Modal verbs in German
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In German as well as in the English language, there are a group of verbs named modal verbs or modal auxiliaries. Modal verbs give more information about the main verb in a sentence. They describe the main verb in a range of possibility (may) to necessity (to have to). Therefore, the content of the sentence changes, if you are switching the modal verbs.There are six modal auxiliaries in the German language.
modal verb | explanation | usage | example |
---|---|---|---|
können | to be able to, can (ability) | Fähigkeiten/ Möglichkeiten | Ich kann Auto fahren. |
müssen | to have to, must (necessity) | Pflicht/ Notwendigkeit | Ich muss arbeiten. |
dürfen | to be allowed to, may (permission) | Erlaubnis | Ich darf früher nach Hause. |
sollen | to be supposed to, should (obligation) | Pflicht | Ich soll mein Zimmer aufräumen. |
wollen | to want to (intention) | Wunsch/ Absicht | Ich will verreisen. |
mögen | to like to (inclination), may (possibility) | Zuneigung | Ich mag das Reiten. |
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The conjugation of modal verbs is irregular in the present tense singular, due to the fact that there are no endings in the first and third person. The plural forms are regular. Pay attention to the vowel change of modal verbs in the plural.
können | müssen | dürfen | sollen | wollen | mögen | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ich | kann | muss | darf | soll | will | mag |
du | kannst | musst | darfst | sollst | willst | magst |
er/ sie/ es | kann | muss | darf | soll | will | mag |
wir | können | müssen | dürfen | sollen | wollen | mögen |
ihr | könnt | müsst | dürft | sollt | wollt | mögt |
sie/ Sie | können | müssen | dürfen | sollen | wollen | mögen |
The next sentences show you the usage of modal verbs in present tense
There is no vowel change in the simple past, but the irregularity of the first and third person singular is existing,too.
können | müssen | dürfen | sollen | wollen | mögen | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ich | konnte | musste | durfte | sollte | wollte | mochte |
du | konntest | musstest | durftest | solltest | wolltest | mochtest |
er/ sie/ es | konnte | musste | durfte | sollte | wollte | mochte |
wir | konnten | mussten | durften | sollten | wollten | mochten |
ihr | konntet | musstet | durftet | solltet | wolltet | mochtet |
sie/ Sie | konnten | mussten | durften | sollten | wollten | mochten |
Completing this lesson you should understand the modal verbs and their conjugation. Explore our exercises to train you skills.
Fill in the modal verbs in present tense. The modal verb and the singular or plural form of personal pronouns "sie" are specified in the brackets.
Ich Ball spielen. (können)
Er Ball spielen.(mögen)
Sie Ball spielen. (können/ plural)
Ihr Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Es Ball spielen. (sollen)
Sie Ball spielen. (dürfen/ singular)
Du Ball spielen. (wollen)
Ich Ball spielen. (sollen)
Wir Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Fill in the modal verbs in the simple past. The modal verb and the singular or plural form of the personal pronoun "sie" is given in the bracket.
Ich Ball spielen. (können)
Wir Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Sie Ball spielen. (mögen, plural)
Es Ball spielen. (sollen)
Er Ball spielen. (müssen)
Wir Ball spielen. (müssen)
Ihr Ball spielen. (sollen)
Ich Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Sie Ball spielen. (dürfen, singular)
Du Ball spielen. (mögen)
Fill in the modal verbs in present tense. The modal verb and the singular or plural form of personal pronouns "sie" are specified in the brackets.
Ich Ball spielen. (können)
Er Ball spielen.(mögen)
Sie Ball spielen. (können/ plural)
Ihr Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Es Ball spielen. (sollen)
Sie Ball spielen. (dürfen/ singular)
Du Ball spielen. (wollen)
Ich Ball spielen. (sollen)
Wir Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Fill in the modal verbs in the simple past. The modal verb and the singular or plural form of the personal pronoun "sie" is given in the bracket.
