B1 · Modal verbs
Modals with no second verb
Ich muss nach Hause. Ich kann Deutsch.
German lets a modal stand on its own when the missing verb is obvious.
At a glance
- Remember
- If the missing verb is obvious, German leaves it out.
- Form
- ich muss nach HauseI have to go home
- Signal words
- muss
- will
- kann
- darf
- möchte
- nach
- zu
- ins
- Trap
- Wrong:Ich kann Deutsch sprechen sehr gut. (als Antwort auf: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?)Right:Ich kann gut Deutsch.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in German. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) stem (irregular) person ending question marker
| I have to go home | ich muss nach Hause |
| you have to go home (informal) | du musst nach Hause |
| he, she, it has to go home | er, sie, es muss nach Hause |
| we have to go home | wir müssen nach Hause |
| you have to go home (plural) | ihr müsst nach Hause |
| they, you (formal) have to go home | sie, Sie müssen nach Hause |
| a direction | Ich muss nach Hause. |
| a language, a skill | Ich kann Deutsch. |
| an object | Ich möchte einen Kaffee. |
| a question | Was soll das? |
| an answer | Kannst du das? — Ja, ich kann. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The second verb may be left out when it is obvious from the context.
Ich muss zum Zug.I have to get to my train.
This is most common with a direction.
Wir wollen ans Meer.We want to go to the seaside.
können with a language or a skill needs no second verb.
Sie kann gut Spanisch.She speaks good Spanish.
The sentence is complete, not shortened: nothing has to be added back.
Ich möchte ein Wasser, bitte.I would like a water, please.
Example sentences
Ich muss noch zur Post.I still have to get to the post office.
Willst du mit?Do you want to come?
Er kann kein German.He does not speak English.
Das darfst du nicht.You are not allowed to do that.
Was möchten Sie?What would you like?
6 more example sentences
Ich will nach Hause.I want to go home.
Kannst du Französisch?Do you speak French?
Wir müssen los.We have to get going.
Sie darf schon nach draußen.She is allowed outside now.
Das habe ich nicht gewollt.That is not what I wanted.
Ich mag keinen Kaffee.I do not like coffee.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
A correctly built long version — Ich kann sehr gut Deutsch sprechen — would not be wrong, only heavier than what people usually say. The wrong version here goes further: the added verb lands where English puts it, in the middle, instead of at the end. German puts the skill straight after the modal and stops. The instinct to supply the missing verb comes from English, which cannot leave one out — "I must home" is not a sentence — and it makes ordinary German sound laboured.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
A modal verb normally governs a second verb: Ich muss nach Hause gehen. German allows the second verb to be left out whenever it is clear from the context, and the result is a complete, ordinary sentence: Ich muss nach Hause.
This happens most with verbs of motion, where the destination already says what is missing: Ich will ins Kino, Wir müssen zum Bahnhof, Sie darf nicht raus. Nobody supplies gehen or fahren, and inserting it makes the sentence heavier rather than clearer.
It also happens with können plus a language or a skill: Ich kann Deutsch, Er kann Klavier. And with a bare object: Ich möchte einen Kaffee, Was wollen Sie? These are among the first sentences a learner needs and they are not the exception German textbooks sometimes present them as.
A closer look
What this does in the perfect
When a modal has no second verb, it forms an ordinary participle: Ich habe nicht gekonnt, Das habe ich nicht gewollt. That is the only place these participles appear, because a modal with a second verb uses the double infinitive instead: Ich habe nicht kommen können.
So the two constructions are neatly complementary. Seen a participle like gemusst or gedurft? Then there was no second verb. Seen two infinitives at the end? Then there was one. Neither form is optional and the sentence decides which appears.
Exceptions and special cases2
Exception
When the sentence would be ambiguous
then the second verb is kept.
Ich muss das Buch lesen.I have to read the book.
Why? The omission only works when exactly one verb could be meant.
Exception
When können takes an object rather than a language
then it means to have mastered it.
Er kann das Gedicht auswendig.He knows the poem by heart.
Why? The construction extends from languages to any learned skill.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
los is not a verb
Wir müssen los uses the separable prefix los with the verb losgehen or losfahren understood. The same happens with Ich muss weg, Sie will rein, Er darf raus — a bare prefix standing for the whole verb, which is compact even by German standards.
Worth knowing
The answer form
To answer a modal question German repeats the modal alone: Kannst du kommen? — Ja, ich kann. English does the same with "I can", so this one transfers without effort — unlike the full-verb case, where English uses "do" and German simply repeats the verb.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: können · wollen · mögen · müssen · dürfen · lesen