können is this can or to be able to müssen is this to have to don't please don't translate it with must because in english the negative form mustn't is in german actually so especially for english speakers try to translate it with have to then you won't mix it up and use it negative wollen want to dürfen to be allowed to or may sometimes mögen to like und sollen to be supposed to here as well i often see the translation should which is actually possible in a lot of situations but this should is mainly used as a translation for the conjunctive form of sollen which is sollte for sollen in this form here indicative the better translation is this supposed to be because as well you will find out more later on when we come to sollen let's start with the conjugation in present tense on top you have the infinitive form and we go through all of them a little quick in presence and here's some additional tips the plural form so via er zz first person to third person plural form is actually regular irregular is only but for all of them except for solst the second person singular solst all of the singular forms are irregular also the first and the third person singular form is always the same and of course this also applies to the plural form first and third person because this is also the same for regular verbs and one more thing is this umlaut change or vowel change when you look at the infinitives form you have this können mögen dürfen müssen there's all these umlaut and in the conjugated form you actually don't have this umlaut anymore and you mostly also have a vowel change so können becomes kann mögen becomes mag wollen becomes will sollen stays the same dürfen darf und müssen muss let's start with können can or to be able to three different situations when you can use it number one most commonly one is used for expressing ability or possibility to make polite requests to give or ask for permission true fact i'm really terrible at soccer or football i'm not good at playing soccer or literally i cannot play soccer very well that's a request can you help me please when can we take a break that's a way to ask for permission sentence structure we have on top the position so position then this x here is everything in between in the middle kind of and the last position and three sentences we actually just did spielen that's the main clause position 1 subject the subject and 2 in the main clause is always the conjugated verb normally in a normal statement with a sentence with a modal verb the conjugated verb is always the modal verb stands on second position ich kann done everything in between nicht gut fußball and then the last position is the main verb spielen for yes or no questions can you help me please for yes or no questions you start always on position one with the conjugated verb which is again here the modal verb and on the last position as well the main and for questions with a question word when can we take a break with question words we start a sentence with the question word and at the end the main verb you see here always the positions in red is the conjugated verb which is again is the modal verb and the second verb in a modal sentence a modal verb sentence is on the last position and always in its infinitive form you don't touch this verb you just use it in in its infinitive the original form so most important rule for the main verb full verb is always on the last position now let's go to subordinate clauses and here you see the positions change a little bit because i always start on kind of position position one is this hauptsatz the main clause then everything between and then the main verb and the last position i think i believe that tony plays football well or can play football well each of it is the main clause hauptsatz does conjunction which needs a subordinate clause do you know that's a question do you know when we can take a break or when we can make literally a break so here we have the main verb always on the second last position because in a subordinate clause the conjugated verb is always on the last position and since we have sentences with a model verb the model verb is the conjugated verb therefore on the last position so the rule is the model verb in a again nebensatz in a subordinate clause always stands at the end let's go to the next one müssen which is again to have to remember this also three different situations you can use them used for obligation or to make strong assumptions or discussing responsibilities tomorrow i have to work i have to work tomorrow that's an obligation this solution has to be wrong this is a strong assumption you could actually also say it kind of negative with a different model verb which is also common this solution cannot be true or be correct a strong assumption don't you have to go to the doctor now you see this gehen here this gehen is in brackets why because actually you can't drop it you can say the sentence just with and most probably in real life conversations we would drop it we would not mention this game why because it is that obvious if you say you cannot say you cannot almost not use any other verbs right so it's just this key in which actually works or foreign would be also possible but it's just going to the doctor to see the doctor and because it's that obvious then in those situations you can drop it but if you want to be sure on the safe side always leave it there it's never wrong next one is wollen want to also used in three different situations the first one is to use it's used to express a strong desire or intention number two important when talking