Ich Ball spielen. (können)
Wir Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Sie Ball spielen. (mögen, plural)
Es Ball spielen. (sollen)
Er Ball spielen. (müssen)
Wir Ball spielen. (müssen)
Ihr Ball spielen. (sollen)
Ich Ball spielen. (dürfen)
Sie Ball spielen. (dürfen, singular)
Du Ball spielen. (mögen)
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Hello everyone and a big warm welcome to all the fellow language learners,
My name is Katerina, I’m a native Russian speaker and a foreign language teacher from St Petersburg, Russia. I’ve always been addicted to learning foreign languages, be it English, German, Spanish, Turkish or Arabic, so turning my passion into my job was just a matter of time. I have a Master’s degree in linguistics which taught me to understand the way the mechanism of a language works and thus to help my students see the logics behind the grammar rules. Being a constant language learner enables me to see the process from both sides and to predict the difficulties my students might face. The fact that I’m not a native speaker of English or German means I’ve been through exactly the same language-learning journey you’re about to take, and thanks to my personal experience as a student, I can make this road smooth for you.
I've had students of all ages, from pre-school kids to senior generation, and I feel comfortable working with both beginners and those who are eager to take their learning process to a new level. In my classes I encourage you to talk in the language we’re studying as much as possible, putting every single bit of knowledge into practice right away. If you’re a Russian-learner, I’d be glad to prove it to you that you can absolutely nail my mother-tongue - and yes, you’ll be able to make a small talk in Russian by the end of the first class even if you’re an absolute beginner! We’ll be focusing on the topics that are most relevant to your goals, while discovering the language and getting to know more about the culture of people who speak it.
I offer a short free trial class, for us to give each other a smile and discuss our teaching pattern, in order to ajust it to your goals and make our lessons the bee's knees :) See you soon!
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Katja is a great teacher! She really pushes her students to speak in as much German as they can and the materials she provides are perfectly suited for her students learning goals! I enjoy working with her very much and look forward to our weekly lessons! She has helped me learn many German phrases and vocabulary that I can use immediately.
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Hello =)
My name is Karolin and since the beginning of 2017, while I was still living in Chile, I've been giving online classes. I really enjoy my work and it gives me the privilage to get to know people from all around the world, which is amazing.
Both in English and in German, I teach classes for beginners and advanced students. I speak Spanish fluently, but as I lived in Chile for around 5 years, both my pronounciation and my choice of words are influenced by that. I learned and teach the european Spanish but only for beginners (A1/A2). But if you don't mind the chilenean influence, I do teach to a higher level as well.
If you'd like to get to know me and my teaching methods, just contact me and we will do a free trial lesson (please do NOT by a lesson before the trial lesson, not every teacher is good for every student).
See you soon!
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I am so happy to be taking German lessons with Karolin. She is an amazing teacher, I honestly cannot believe how much I have improved in the 6 months I have been taking lessons with her. She made me feel confortable from the very beginning, she is always on time and somehow makes me look forward to every lesson. Thanks for everything Karo!
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Hello, my name is Katerina und I’m a qualified German teacher with 8 years teaching experience.
I would like to help you to master the German language. You will get your personal online lesson via Skype.
If you are interested in learning this world language, just contact me –
I’m looking forward to getting to know you!
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I can not recommend enough Katja. She makes the lessons extremely enjoyable. Her materials are diverse and well thought through.
Katerina B.
Dear Marcia, thank you!
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Hallo :) My name is Mihaela and I was born in Switzerland. I have a Bachleor and Master degree as German teacher and more then 5 years experience.
I love languages, because of that I speak also Croatian and English. :)
- ABOUT THE CLASS -
I offer German language lessons for A1, A2, B1, B2 level and they include everything you need: grammar, speaking, writing, pronunciation and vocabulary.
This is ideal for students who want actively participate and speak more, learn new words and exercise the grammar. Or we can learn whatever you need, because I will always adapt to your needs. :)
I will support you during your learning experience and adapt to your learning tempo.
