Formdürfen + Infinitiv (Ende); in Fragen: Darf ich …?
Meaning and usage
dürfen means may or be allowed to. It is a modal verb, so it takes second position in a statement and sends the main verb to the end as an infinitive. For example, Man darf hier nicht parken. The negative nicht dürfen means must not or not be allowed to.
In yes/no questions the verb moves to position one: Darf ich …? asks for permission. A common mistake is to put the main verb after dürfen instead of at the end, as in Ich darf nicht kommen in die Küche instead of Ich darf nicht in die Küche kommen.
Examples 5
Man darf in dieser Gegend nicht parken.
You're not allowed to park around here.
Man darf hier nicht so laut reden.
You must not speak so loudly here.
Wir dürfen in der Bibliothek nicht reden.
We must not speak in the library.
Du darfst nicht in die Küche kommen.
You must not come into the kitchen.
In diesem Fluss darf man nicht schwimmen.
Swimming is not allowed in this river.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
ich hier rauchen?
Show answer
Correct answer: Darf
The subject is ich, so the correct form of dürfen is darf. The verb comes first in a yes/no question.
- Dürft is the form for ihr, not for ich.
- Darfst is the form for du, not for ich.
- Dürfen is the form for wir or sie (plural), not for ich.
In this topic: Modal verbs
- Modalverb + … + Infinitiv modal verb second, main verb at the end
- ich kann, er kann ich and er forms of können: no ending, no umlaut
- können can, be able to, know how to
- müssen must, have to
- wollen want to
- möchte would like, polite way to say what you want
- dürfen may, be allowed to; asking permission
- sollen should, be supposed to, someone else's instruction
- mögen to like, mostly with a noun
- Verb + gern like doing something
- nicht müssen, nicht dürfen not have to vs must not
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.