1. to be obliged to, to shall, should (The core idea is a man-made obligation.)
Opposite (closest): wollen
Meanings
Examples
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Let's get to know the German modal verbs (and one of their verb friends). We'll learn what they mean and how to conjugate them. With lots of audio examples.
Word Family
Root: *skel-
The root is not 100% certain and it might just be a Germanic or Northern European root.
The core idea in either case was:
being under an obligation
The only family members in English are shall and its version should. The German side of the tree is a bit bigger with Schuld being the word for debt and also guilt. Which at their core are both an obligation.
Questions and Comments
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Hi Emanuel, Came here hoping for an explanation of “sollen” vs “sollten” so here is another vote for an article on the topic :)
I followed the link about to the modal verbs (sollen) and got your warning “You will become confused about sollen and sollten at some point in your journey…”
Na ja, ich bin da! :) I am wondering if YDG went down that rabbit hole and I am just not finding it, or was it put on the back burner.
I’m getting conflicting answers from Lingoni German (“Jenny”) and Google when I try to make my own examples for flashcards when using past tense. I trust her, but when I change nouns and verbs it is nice to have Ms Google make sure I didn’t screw something up.
I totally get the basics of Sollen and Sollten. “Am supposed to” versus a very general “should” without any specified ramifications.
However, for past tense Sollen, well…this is where things get jacked up for me. Let me know if there is more on Sollen on YDG than that one page I found. Thanks
There’s no more relevant content about “sollen” on the site, but I think I should probably do an article on “sollen” vs “sollten”, as it’s a common source of confusion.
Still, let me try and clear up at least some of it.
I’ll take the example you gave in a different comment (somewhere else) as a reference:
The question was if that’s past tense or a “would be good idea” sollen.
And the answer is, it can be both and you need context to clear it up.
The German sentence can mean either of those and there is zero indication which one is more likely.
Today on the main story (update of YDG) you mentioned DeepL and Ligoni. Sadly, I had never heard of them. I went to DeepL and typed in “Ich sollte ein Nickerchen machen” and it gave me casual should, but (yes!) it also gave me two different versions of past tense ‘supposed to’ as possible translations.
Yesterday I recorded a bassoonist from Zürich. Sie heißt Maria. I will always see her in my mind when I read your examples.
Anyway, I think I can put this topic aside in my brain for a while, however, can you explain why in the example above – two friends talking about what food they would like to eat – sollen is used? I had it in my mind that all casual recommendations are sollten.
Casual recommendations from A to B – yes, those pretty much MUST be “du solltest” and not “du sollst” because the latter is a definite obligation.
– Sollen wir xyz?
I can’t really explain this. It’s just a way of saying things.
– Sollen wir los?
– Wollen wir los?
Both mean the same pretty much and the first one matches “Should we get going?” pretty well in terms of vibe.
Take it as a fixed phrasing.