HORST-HANS BÄCKER – Deutschkurs – fünfunddreißigste Lektion

Wiederholung - Review

1 Modal verbs

The six modal auxiliary ('helping') verbs in German are können to be able to, to know how
to ('can'); wollen to want to, to wish to, to intend to; sollen to be supposed to ('should');
müssen to have to ('must'); dürfen to be permitted to ('may'); and mögen to like. They
have certain characteristics in common with the (non-modal) verb wissen to know in that
they are irregular in the singular forms of the present tense.

+ The first-person (ich) and third-person (er/sie/es) singular forms are identical – the verb
stem takes no ending. The second-person singular (du) takes the regular -st ending.
+ With exception of sollen, the stem vowel changes in the singular

Here's an overview:

können wollen sollen müssen dürfen mögen

ich kann will soll muss darf mag
du kannst willst sollst musst darfst magst

er
sie kann will soll muss darf mag
es

wir können wollen sollen müssen dürfen mögen

ihr könnt wollt sollt müsst dürft mögt
sie können wollen sollen müssen dürfen mögen

+ Modal verbs indicate an attitude about an action; they don't express the action itself.
Hence they usually occur with a so-called dependent infinitive. In German, this infinitive is
in the last position in the sentence:
Er kann morgen nicht kommen. He can't come tomorrow.
Wir müssen jetzt nach Hause gehen. We have to go home now.

+ The modal verb is conjugated and occurs in the position normally occupied by the
conjugated verb, that is:
- the second element in a statement:
Leider kann er morgen nicht kommen. Unfortunately, he can't come tomorrow.
- the first element in a yes/no question:
Müssen wir wirklich nach Hause gehen? Do we really have to go home?
- the second position in questions introduced by a question word:
Warum dürfen wir kein Bier trinken, Mama? Why aren't we allowed to drink beer, Mum?

2 The meanings of modal verbs

+ The difference between müssen 'must' and sollen 'should' is similar to that in English.
While müssen is used to express an obligation that theoretically leaves no room for

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alternatives, sollen is used when one feels obliged to do something either by someone
else or by one's own conscience. However, watch out when using müssen with the
negation nicht, which translates not as 'must not' but as not to be obliged to ot not to have
to. The expression that corresponds to 'mustn't' as in 'not allowed to' is nicht dürfen,
whereas if you'd rather soften the proscription into a request or advice, use nicht sollen
'should not':

Du musst das nicht machen. You don't have to do that.

Du sollst das nicht machen. You're nto supposed to do that.
Du darfst das nicht machen. You mustn't do that.

+ Ich möchte I would like is the subjunctive of the modal verb mögen to like and
expresses a wish or a desire, while ich mag is used to express a general fondness (or
dislike, if used with nicht) for someone or something:
Ich mag Schokoladenkuchen. I like chocolate cake.
Ich möchte Schokoladenkuchen essen. I would like to eat chocolate cake

Don't worry, this differences will come naturally with practice.

3 Adjectives and adjective endings

Let's take a closer look at what's known as 'adjective declension'. Adjectives can appear in
two positions in a sentence: following the noun they describe (predicate adjectives) or
preceding the noun they describe (attributive adjectives)

Predicate adjectives are easy because they are invariable – that is, they don't take
endings:
Der Hund ist süß. The dog is cute.
Die Katze ist süß. The cat is cute
Das Baby ist süß. The baby is cute.

In contrast, attributive adjectives do take endings, which are determinated by two main
factors:
+ whether or not the adjectives is preceded by another qualifying word (an article,
possessive pronoun, etc.)
+ the gender, number and case of the noun that the adjective describes.

3.1 Preceded adjectives

In German, if an article or pronoun (the, those, a, my, etc.) is used with an adjective, one
or the other or both have to reflect the gender, number and case of the noun they modify.

