I can go over the whole module: what I'm told to do and what I want, what was allowed and necessary yesterday, how to tell a story about the past, and how to negate correctly.
What we review
What we review
• Whose wish is it — sollen: someone told or advised you to (“be supposed to”). The six modals side by side: können, wollen, müssen, dürfen, sollen, möchten. You can leave out the second verb when it's clear: Ich muss zum Arzt.
• Yesterday with modals — one past form: konnte, wollte, musste, durfte, sollte, mochte; endings as with hatte.
• Telling about the past — the Präteritum (the simple past used in written stories): regular verbs with -te (-ete after t and d), the familiar war, hatte, es gab, and eight strong forms: kam, ging, sah, fand, stand, blieb, fuhr, wusste.
• Negation — kein before a noun with ein or with no article, nicht everywhere else; nicht goes before the second part of the bracket and before what it negates. Negative words in pairs: etwas ↔ nichts, jemand ↔ niemand, immer ↔ nie, schon ↔ noch nicht, noch ↔ nicht mehr.
• A biography is the story of a person's life; such texts are written in the Präteritum.
• Where you are now: you can talk about your free time and about what you could and had to do before, and you can read a short biography.
Six modal verbs side by side
The meaning picks the verb: who wants the action — you, the rules, or someone else.
| Verb | What it means | The ich form |
|---|---|---|
| können | I can, it's possible | ich kann |
| wollen | I want it myself | ich will |
| müssen | I have to, no choice | ich muss |
| dürfen | allowed | ich darf |
| sollen | someone told or advised me to | ich soll |
| möchten | the polite “would like” | ich möchte |
Eight strong forms for telling a story
The list is closed: there are no other strong Präteritum forms in this module.
| Infinitive | The er form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| kommen | kam | Der Bus kam zu spät. |
| gehen | ging | Lena ging zum Arzt. |
| sehen | sah | Emma sah den Vogel im Garten. |
| finden | fand | Paul fand die Geschichte gut. |
| stehen | stand | Der Zug stand am Bahnhof. |
| bleiben | blieb | Jonas blieb im Hotel. |
| fahren | fuhr | Lukas fuhr nach Leipzig. |
| wissen | wusste | Emma wusste die Adresse nicht. |
Lesson notes
What we review
• Whose wish is it — sollen: someone told or advised you to (“be supposed to”). The six modals side by side: können, wollen, müssen, dürfen, sollen, möchten. You can leave out the second verb when it's clear: Ich muss zum Arzt.
• Yesterday with modals — one past form: konnte, wollte, musste, durfte, sollte, mochte; endings as with hatte.
• Telling about the past — the Präteritum (the simple past used in written stories): regular verbs with -te (-ete after t and d), the familiar war, hatte, es gab, and eight strong forms: kam, ging, sah, fand, stand, blieb, fuhr, wusste.
• Negation — kein before a noun with ein or with no article, nicht everywhere else; nicht goes before the second part of the bracket and before what it negates. Negative words in pairs: etwas ↔ nichts, jemand ↔ niemand, immer ↔ nie, schon ↔ noch nicht, noch ↔ nicht mehr.
• A biography is the story of a person's life; such texts are written in the Präteritum.
• Where you are now: you can talk about your free time and about what you could and had to do before, and you can read a short biography.