All learning materials and exercises are included and will be provided during the lesson.
The learning material is from various books (Schritte International, Menschen, Sicher im Alltag und Beruf, Begegnungen,...).
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Mihaela is punctual and organised. She has a friendly attitude and plans the lessons well with relevant materials.
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Hi, I'm Irish, have been living Milan for 30 years. I have a strong business background in sales and marketing. I have lived in USA, UK and done business in Far East. I teach private students and in global corporates and universities. If you're looking to improve your English quickly I have developed my interactive communication method. A great lesson is based on understanding your needs, planning, content, your involvement, feedback, correction, repetition. My experience in theatre helps me to organise, conduct role plays, followed by constructive feedback. I prepare students for EU exams. Qualities; ability to listen, empathy, patience, motivating, energetic, open to feedback, positive outlook, value sharing, abilty to focus on long and short term objectives, relationship building. Look forward to 'partnering' with you.
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Emer is a very professional and experienced teacher. She is very motivated and really cares about her students' success. Highly recommended!!
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
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Hello!
Are you worried that you can't tackle the big journey of learning Russian or English? I would be really happy to help you and do my best to be your guide on that path!
I have a bachelor's degree with honors in teaching foreign languages and linguistics and I have been working as a tutor for 3 years.
With me it doesn't matter, where you are coming from, what your language level is and why you decided to pick up a language. Be sure that at every lesson I will create a very friendly and supportive a friendly environment with individual materials for your needs.
Your goals will be my goals. If you have any doubts, feel free to book a trial lesson (it's free anyway) and I will be happy to answer to all your questions.
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Katya is a Russian/English teacher who's had experience with beginners in the past. So if you're looking to start learning Russian this is a good option to do so. She has a large variety of learning materials including games and grammar practice and seems to know how to communicate online.
This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
Katsiaryna S.
Thank you so much!
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Domenica has a lot of teaching experience and can adapt the lesson to her students. She is really enthusiastic and she really loves teaching.
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Learning a foreign language is a beautiful and awe-inspiring journey which is not strange to me.
Growing in Europe and living in Canada has shaped my thinking abilities to see beyond the surface of individual’s potential to study. It remodeled my senses in a special way to be able to respond with tact and compassion to the needs of my students. In the same time it taught me the value of persistence and creativity. These abilities have helped me to master the art of teaching. Every student makes me a better friend, family member and a person.
So far, I've helped different age groups to converse freely, to read, understand and love both English and Bulgarian. Beside that, my students not just improve their grades at school. Some of them became English teachers themselves.
No two students are exactly alike. That's why I mostly use personalized learning method. It builds a learning experience that addresses the unique abilities of each student.
Another method of teaching that I use is Learning by experiment. In that way students learn by doing. I create experiences for them to see the concepts in action. I found out that students tend to remember better when they see and then discuss what they learn from what they saw.
Beside these methods you will enjoy Modeling, Mistakes, Feedback and one of my top methods: Lesson Objective Transparency. When I clearly state my lesson goals and write it on the board, then you will feel relax because you will know what you are working towards.
Please, be assured you won’t regret giving me the opportunity to help you!
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Didi is a very friendly and experienced teacher. She makes her lesson very interesting and easy to follow. She loves teaching and supports her students during their learning path.
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Hello,
my name is Nina, I'm from Austria and I also lived for one year and a half in Canada. I worked there as a German Teacher for adults, so I speak German, English and French.
I also teach English for beginners and advanced beginners.
My teaching methodes are totally based on the level of my student. If somebody is already advanced, I focus on communication and pronunciation. We will arrange on a topic and talk and discuss in the lesson about it.
If my student is a beginner, I'm gonna start with the basics of the German language. (the articles, the verb "to be", the pronouns...)
The learning material is all made by myself, because I'm a German teacher, so that means, I already got lots of working sheets for many topics. I send these to my student via e-mail or put it directly on the coLanguage homepage.