wishes and goals i want to go home i'm tired i'm i'm i have seen everything here i want to go home so this is quite strong wollen is quite strong so that's why it's used to say what you want to do what do you want to do tonight perfect way to ask somebody you know that for the plans you're asking for his or her plans leah wants to pass the b1 exam in july that's a goal so here this wollen is perfectly situated don't use wollen if you want something for example in a restaurant or in a coffee shop or something when you're ordering something don't use it in this situation there are much better words for this talk about this later as well just try to avoid wollen in those situations it's also you also like this sentence but of course but this is also for adults but in general children use it more than adults for adults this wollen is not that commonly used except when you talk about like plans or goals let's talk about the past tense because for german model verbs they're simple past not in perfect there are sometimes in perfect there are used but only in very specific situations and this those are not common at all so always use them in preteritum you're good to go two other words which are always also used in preteritum mainly used in preteritum when talking and to have let's take the conjugation of the present tense here this table again let's put this here on top i know it's a little bit small but maybe you can refer to if you want to also the infinitive forms and now we conjugate the model verbs all six model verbs in preteritum in the simple past form quite strange not that common though used in past tense so don't worry about this too much here also not commonly used this one in past tense du durftest er sie es durfte wir durften ihr durftet sie sie durften and the last one müssen ich musste du musstest er sie es musste wir mussten ihr musstet sie sie mussten here also some side tips when we just look at the endings of those conjugation in preteritum you see that first of all they're always the same that's the good news and secondly they are exactly the same as the endings for regular verbs there's always this t-e-t-e-s-t-t-e and so on and also in terms of umlaut change this is not only common for model verbs but also in general for german regular verbs as well können you see this können mögen there is this umlaut and in simple past form the umlaut is gone so it's just konnte mochte dürfen becomes durfte und müssen becomes musste wollen und sollen they are pretty much the same like the infinitive form let's go to the next one dürfen to be allowed to or may also three different situations when we use it used to express permission or prohibition so you're allowed to do something you're not allowed to do something important for discussing rules any kind of rules dürfen is often used in this situation and very formal and polite way to ask for something again this is a very formal and a very polite way you might see it sometimes in business emails or on phone calls on in business phone calls but usually in real-time conversation with your friends you probably never ask this question were you allowed to sleep over at friends houses as a child you have durftest which is präteritum of dürfen here we talk about rules why is my dog not allowed to come along mitkommen is to come with you to come along and this very polite question may i send you our catalog so this may is kind of nice translation for dürfen for exactly this situation when you have when you want to be very polite again this is a situation like in a sales call for example somebody asked you can ich darf ich ihnen etwas mehr send you a price list a brochure catalog something like this and then they might use this darf dürfen in a very polite way and mostly again only for formal questions so darf ich ihnen they don't know each other it's talking business so it's formal and polite but in normal informal situations you might not ask this question mögen mögen to like also three different situations number one used for expressing affection or rejection so you like something or you don't like something or someone mostly this is important mostly used as a main verb or full verb so not like the other german modal verben it is still a model verb this mögen but it's mostly used as a full verb so there is no second verb in the sentence you can see this just in a second in the examples and not very common but possible to ask about someone's desire beispiele ich mag pizza ich mag diese musik i like pizza i like this music so here i like something negative of course you can also use this also with people zum beispiel tony mark seinen lehrerin nicht tony mark seine lehrerin nicht tony doesn't like his teacher and marks to hide to ovens mit common marks to hide to oven mit comment is this kind of question very polite also not commonly used again this is with friends you wouldn't ask this but it's a nice way to ask would you care this is a kind of i think a great translation in english would you care to join us tonight now in terms of mögen you see there's always a noun ich mag pizza ich mag musik und tony mark seine lehrerin there's always a noun or a person a thing or a person and this is what is typical about mögen because it's mainly or almost only used with a noun so you like something or you don't like something something or somebody the reason another reason why this mögen is not in the top 10 or top 50 of all german verbs it's actually in the top 50 i think but not not very high up because there are alternatives like for example gern and gern is an adverb used in combination with