In the case of a definite article preceding an adjective, the article clearly indicates the
gender and/or case of the noun, so the adjective ending doesn't need to change for each
gender. In the nominative, the adjective simply takes an -e ending.
der süße Hund the cute dog
die süße Katze the cute cat
das süße Baby the cute baby

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In the case of an indefinite article, because the masuline and neuter nominative and
accusative forms don't have endings and therefore don't show the gender of the noun
unequivocally, the adjective has to take on this function by adding the markers for
masculine (-er) and neuter (-es):
ein süßer Hund a cute dog
eine süße Katze a cute cat
ein süßes Baby a cute baby

3.2 Unpreceded adjectives

If an adjective is not preceded by an article or pronoun, it need to take an ending that

indicates the gender, number and/or case of the noun it modifies. Let's take the adjective
gut good as an example. In order to say Good wine is expensive, you'd need to know that
der Wein is a masculine singular noun and that in this sentence it si in the nominative
case because it is the subject. So you add the nominative masculine -er ending to
theadjective: gut + er → Guter Wein ist teuer. Or if aou wanted to say Good chocolate is
rare (selten), you'd have to bear in mind that Schokolade chocolate is a feminine singular
noun and it is nominative in this sentence. Therefore, you have to add the feminine marker
-e to the adjective: gut + e → Gute Schokolade ist selten.

In other words, in the absence of a procedeing modifying word, the adjective ending needs
to indicate the gender and case of a noun. Here's an overview for the endings of
unprecede adjectives in the nominative case:
süßer Wein sweet wine (masc.)
süße Marmelade sweet jam (fem.)
süßes Brot sweet bread (neuter)

Ultimately, adjective declension is actually quite handy as it gives you more opportunities
to recognize – and to remember – the gender of a noun, even if it may seem complicated
at first

4 Word order in dependent (subordinate) clauses

A dependent ot subordinate clause is a clause that cannot stand alone, it must be

combined with a main clause to express a complete idea. In German, a dependent clause
is separated from the main clause by a comma. Dependent clauses are often introduced
by a subordinating conjunction such as dass that or wenn if, when, by a relative pronoun,
or by a question word. The conjugated verb is in the last position in the dependent clause.

Wir wissen, dass Sie Deutsch lernen. We know that you're learning German.
Sie müssen ein bisschen warten, wenn Sie nicht alles verstehen. You have to wait a
little if you don't understand everything.
Heute wissen wir nicht, was morgen kommt. Today we don't know what comes
tomorrow.
Können Sie uns sagen, warum Sie kein Bier mögen? Can you tell us why you don't like
beer?

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5 Days of the week and times of day

Die Woche hat sieben Tage: Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag,
Samstag (oder Sonnabend) und Sonntag.
The week has seven days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
and Sunday.

Der Tag teilt sich in: der Morgen, der Vormittag, der Mittag, der Nachmittag, der
Abend und die Nacht.
The day is divided into [early] morning, morning (literally, 'forenoon') midday, afternoon,
evening and night.

The name of the day can be used on its own or with the preposition am + the day (see
also lesson 28, section 5):
(Am) Montag fahre ich nach Deutschland. On Monday I'm going to Germany.
(Am) Samstagabend feiere ich meinen Geburtstag. On Saturday evening I [will]
celebrate my birthday.

By adding -s to the name of a day or time of day, you can convey the idea of 'every':
Montags arbeite ich. On Mondays I work.
Abends bleibe ich zu Hause. Every evening I stay at home.
Und was machen Sie sonntags? And what do you do on Sundays?

Note that in this case the word is not capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence)
because it has changed into an adverb and only nouns are capitalized in German.

Wir wollen jetzt die Grammatik ein bisschen vergessen! Hier kommt unser Dialog!
Now let's forget a little [about] grammar! Here is our review exercise!

Ein netter Mann

1 – Sagen Sie mal, ist das Ihr Hund?

2 – Ja, das ist meiner, warum?
3 – Hunde dürfen nicht in den Dom.
4 – Aber mein Hund beißt nicht.
5 – Das macht keinen Unterschied; verboten ist verboten
6 – Aber ich komme von weit und möchte den Dom besichtigen.
7 – Das können Sie auch, aber ohne Ihren Hund.
8 – Sie haben keine Wahl.
9 – Vielleicht können Sie ihn fünf Minuten nehmen?
10 – Sind Sie verrückt? Ich bin im Dienst!
11 – Und er kennt mich nicht.
12 – Das macht nichts, er mag jeden. Danke. Bis gleich! (wau, wau, wau...)
13 – Halt, das ist nicht so einfach, warten Sie, warten Sie doch!
14 – He, Sie da! Sprechen Sie leise!
15 – Und Hunde sind hier verboten!

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