I'm available from Monday to Thursday between 5pm and 08:00 pm. For the weekend it's the best to just send me a request.
Of course is a free trial lesson (it's about 20 minutes) possible.
I'm happy to teach you :-)
See you soon! Nina
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Sehr Gut lesson. We read some german news, worked on konjugations. Learned new vocab and really worked on pronunciation.
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My name is Christina and I provide German & French language lesson for children and adult beginners or intermediate who want to strengthen their language skills, improve the grammar knowledge, enrich the vocabulary and get into the German culture! I can teach in English or French!
I had experince in teaching German, English and French to foreign people so I do have a lot of useful learning material I can provide you to make it easier!
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Ms Christina is a fantastic teacher !! She is patient, explains very well and has a lot of material to work with !!! I am sure that with Ms Christina we can learn or improve our German skills, because she has an excellent method !!
Christina F.
Thank you dear Luisa
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Hi, I am teaching English and German, all levels. online and at home
I am very experienced
Meet you soon!
German is my native language and English is my passion. I am a Sworn Translator EN<>DED and can also translate your documents. I have a seal and what I translate in this language pair can be presented to all authorities all over the world.
Let's get started!
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Very happy with the first lesson! This teacher has good understanding of what is needed by student, she is nice and friendly, uses time and material effectively.
Uta H.
Thank you very much for your excellent rating. See you on Monday :)
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Thanks to many years of experience, I offer you professional language instruction via Skype.
I am a native speaker (bilingual German and English) and have been working with Skype for over 9 years. The courses are optimally tailored to your language level and job description. Arrange a trial lesson.
Proficient handling of everyday German, leading to various certificates (Goethe Certificates, DaF etc.), specific courses for the professional field (hotel, tourism, law, medicine - FACHSPRACHENPRÜFUNG MEDIZIN, technology, business.....).
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I'm learning German with Belinda (currently B1) and I am trying to do a final push, so i can finally start speaking. Classes are very well prepared and structured. The book/ books used in the class have exercises that actually make your brain work and are not always easy to do ( this is for people who had experience with easy and boring grammar materials). We play dialogues, we have conversations through which the teacher understands where I am with my level and is trying to make adjustments to the program. And there's a lot of homework (when you ask for it) !!! : )
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He was well prepared and has good teaching skills. He recognised my weak points and spontaneously focus that areas. Overall I found him good as a teacher.
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Hello =)
My name is Karolin and since the beginning of 2017, while I was still living in Chile, I've been giving online classes. I really enjoy my work and it gives me the privilage to get to know people from all around the world, which is amazing.
Both in English and in German, I teach classes for beginners and advanced students. I speak Spanish fluently, but as I lived in Chile for around 5 years, both my pronounciation and my choice of words are influenced by that. I learned and teach the european Spanish but only for beginners (A1/A2). But if you don't mind the chilenean influence, I do teach to a higher level as well.
If you'd like to get to know me and my teaching methods, just contact me and we will do a free trial lesson (please do NOT by a lesson before the trial lesson, not every teacher is good for every student).
See you soon!
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Karolin has been an awesome teacher. She has been very flexible with our scheduling, while the lessons have been a great combination of being structured and fun. I would highly recommend Karolin to anyone looking to learn a new language or improve their language ability. Thanks again Karolin.
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Hello everyone and a big warm welcome to all the fellow language learners,
My name is Katerina, I’m a native Russian speaker and a foreign language teacher from St Petersburg, Russia. I’ve always been addicted to learning foreign languages, be it English, German, Spanish, Turkish or Arabic, so turning my passion into my job was just a matter of time. I have a Master’s degree in linguistics which taught me to understand the way the mechanism of a language works and thus to help my students see the logics behind the grammar rules. Being a constant language learner enables me to see the process from both sides and to predict the difficulties my students might face. The fact that I’m not a native speaker of English or German means I’ve been through exactly the same language-learning journey you’re about to take, and thanks to my personal experience as a student, I can make this road smooth for you.