activities zum beispiel ich esse gern pizza i like eating pizza or spielst du gern fußball do you like playing soccer so here we have the activity itself which is eating something it's here's pizza even though we have this noun because it's an adverb it belongs to so this is just another way to say to like something to like doing something because that's an activity so we don't say ich mag pizza essen it's not completely wrong but we wouldn't say it so whenever we talk about an activity like an action something ongoing then we use gern instead of mögen and that's another reason why this mögen is not as frequently used as the other ones the last one sollen to be supposed to to pass on advice coming from a third party that's important this is used in situations when somebody's told you something and you say it to the other person that's why i personally think it's not that commonly used because it's it's just not happening that often second situation general expectations general expectations also not that common but it's possible and an interesting one i think when talking about rumors for the first one example doctor said i'm supposed to stay in bed situation you're lying at home in bed doctor said i'm sorry but i i'm okay i'm it's not my fault the doctor said so here this soll is perfectly used because again we take the message from a third party and bring it over to the other person second situation soll is another translation which is kind of okay i think with this sollen and here we talk about general expectations when of course you could say as well should when should we be at your place when should we be at yours but again should usually comes with conjunctive something you will learn later or you can also go down in the description you will find a video about and there we talk about this more in detail and the third one the rumor peter is said to have a new girlfriend or there are rumors around that peter has a new girlfriend so again this is not commonly used but it's i think an interesting and nice way to say talk about rumors so you can use this sollen if you are not 100 sure or again actually you're not sure at all but you heard somebody told you something that peter has a new girlfriend and then you can use this sollen to again to emphasize that you actually don't know and it is a rumor you have to write a sentence with a model verb one of those six whichever it is in the comment section if you are at a one you can use in present tense if you are if you are at a two level or higher try to make a sentence in preteritum bonus tip möchten is möchten this möchten is this is this actually the seventh model verb first of all no it's not because it möchten is actually a different form of the verb mögen here we have or you can see the present tense conjugation and the preteritum conjugation and presence and preteritum these here this form or these tenses are used in indicative is a form in german there are three forms the first one is indicative that's kind of the first one you learn that the normal form second one is imperative imperative when you give someone an order and the third one is conjunctive and conjunctive is again it's a different form just tell you why or what it's used for but first here the conjugation you see conjunctive is actually built according to the preteritum form that's why you usually also learn first the present tense conjugation then preteritum conjugation in a2 and then you learn about conjunctive in a2 b1 and higher levels so the conjugation here is ich möchte du möchtest er sie es möchte wir möchten ihr möchtet sie sie möchten the endings exactly the same like in preteritum form or preteritum conjugation the only thing that changes here actually is this umlaut and as mentioned just a short side tip what indicative and conjunctive is indicative is the real world so whenever we talk about things that happen right now things you can see things you can smell or touch this is indicative real things and conjunctive conjunctive is kind of when talking we talk about the unreal world wishes dreams or fantasies so everything which is not real is conjunctive so again the most common situations when we use this conjunctive is when we talk about wishes and dreams this möchten is would like to in english and also used in three situations the first and most important one is this to use to order food or drinks expressing a desire or intention and for polite requests we use it a lot and you definitely have heard it a lot already so this möchten is very frequently used zum beispiel ich möchte ein großes bier bitte ich möchte ein großes bier bitte i would like to a large beer please when zum beispiel ein großes bier by the way is a large beer which is usually half would you like to go to the movies today of course you could also use wollen if you know this person well then you can also say is just a little bit nicer and you're kind of more on the safe side than when using very nice way to ask something you're probably in a clothes shop and the shop owner or the salesperson asks this question would you like to try on the dress so this möchten again is very important but it's not a different verb it is part of mögen actually the conjunctive form of mögen and talking about mögen there are actually three different ways to use this english to like in german all of them are very common and this is a common problem so we have a dedicated video about this problem mögen gefallen oder gern in detail i hope you learned something i hope you liked it i hope to see you again bis zum nächsten mal tschüss und auf wiedersehen