German for Beginners: Lektion 16C
Lesson 16C: German Modal Verbs (3)
With self-scoring quiz
In the first part of this lesson we learned how the modal verb können can be used to mean “to know,” but it has many other uses. In this part of Lesson 16 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. Notice the close resemblance between these English and German sentence pairs, with the modal verb in red: I must do it. / Ich muss es tun. - Can you go? / Kannst du gehen?
Below is a chart with the six German modal verbs and their meanings. Note that each modal verb has two basic forms, a singular form and a plural form:
| Modalverben German Modal Verbs |
|
| To learn the conjugation of these verbs, click on a verb for a detailed conjugation table. |
|
| English | Deutsch |
| be permitted, may | darf - dürfen |
| be able, can, know | kann - können |
| like, want, may | mag - mögen |
| have to, must | muss - müssen |
| should, ought/supposed to | soll - sollen |
| want to | will - wollen |
| Click on a modal verb to see its conjugation. | |
In the next part of our lesson you can learn more about the German modal verbs using our complete verb conjugation charts along with sample sentences.
NEXT > Modal Verb Charts
EXAMPLES > Sample Modal Verb Sentences
QUIZ > Modal Verb Quiz 1
PREVIOUS > Part 1 | Part 2 of this lesson
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