I've had students of all ages, from pre-school kids to senior generation, and I feel comfortable working with both beginners and those who are eager to take their learning process to a new level. In my classes I encourage you to talk in the language we’re studying as much as possible, putting every single bit of knowledge into practice right away. If you’re a Russian-learner, I’d be glad to prove it to you that you can absolutely nail my mother-tongue - and yes, you’ll be able to make a small talk in Russian by the end of the first class even if you’re an absolute beginner! We’ll be focusing on the topics that are most relevant to your goals, while discovering the language and getting to know more about the culture of people who speak it.
I offer a short free trial class, for us to give each other a smile and discuss our teaching pattern, in order to ajust it to your goals and make our lessons the bee's knees :) See you soon!
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Katja is a great teacher! She really pushes her students to speak in as much German as they can and the materials she provides are perfectly suited for her students learning goals! I enjoy working with her very much and look forward to our weekly lessons! She has helped me learn many German phrases and vocabulary that I can use immediately.
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Hello =)
My name is Karolin and since the beginning of 2017, while I was still living in Chile, I've been giving online classes. I really enjoy my work and it gives me the privilage to get to know people from all around the world, which is amazing.
Both in English and in German, I teach classes for beginners and advanced students. I speak Spanish fluently, but as I lived in Chile for around 5 years, both my pronounciation and my choice of words are influenced by that. I learned and teach the european Spanish but only for beginners (A1/A2). But if you don't mind the chilenean influence, I do teach to a higher level as well.
If you'd like to get to know me and my teaching methods, just contact me and we will do a free trial lesson (please do NOT by a lesson before the trial lesson, not every teacher is good for every student).
See you soon!
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I am so happy to be taking German lessons with Karolin. She is an amazing teacher, I honestly cannot believe how much I have improved in the 6 months I have been taking lessons with her. She made me feel confortable from the very beginning, she is always on time and somehow makes me look forward to every lesson. Thanks for everything Karo!
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Hello, my name is Katerina und I’m a qualified German teacher with 8 years teaching experience.
I would like to help you to master the German language. You will get your personal online lesson via Skype.
If you are interested in learning this world language, just contact me –
I’m looking forward to getting to know you!
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I can not recommend enough Katja. She makes the lessons extremely enjoyable. Her materials are diverse and well thought through.
Katerina B.
Dear Marcia, thank you!
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Hallo :) My name is Mihaela and I was born in Switzerland. I have a Bachleor and Master degree as German teacher and more then 5 years experience.
I love languages, because of that I speak also Croatian and English. :)
- ABOUT THE CLASS -
I offer German language lessons for A1, A2, B1, B2 level and they include everything you need: grammar, speaking, writing, pronunciation and vocabulary.
This is ideal for students who want actively participate and speak more, learn new words and exercise the grammar. Or we can learn whatever you need, because I will always adapt to your needs. :)
I will support you during your learning experience and adapt to your learning tempo.
All learning materials and exercises are included and will be provided during the lesson.
The learning material is from various books (Schritte International, Menschen, Sicher im Alltag und Beruf, Begegnungen,...).
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Mihaela is punctual and organised. She has a friendly attitude and plans the lessons well with relevant materials.
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1 Conjugation of dürfen (to be allowed) in German | This page shows the conjugation of the verbs dürfen. |
2 Conjugation of können (can) in German | List of conjugations of the word German |
3 Conjugation of mögen (to like) in German | This page is about the German verb conjugation of mögen |
4 Conjugation of müssen (to have to) in German | This page contains the conjugation of the verb müssen in all tenses. |
5 Conjugation of sollen (should) in German | All conjugations of the German irregular verb "sollen" |
6 Conjugation of wollen (to want) in German | This page is about the conjugation of the German modal verb wollen. |